Pete Carroll: Nolan Frese has high-ankle sprain, status for Seahawks’ wild-card game unknown

As if the Seahawks didn’t have enough issues with their kicking operation, here’s another one: long-snapper Nolan Frese has a high-ankle sprain and his status for Saturday’s wild-card playoff game against Detroit is up in the air.

That was the update Monday from coach Pete Carroll. He told “Brock and Salk” that Frese played through a “terribly sprained ankle” in Seattle’s regular-season finale against San Francisco. Carroll expressed more admiration for that than he did frustration with the errant snap from Frese that resulted in a safety.

“He couldn’t run at all, so he was just clomping around on a totally casted foot to get through the game,” Carroll said. “So the fact that he had a snap that got away from him, a lot of guys would not have finished the game, so I give him credit for really just battling through it and giving us the best he could.”

Frese said the injury occurred during Seattle’s first punt. He went to the locker room for evaluation and finished the game, but Carroll said the Seahawks were getting their second- and third-string long-snappers ready in case.

High-ankle sprains can often sideline players for several weeks depending on the severity, and it doesn’t help that the Saturday night playoff game will give Frese one fewer day to recover. Asked if there’s any concern about Frese’s availability, Carroll said: “I don’t know yet. I’ve got to see him today. I haven’t seen him today yet and I haven’t got the report from the docs yet, but it was bad. He had a high-ankle sprain.”

Carroll wouldn’t reveal Seattle’s backup plan at long-snapper, saying, “We’ll let you know.” Offensive tackle Bradley Sowell has some long-snapping experience, but he wasn’t an option Sunday because he was inactive. The FOX broadcast reported after halftime that backup linebacker Brock Coyle would have stepped in if Frese couldn’t go.

Carroll joked on “Brock and Salk” that the Seahawks may have to call Nate Boyer, the former U.S. Army Green Beret who spent some time with Seattle during the 2015 offseason as an undrafted rookie. That’s not happening. A reunion with Clint Gresham doesn’t seem likely even though that looks like the obvious move on the surface. He’s available, but that ship – for whatever reason – appears to have sailed. The Seahawks released him last March in a curious move that only resulted in a minimal net savings when taking into account what it cost to replace him with Frese, an undrafted rookie.

His snap that sailed well over punter Jon Ryan’s head for a safety in the third quarter Sunday was the latest miscue both for him and for Seattle’s kicking operation as a whole. It’s been shaky all season and particularly problematic in the last two weeks. Against Arizona, Stephen Hauschka missed one PAT try and had a field-goal attempt blocked while one of Ryan’s punts was deflected after a high snap from Frese and a breakdown in protection. Frese’s snap was also a bit high on the missed PAT, while Carroll said the issue with the blocked field goal was that Hauschka kicked the ball too low.

Carroll pointed to Hauschka’s trajectory as the issue again Sunday when his PAT was blocked following Thomas Rawls’ second-quarter touchdown run. That was the sixth miss in 35 extra-point attempts this season for Seattle and the fifth that’s been blocked. Hauschka was 4 for 4 on his field-goal tries against San Francisco.

Carroll said he’s “still counting on our guys” despite the issues.

“I’m not going in the tank on this thing at all. I think we’re fine,” he said. “Our guys are busting their tails, they’re really smart and sharp and all that. I think we’re going to be OK, but we certainly would like to get rid of the miscue of the play that’s happened the last couple of weeks.”

The other injury update Carroll shared with “Brock and Salk” was with running back C.J. Prosise, who’s been out since last month with a broken scapula. Carroll said there’s still a possibility that he could return at some point in the playoffs, which has been the team’s hope all along and the reason he’s remained on Seattle’s 53-man roster despite not playing since he was hurt in Week 11. But Carroll’s wording indicated that it could be next week at the earliest – if there is a next week.

“He’s getting close now,” Carroll said. “He’s got a scan tomorrow to see where he is and he might be a couple weeks away from playing if we can stay alive.”