Julian Love & Leonard Williams Excited To Face Former Team When Seahawks Host Giants Sunday

At this time a year ago, Julian Love was back in New Jersey to face his former team less than a year after signing with the Seahawks in free agency. And in that same Monday night game, Leonard Williams was a key piece of the Giants defense.

A year later, Williams is a Seahawk, having been acquired in a midseason trade, then re-signed to a contract extension this offseason, while Love is thriving in his second season in Seattle after earning Pro-Bowl honors and a contract extension in his short time with his new team.

For both players, Sunday’s game against the Giants presents an exciting opportunity, both because it’s the next game on the schedule, and also because it will be a chance to reconnect with some former friends and teammates. But what Sunday’s game at Lumen Field won’t be is any sort of grudge match or revenge game or any other term one might use to make the game bigger than what it is, one of the 17 on this year’s Seahawks schedule.

“It’s cool, because I know a lot of guys on that sideline—well, I guess less as time goes on—but I don’t know, it’s another game, kind of,” Love said. “But I’m excited just to see some people.

“Not too high, not too low. Obviously, just playing my game, you’ll naturally play with a little bit of a chip on your shoulder. It’s hard not to, you might fly around with a little extra pep in your step, but these guys stay in control and just work through the process. We’ve been working all year, and I can’t just throw anything out the window just because I’m playing these guys.”

Said Williams, “For me, I’m honestly trying to treat it like any other game. I think it would not be good of me to get too high or too low for any specific week, so I’m trying to treat it just like every other opponent, prepare the same way. Then they also have two O-linemen that I remember from when I was there, so that’s another reason why I’ve got to study the same way.

“I’m still excited to play those guys, I still know a lot of those guys on defense, so I’m obviously excited to go out there and play this week at our home against my old team, and obviously I want to make some plays and show out against those guys.”