Seattle Seahawks Dealing With Further Injury Questions On Offensive Line
RENTON, Wash. - Just when the Seattle Seahawks' injury fortunes looked to be changing for the better along the offensive line, the team has plenty of concerns in the trenches heading into their Week 7 home game against the Arizona Cardinals.
Kicking off their latest practice week following a 17-13 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati where the unit allowed quarterback Geno Smith to be sacked four times and hit a total of 13 times, all five of Seattle's projected offensive line starters either sat out or were limited in Wednesday's session.
Still without right tackle Abraham Lucas, who coach Pete Carroll confirmed would not return to practice from injured reserve this week, left tackle Charles Cross was limited with a new ankle injury after returning to action last week following a three-game absence due to a sprained big toe. Based on the coach's comments prior to Wednesday's practice, the blind side protector should be okay and the team appears to simply be erring on the side of caution early in the game week.
“He did all right. He got back and did okay," Carroll said of Cross. "He was up against a really good football player and was challenged by it, but he made it through it and came out okay.”
While Cross should be in the lineup against Arizona, reserve tackle Jake Curhan sat out with an ankle sprain suffered on Sunday, creating questions about who may start on the other side of the line this weekend. The third-year lineman stayed in the game, but clearly was hobbled by the injury, allowing eight pressures and a pair of sacks against Geno Smith in Cincinnati.
Battling through a sprained ankle in Cincinnati, Jake Curhan struggled allowing a pair of sacks on Geno Smith and may not be ready to play for the Seahawks by Sunday.
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According to Carroll, Curhan did participate in Wednesday's walkthrough and "moving okay right now," but the Seahawks won't know until later in the week whether or not he will ready to play.
If Curhan isn't able to turn the corner in coming days and can't play, Seattle may have a bit of a conundrum on its hands. Veteran Jason Peters, who signed to the practice squad last month, tweaked his quad last week and may not be an option to elevate to the game day roster this week, leaving only Stone Forsythe currently on the roster to fill the void.
“He did have a little bit of something. He had a quad that was bothering him a little bit, but it wasn’t enough to call it an injury. He just knew it, so we just slow played. We’ll wait another week.”
In the event Peters can't make his team debut, Forsythe started one game on the right side for Lucas last season in a win over the Jets in Week 17, but primarily has played on the left side dating back to college at Florida. Behind him, rookies Raiqwon O'Neal and McClendon Curtis joined the team in September and could be potential options, though they have minimal experience between them.
To add extra insurance, the Seahawks brought back Greg Eiland to the practice squad on Wednesday. The former Mississippi State standout has spent parts of the past three seasons with the organization after signing as an undrafted free agent and could be ready to jump up to the active roster in a pinch if called upon.
Along with trying to figure out the right tackle position for this week, Seattle still has some injury concerns in the interior of the offensive line as well. Center Evan Brown didn't practice on Wednesday with a new hip injury, while guards Damien Lewis and Phil Haynes were limited with ankle and calf injuries respectively.
After missing Sunday's loss to the Bengals, Carroll said Lewis is "making a positive push" to return to action, but like Curhan, the team won't know his status until later in the week and rookie Anthony Bradford will remain ready in the wings. As for Haynes, the team will take it easy on him early in the week to ensure he's ready for game day in a similar fashion to last week with hopes he will be starting at one of the guard spots.
In the case of Brown, the veteran center missed practice time earlier this season with a sore knee, but he has played the vast majority of Seattle's snaps at the pivot position while starting all five games. Carroll didn't have any updates on his health and rookie Olu Oluwatimi would be next in line to start if he misses any time.
