RENTON, Wash. – With injuries piling up in the secondary, the Seattle Seahawks will be without starters Riq Woolen and Tre Brown when they square off with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, leaving the team incredibly short-handed on the road against one of the top offenses in the NFL.
But while the Seahawks will have to weather the storm without Woolen, Brown, and Artie Burns, who landed on injured reserve on Tuesday with a toe injury, coach Mike Macdonald thinks highly of the team’s depth at the cornerback position, which will be put to the ultimate test dealing with an explosive Falcons attack featuring Kirk Cousins and a stable of talented receivers in Drake London, Darnell Mooney, and Kyle Pitts.
With injuries comes opportunity in the NFL, and among those who will be called upon to help pick up the slack with Seattle down three veteran corners, rookie Nehemiah Pritchett will make his first career start and Josh Jobe and Faion Hicks will make their team debuts as practice squad elevations, providing the chance to impress in a tough road environment.
“We’ll make a couple of moves tomorrow,” Macdonald said on Friday, offering more clarity than usual on practice squad call ups on a travel day. “Faion [Hicks] will come up. Josh Jobe will come up and play. The other guys on the roster will get a great opportunity to go out there and show what they can do. I’m excited to see them play.”
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Jumping into the starting lineup for the first time, Pritchett will draw a difficult first assignment covering the likes of London and Mooney. But if there’s reason for optimism, the fifth-round pick out of Auburn has been thrust into game action on defense each of the past two weeks due to Seattle’s injury issues in the secondary, so Sunday shouldn’t be as much of a pressure cooker for him as it could have been thanks to those experiences.
Logging 39 defensive snaps in three games so far in his rookie campaign, Pritchett’s overall coverage numbers have been rock solid, as per Pro Football Focus, he has only allowed three completions on eight targets for 52 yards. He produced a crucial third down pass breakup late in the fourth quarter of a Week 5 loss to the Giants, giving Geno Smith and the offense one last shot to tie or win the game, though that deflection came one drive after he got burned by Darius Slayton and lucked out when Daniel Jones overthrew the receiver in the end zone.
Tackling has been a bit more problematic for Pritchett, who has three missed tackles on fewer than 40 snaps and posted an ugly 60 percent missed tackle rate. He will have to be much better in that area against Atlanta, which ranks in the top 10 in yards after the catch through six weeks.
With Pritchett exclusively being a boundary cornerback, the Seahawks will have to do some mixing and matching in the slot, with Witherspoon still seeing some action sliding inside in nickel and dime packages. Coming up from the practice squad, though he hasn’t played any regular season defensive snaps in the NFL, Hicks may be the best option to play inside in nickel sets when Witherspoon moves back outside, while Jobe will be the better option as a second outside cornerback.
A position-flexible defender, Hicks played 274 snaps in the nickel role for Wisconsin at the college level and has played nearly 100 snaps inside during preseason play over the past three seasons with the Broncos, Saints, and Browns, though none of those snaps came this past preseason in Cleveland. He also should see some action on special teams, which he has previously done in two regular season games when he played for Denver earlier in his career.
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When Witherspoon does slide into the slot, the 5-11, 190-pound Jobe should provide Seattle with a fairly experienced option to line up across from Pritchett. The former Alabama standout played 255 defensive snaps for Philadelphia over the past two seasons, spending the majority of that time on the outside. His performance proved to be a mixed bag in coverage, as he allowed 17 receptions and three touchdowns on 30 targets with four pass breakups, yielding a 113.8 passer rating.
Considering the opponent, having to rely on Pritchett, Jobe, and Hicks to play significant snaps isn’t an ideal scenario for the Seahawks as they try to snap a three-game losing skid. But Macdonald embraces the next man up approach regardless of position and with all three coming off a week where they received all of the practice reps, while it remains to be seen how he will deploy them, he’s eager to see how they respond when opportunity knocks in Atlanta.
“If Spoon’s not at nickel [cornerback], then you would see some other guys you might not have seen but have been repping there. We’ll leave the combinations, let them figure that out at this point. But Spoon will play nickel at some point. Other guys will play nickel as well. They’ve all gotten those reps, so we should be ready to go.”
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SAN FRANCISCO — Robbie Ray was everything the Giants could ask for on Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park.
In a performance that continued a strong recent stretch, the 34-year-old went eight innings and gave up a single unearned run, leading San Francisco to a 3-2 win.
It was an outing that will only increase potential interest in Ray at the upcoming MLB trade deadline, one where the Giants figure to be busy after ending their first winning homestand since April with a record of 35-48.
The Braves, who remain in first place in the NL East, are 49-33.
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Ray was perfect through four innings until Matt Olson broke up his run of 12 consecutive batters retired with a single to center to lead off the fifth.
His shutout bid was ruined in the eighth when Michael Harris II drove in Eli White with a sacrifice fly, but Ray buckled down and retired Ozzie Albies with a popup to center to end the inning.
The Giants got on the board when Luis Arraez scored in the sixth on an infield single by Rafael Devers, running home when Austin Riley’s throw bounced off Olson’s glove and trickled away from him down the right-field line. They scored again when Albies threw the ball past Olson on Jung Hoo Lee’s grounder to the right side, allowing Heliot Ramos to score.
Ramos made his return from a right quad strain Sunday and played in his first game with the Giants since May 15.
Arraez led off the inning with an infield single down the left-field line, and Ramos further set the table with a single to center. Arraez added on in the seventh, bringing in an insurance run with a sacrifice fly to right that scored Drew Gilbert, who had led off the inning with a pinch-hit single to center.
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The Sunday matinee was attended by 33,138 fans. Next up for the Giants is a quick six-game trip that begins Monday with an evening game in Arizona and will continue with a three-game set in Colorado over the holiday weekend, starting Friday.
Check back for updates to this story.
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Top fast food chain report: Jersey Mike’s takes first place
After an 11-year run, Chick-fil-A is no longer the top-rated quick-service restaurant, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
A new survey suggests that if Georgia workers could choose any office in the state to work from, many would pick Chick-fil-A’s headquarters in Atlanta.
The survey from Resume.io asked more than 3,000 workers nationwide to identify the workplaces they would most like to work from if location were not a factor.
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Participants were instructed to judge the office environment itself rather than salary, benefits, company culture or employer reputation.
Among Georgia locations, the Chick-fil-A Support Center ranked highest, followed by Porsche Cars North America’s headquarters in Atlanta.
Chick-fil-A tops Georgia list
The Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A Support Center ranked No. 17 nationally in the survey.
Researchers highlighted the campus-style setting, which includes landscaped grounds, gardens, walking trails and visitor experiences. The workplace was noted for having a more retreat-like atmosphere than a traditional office tower.
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The support center serves as the corporate headquarters for the restaurant chain founded by S. Truett Cathy.
Porsche headquarters also earns recognition
Coming in at No. 30 nationally was the headquarters of Porsche Cars North America.
Located in metro Atlanta, the campus is home to the Porsche Experience Center and includes a driver development track, simulators, event space, training facilities and a vehicle restoration workshop.
The survey described the site as a workplace that immerses employees in the brand’s automotive culture.
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What workers want from an office
According to Resume.io, respondents were asked to focus strictly on the physical workplace environment when making their selections.
The survey comes as many employers continue balancing in-office, hybrid and remote work arrangements.
Amanda Augustine, a career expert with Resume.io, said employee expectations have changed as flexible work has become more common.
“If people are going to spend time commuting and working onsite, the experience has to offer something more than a desk and fluorescent lighting,” Augustine said.
Which offices ranked highest nationwide?
Nationally, the top-ranked workplace was Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York City.
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Other offices appearing near the top of the list included the PGA TOUR Global Home in Florida, Servco Pacific’s headquarters in Hawaii, Google’s St. John’s Terminal in New York and TikTok’s U.S. Data Security office in Arizona.
Georgia was one of only a handful of states to place two workplaces among the survey’s top 30 most desirable offices.
For more information, visit resume.io.
Vanessa Johns is the Trending Topics Reporter for the Deep South Connect Team Georgia, covering food and entertainment. Email her atVcountryman@gannett.com.
