Seahawks’ Carroll on Geno Smith: ‘He’ll make it back’ to play 49ers

Even though the Seattle Seahawks are coming off a tough 17-16 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, the first order of business on Monday morning was to get the latest on quarterback Geno Smith’s arm injury.

The Next Day: What’s sticking from another Seahawks loss to Rams

On the weekly Pete Carroll Show on Seattle Sports, the Seahawks head coach provided a promising update – but it took him a minute to get there.

The first question Seattle Sports’ Mike Salk asked Carroll was about the status of his QB, who missed three series late in Sunday’s win after taking a shot to his throwing arm but returned for a final drive to get the Seahawks in position to attempt a field goal.

“We don’t know much today yet, but it was a good sign that he could get back in and throw,” Carroll said. “He’s going to be more sore today. We’ll see how he responds the next couple days, but it was a good sign that he was functional and could throw the football alright so it was a good job in getting back out there.”

There is an urgency to Smith’s status because Seattle has just three days now to prepare for a huge Thanksgiving night game against the rival San Francisco 49ers (7-3), who are a full game ahead of the Seahawks (6-4) for the NFC West lead.

In the midst of answering a follow-up question about whether Smith would undergo a scan to determine the severity of his injury, Carroll let slip that he’s actually pretty optimistic Seattle will have its starting QB on Thursday.

“They’re taking a look at it but they pretty much know what’s going on there,” Carroll said. “It’s just see how soon it settles down. Like I said, it’s a good sign that he’s functional so that’s not the issue, so it’s just how sore he is. He’ll make it back.”

Catch that last part? Salk did, so he quickly asked: “By Thursday?”

“I would think so,” Carroll answered. “The challenge couldn’t be any harder. … He’s gonna play.”

So what exactly is the issue Smith is dealing with?

“He got hit on the tendon in the triceps, the bottom of his triceps – that’s where the helmet hit the back of his arm so he had a contusion there,” Carroll said. “We don’t think there’s any damage other than that, but we gotta see how much it swells up. The docs were all over him all through the flight and all last night and all that, so he’s getting all the treatment you can get.”

The Seattle Seahawks meet the San Francisco 49ers in a huge Thanksgiving rivalry meeting at 5:20 p.m. Thursday. Seahawks Radio Network coverage will be carried on Seattle Sports, KIRO Newsradio and the official Seattle Seahawks mobile app beginning at 2 p.m. with the pregame show.

The Pete Carroll Show with the Seahawks coach airs live at 9:30 a.m. during Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk the following weekday after each Hawks game. That will include this Friday following the contest with the 49ers. Listen to Monday’s edition in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• What They Said: What happened on key play before Seahawks’ missed FG?
• Seahawks Instant Reaction: Rams still have their number
• The Big Plays: Despite Geno’s heroics, Seattle Seahawks fall to Rams 17-16

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