Pete Carroll says Seahawks will be without Thomas Rawls vs Buffalo

The Seahawks will be without running back Thomas Rawls for at least another week. Coach Pete Carroll told “Brock and Salk” on Monday that he doesn’t expect Rawls to be available for next Monday night’s game against Buffalo.

Rawls hasn’t played since he cracked a bone in his fibula in Week 2 against Los Angeles. Carroll said he began running on flat ground last week and that the team’s hope is he’ll be running “full-go” this week. From the sounds of it, the issue now is more about Rawls getting back into game shape as opposed to needing more time for the injury to heal.

“He hasn’t had enough time to get in shape properly so that he can be ready to go is my understanding,” Carroll said. “So we’ll see how this week goes. We certainly don’t want to rush this. We need to get him back and right. He was right but something else happened the last time out … So we’ll wait until he’s fully healthy and ready to go. We have some things to look forward to here about giving us a little boost.”

Rawls began the season as Seattle’s starter after recovering from a broken ankle that cut his rookie season short and required surgery. He averaged only 1.3 yards on 19 attempts before going down against the Rams.

Christine Michael has rushed for 446 yards and five touchdowns with a 4.2 yards-per-carry average this season, including 40 yards on 10 carries and a score in Sunday’s loss to New Orleans. It has appeared that the Seahawks have missed Rawls’ physical running style, especially in the instances in which Michael has avoided contact and come up short of the yardage needed for a first down.

Rookie C.J. Prosise has become a bigger factor in Seattle’s backfield since returning last week from the broken bone in his wrist that had sidelined him since the opener. Prosise carried four times for 23 yards Sunday and also caught four passes for 80 yards, 43 of them coming on a trick play that set up Michael’s touchdown run. He played 23 offensive snaps, his most in his three games this season.

“I thought C.J. Prosise did a nice job yesterday,” Carroll said. “He looked good, and that was the first time we really got to mix him in, so you can see that there’s some potential there to help us in some big ways, of course the big play but he ran well and caught the ball well too coming out of the backfield.”

Carroll said he thinks strong safety Kam Chancellor has a “great shot” to return this week from the groin injury that has sidelined him for the last three games, though he qualified that by saying he thought the same thing last week. Carroll has called Chancellor’s injury a “substantial” groin pull.

“This week I’m kind of more positive that we’ve got a shot to get him back,” he said Monday.

And Carroll again confirmed that defensive end Michael Bennett is having knee surgery on Monday.

“Mike’s getting fixed this morning is the way I understand it, and optimistically it’s a two-to-three-week deal,” Carroll said. “It could be really clean, in and out and get out of there. We’ll see. Similar to Luke (Willson). Luke’s been talking about the Buffalo game, so we’ll see if he can pull that off. I don’t know. So it’s that kind of potential, but you never know until they do work and they figure out and see how he adapts to it and all.”