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In the their first home game as reigning Super Bowl Champions, Earl Thomas and the Seattle Seahawks did not disappoint, and dismantled the San Diego Chargers 41-14 in Friday night’s preseason contest at CenturyLink Field.

The playing time of ET III time, along with the rest of the vaunted Seattle defense, was limited once again, but the three-time All Pro still found a way to make his presence known. And even though the Hawks have a regular-season matchup with the Chargers pending, No. 29 made it clear that he was holding nothing back during the preseason tilt.

“When we play them again, I’ll be a totally different player because I get better every week,” he said in an in-game interview. “I don’t try to hide anything. What you see is what you get and the great thing about it is I always learn from my mistakes. They’re not going to see the same player.”

Earl also talked about the spark of energy provided by the notorious home crowd full of “12s.”

“It’s great,” he said. “The energy is great. They’re in the game. It feels like a regular game because they’re treating it like that. I think they’re just like us. We always treat every game like a championship opportunity and they do the same.”

From the get-go, the home squad took it to the visiting Chargers. On the game’s opening drive, quarterback Russell Wilson and the first-team offense orchestrated an efficient 11-play, 74-yard drive that culminated in a one-yard touchdown run from Robert Turbin. Steven Hauschka then converted the extra point to put Seattle up 7-0.

After the opening score, it was up to No. 29 and the Seahawks defense to shut down Philip Rivers and the Chargers offense on their first possession. San Diego managed to earn two first downs on the drive, but Seattle ultimately stuffed Rivers and Co., forcing a punt from the Seattle 43-yard line, which was downed just shy of the endzone. On the drive, No. 29 assisted in the takedown of Donald Brown that turned a potential huge gain for the Chargers into a 3rd-and-5.

Wilson and the offense kept rolling on the next Seahawks drive. Even with featured running back Marshawn Lynch on the sidelines, Seattle did much of its damage on the ground, thanks to the hard-charging Turbin and a 12-yard scramble from Wilson. After the Hawks were unable to convert a third-and-nine from San Diego’s 25-yard line, Hauschka was called upon to kick a 38-yard field goal that extended Seattle’s advantage to 10-0 with just under a minute left in the first quarter.

Though he did not make a second appearance on defense after the Hawks halted San Diego’s opening drive, ET III finally got the action he was looking for in the second quarter when the Chargers were forced to punt at the conclusion of another fruitless drive. Earl returned the punt to the Seahawks 38-yard line for a five-yard gain and the offense made the most of the good field position, as Wilson led the team into the endzone yet again to make the score 17-0.

Chargers’ backup quarterback Kellen Clemens then came into the game, but failed to spark the San Diego offense, that once again punted to Earl. This time, No.29 found himself with no room to work with and signaled a fair catch at the Seattle 43-yard line. However, Phil Bates was called for offensive holding on the play, which pushed the ball back to the 33-yard line.

Though his opportunities to return have been stifled in the first two preseason outings, ET III remains confident and excited at the possibility of returning punts in the regular season.

“I’ve been one broken tackle away and I’m gone,” Earl said. “I’m always going to make the first man miss, and I just like to see myself just try to take the game in a different way and try to help the team out. We’ll see what happens. I’m glad for the opportunity, and I’m just swagging it out when I’m trying to catch the ball. I’ve just got to make something happen.

No. 29 also believes that his preseason practice as a return man will pay dividends.

“The more and more I watch myself on tape, that’s how I really get better,” he continued. “I really just stare at myself and see the little missteps maybe, if I could have gotten my feet square, where do my eyes initially look as soon as I caught the ball when I look it in. Just every little detail to try to make it a better rep next time.”

Seattle added another touchdown on their final drive of the first half to go ahead 24-0 with 4:05 remaining in the second quarter. That allowed head coach Pete Carroll was able to send in the rest of his reserves to finish out the contest.

Clemens led San Diego to the end zone at the end of the second quarter and again in the third, but the Seahawks kept the game in check and never allowed the visitors to come close to the lead.

A highlight of the contest came midway through the third quarter when second-year Seattle cornerback Tharold Simon picked off a Clemens pass in the endzone and ran the ball back 105 yards for what looked to be a touchdown, energizing both the players on the sideline and the home crowd.

However, the play was called back after the refs penalized Simon for illegal contact.

“That was a great play,” ET said. “And I asked [Simon] how it felt and he said he hadn’t done that since high school. This is what the preseason is all about – just finding guys that are young that you don’t really see every day as far as the Seahawks and seeing what they can bring to the table. I’m just here to support and help out as much as possible.”

Simon’s play also brought forth questions about the league’s new defensive rules, believed to be aimed at corralling hard-hitting defensive styles like the one Seattle employs. But Earl noted during his in-game interview that the Seahawks have no plans to change who they are for anyone or anything.

“We set the tone in everything that we do and we understand that everybody is gunning for us and the coaches are going to be complaining about how we’re very aggressive and they think that we’re holding sometimes but I think we’re never going to get away from who we are,” Earl said. “We’re still adapting to the game and how they want us to play it and we practice it, we practice everything. We’re always about the little details.”

The NFL later told the Seahawks that Simon should not have been penalized on his play.

After last week’s penalty-ridden contest with the Denver Broncos, the Seahawks showed much improvement, only drawing eight penalty flags for 48-yards.

After the game, Carroll relayed his happiness with Seattle’s defensive unit.

“The first team defense held up and didn’t give up a score all night, gave up a couple of first downs,” Carroll said. “So, that’s about as much as we can hope for in this first night coming home. I think also, we cut our penalties down to a third, that’s a big deal for us. We only had 40-something yards in penalties. We really felt like the night was pretty clean for the most part in that regard, and that’s a big step for us, we really wanted to clean up that line of scrimmage and we got that done tonight.”

Earl also was excited with the job done by the Hawks defense and ET III believes that, although two games remain in the preseason, the first team is ready to get the season started.

“I’m very pleased. I wish I could have had a ball thrown my way,” No. 29 said. “I’m just anxious. I don’t want to sound selfish but I’m ready to go.”

NEXT UP

After logging their first preseason win on Friday night, No.29 and the Seahawks will turn their attention to their next preseason opponent, the Chicago Bears, whom they will face this coming Friday at CenturyLink Field.

Kickoff is scheduled for 10 p.m. EST and the game can be viewed on the NFL Network.