The Pete Carroll Show: Russell Wilson got ‘banged up’

By Brady Henderson

“How are you guys doing?” Russell Wilson asked a group of reporters as he stepped to the podium Sunday evening.

Everyone was wondering the same thing about Seattle’s quarterback after he took another beating while leading the Seahawks to their biggest comeback in franchise history, a 27-24 overtime win over Tampa Bay. And while Wilson said he was fine despite taking a number of hard hits – including some from which he was slow to get up – coach Pete Carroll said he was feeling the effects a day later.

“He got banged up again,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said of quarterback Russell Wilson, who took a number of hard hits Sunday against Tampa Bay. (Bill Lennert, 710 ESPN Seattle)

“He got banged up. He got banged around,” Carroll told 710 ESPN Seattle’s “Brock and Danny” on Monday. “He’s sore today. Just walked out of the training room with him. He has a big smile on his face, he’s fired up and all that, but he got banged up again.”

The fact that Wilson wasn’t sacked Sunday for the first time this season belies the pressure he was under from Tampa Bay’s defense. That’s been a season-long problem for the Seahawks, who have played for over a month without their two starting offensive tackles. Wilson entered Sunday’s game having been sacked 27 times, which put him on pace to break the single-season franchise record of 52.

Despite that, he had not once appeared on an injury report nor at any point seemed slow to get up from a hit. For the first time this season, though, Wilson appeared to show the effects of some of that contact on Sunday. He got up noticeably limping after one hit, while another one left him flexing his left hand.

“He’s got an incredible attitude – which doesn’t surprise anybody – about dealing with it,” Carroll said. “So we’ll take good care of him and see if we can get him cleaned up and ready to go, polish him up for the weekend and play some ball again.”

Okung, Giacomini still at least a week away

Offensive tackles Russell Okung and Breno Giacomini will get some work in Monday, a step toward their returns to the field after missing more than a month.

“We’ll take advantage of this day to see where they are,” Carroll said.

Okung has been on short-term injured reserve since sustaining a torn toe ligament in Week 2 and cannot play until Seattle’s Nov. 17 game against Minnesota, which was the targeted return date Carroll mentioned last week. Giacomini, meanwhile, hasn’t played since Week 3 because of a knee injury. While he’s eligible to return at any time, Carroll said he needs to get through a week of practice before that happens.

“We’d like to get him back out there, and it’s likely a couple more weeks before we can get that done,” Carroll said. “But we’ll see how it goes, and we’re taking it day-to-day.”

‘A good sign’ for Harvin

Carroll gave another non-definitive update on wide receiver Percy Harvin, who has yet to make his Seahawks debut after undergoing offseason hip surgery.

“Percy feels better today than he has. I just left him. So that’s a good sign. He’ll run hard today, and we’ll just see what that means,” Carroll said.

Harvin began practicing with the Seahawks following their Week 7 win over Arizona. The team has another week to activate him to their 53-man roster from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.

“Again, it’s just day-to-day-to-day and we’ve just got to stay with it,” Carroll said. “We’re fine about it. It is what it is. We’ve got to continue to develop the rehab and see if [Harvin] can come out of it. It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. We’re not quite sure when yet.”

Follow Brady Henderson on Twitter @BradyHenderson.