LB Aaron Curry “at peace” with his reduced role

By Liz Mathews

During his Wednesday press conference, head coach Pete Carroll said that Aaron Curry is understandably frustrated with his relegation to backup linebacker.

“I don’t blame him one bit for being frustrated,” Carroll said of Curry. “When we visited on it, he’s ready to battle. What we want to see from him is battle for what he rightfully wants to own and go after it and come back and fix the things and improve. He’ll get a chance to do that. We want to see if he can come right back up and improve. So he sounds like he’s determined to do that.”

For Curry, feeling frustrated couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“I’m at peace,” Curry said Wednesday before practice. “I have a complete peace of mind right now. I’m feeling blessed. I’m taking this trial that I have right now and just capitalizing on it. Frustration was last week.

“I was a little caught off guard, so of course, I was naturally — my response was to be a little bit frustrated. But I’m so at peace right now I don’t even know how to explain it to you.”

Rookie K.J. Wright started in place of Curry last Sunday at the strong-side linebacker position. Carroll announced during his press conference that the competition between the two would continue throughout the week before he names his starter for this Sunday’s matchup against the Falcons.

“Right now, I’m really just a second-string linebacker,” Curry said. “Second-string outside linebacker, so I just get to come to work every day and just get a chance to become better as a linebacker.”

Carroll said that for now, the plan is to let the two linebackers battle it out for themselves.

“I just came here trying to work hard,” Wright said in the locker room on Wednesday. “Situations happen and I’m just going to approach like I always do — just work hard and practice hard, do my playbook and do the best I can.”

News and notes

The following players did NOT practice on Wednesday:

Guard Robert Gallery (OUT – groin)

Safety Kam Chancellor (quadriceps)

Cornerback Byron Maxwell (ankle)

Linebacker Matt McCoy (shoulder/head)

Both fullback Michael Robinson and tackle Jarriel King were full participants on Wednesday.