Seahawks’ HC Pete Carroll gives injury updates, talks Earl Thomas ahead of Cards
Dec 29, 2017, 9:13 AM
"We're in pretty good shape," Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said of his team's healthy heading into Week 17. (AP)
(AP)
The Seahawks are fairly healthy heading into their regular season finale against the Arizona Cardinals, head coach Pete Carroll said during his weekly appearance with Dori Monson on 97.3 KIRO Radio.
The team enters Week 17 with a playoff spot on the line – the first time in seven years they’ve entered the final game without a playoff berth. But it remains within reach; a win by Seattle, and a Panthers win over the Falcons, will give the Seahawks the sixth Wild Card spot.
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“We’re in pretty good shape,” Carroll said of the team’s status ahead of Sunday’s matchup. “Unfortunately, Luke Willson turned an ankle in practice yesterday, and we’ve got to see how he’s going to do. But other than that, we’re in pretty good shape. Luke Joeckel didn’t practice this week, but should play in the game. Otherwise, we’re really in pretty good shape; we should be grateful for where we are this time of year.”
Rookie defensive tackle Nazair Jones will miss Sunday’s game with a high ankle sprain.
Carroll also gave an update on running back Chris Carson:
“He had a shot at that door, and he had a setback in his rehab and it didn’t bode well for him getting back. He was close, he was pushing it hard and getting ready… and he didn’t quite get through it, and so we kind of ran out of time. He’d have a chance the next couple weeks, but we gotta get going and keep winning and give him an opportunity to get back to us.”
Here are a few other notes:
• On Doug Baldwin’s separation from the line of scrimmage: “I can only tell you that he is extremely unique. The timing and the suddenness is one thing, but his ability to coordinate it and operate it in conjunction with the other player he’s going against, that timing, sense, feel, savvy, all have to play into making a move like that and leaving a guy in such a bad situation. He just has incredible timing and quickness, and it all goes together. And he shows you he’s got marvelous talent; he’s just a fantastic player.”
• On what his reaction would be if he was told at the beginning of the season Russell Wilson would be leading the team in rushing yards: “Well, I would not have thought that that would be possible with the guys we had coming out of camp going into the season. I thought we were going to be really a big running team. Chris Carson was the guy we had our sights on, and there’s a bunch of guys – Thomas (Rawls), and everybody we thought would have a shot – but as it’s turned out, because of the way the season has gone. And really, fortunately, Russell’s health and the marvelous offseason that he had to be prepared for it. He’s taken full advantage of it, but it’s not at all the way we had scripted it and wanted it to go.”
• On his conversation with Earl Thomas: “Well, I found Earl after the game, after I heard that that happened, he was getting IV’d after the game in the training room, and I sat down with him and said, ‘Do you realize what happened here by something you said?’ And he said, ‘What do you mean? What are you talking about?’
“He had no sense that that would’ve been something that would’ve been taken that way, you know, because he was just having fun and fooling around in the locker room with some guys that he knows. He was a life-long Cowboys fan growing up, so to beat them there in front of all his family and all that, he was pretty charged up about it and he was kind of having fun with it. So anyway, when I mentioned to him, I said, ‘I think your fans back home are going to really wonder what you mean by that,’ and he said, ‘No way, I’m a Seahawk,’ you know. So I said, ‘Just make sure that you clear the air here with what you thought.’ He really wanted to be emphatically clear that it didn’t mean he wanted to be on that team now, he was just having some fun and fooling around. But that’s how the media is, and it gets caught, and sometimes you have to go back and retract and try to help yourself out. He surely wants to send a signal to the 12s (about) how much he loves being here and how grateful he is to be part of our team.”
