Seahawks Takeaways: What Carroll said about TE, OL and Reed’s return
Oct 14, 2019, 2:12 PM | Updated: 2:25 pm
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For a Seahawks win that pushed their record to 5-1 for just the third time in franchise history, there sure were a lot of questions coming out of Sunday’s game in Cleveland.
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Chief among those questions: What happens at tight end now that Will Dissly is presumed lost for the season with an Achilles injury?
The Seahawks head coach addressed that Monday morning on The Pete Carroll Show with 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny and Gallant, as well as many more topics regarding the team right now.
Here are takeaways from some of the more notable things Carroll covered:
Who steps up at TE for Seahawks?
It’s certainly bad news that Seattle will likely have to finish the season without Dissly, who is believed to have suffered a season-ending leg injury for the second time in as many pro seasons. But the silver lining is that the Seahawks have a veteran tight end who may be ready to return to action shortly.
That would be Ed Dickson, who has been on injured reserve since the start of the season while recovering from offseason knee surgery. Dickson, 32, would be eligible to come off IR after Seattle’s Week 8 game at Atlanta on Oct. 27.
“I was with Ed in the weight room this morning, getting after it making sure he’s full-go,” Carroll told Danny and Gallant. “We were looking forward to his return, now we need him to come back and it’s a little different with what’s transpired. The urgency’s there and hopefully he’ll be able to do this thing. He’s working really hard at it and what a fantastic opportunity for us to have one of our guys come right back to us in short order here. It could be great.”
The Seahawks’ tight end room has completely transformed from the beginning of the season. Seattle started with Dissly and Nick Vannett (and sometimes George Fant) at the position, but Vannett was traded to Pittsburgh and Seattle brought back Luke Willson between Week 3 and Week 4. Jacob Hollister, who was acquired in an offseason trade from New England, was promoted from the practice squad Friday to add some blocking help with offensive linemen Duane Brown and D.J. Fluker both injured.
As for Dissly, Carroll didn’t have an update on his condition but confirmed that the Seahawks fear his Achilles is ruptured.
“What’s so hard about it is he went through such a rigorous return from the last injury,” Carroll said in reference to the torn patellar tendon Dissly suffered in 2018, “and this is just a noted, long, rigorous cycle that you go through (if it’s the ruptured Achilles like we think it is). He knows how to do it, he’s got a great mentality for it. He was just unbelievably talking positive in the training room after the game about going through it, he would pull it off and all that. But such a heartbreak for the kid because he’s such a wonderful guy. A great player but he’s just a better person and player on the team. We’re gonna miss the heck out of him.”
State of the offensive line
By the sounds of what Carroll said about left tackle Brown, who was held out Sunday with a bicep injury first suffered in the Seahawks’ Sept. 22 loss to the Saints, Seattle may not be counting on the four-time Pro Bowler returning for next Sunday’s game against Baltimore.
“We’re hoping if he doesn’t make it back this week, he will the next week,” Carroll said. “We looked at it like it’s probably a two-week deal. We gotta look at Duane and listen to him and he has to tell us how he’s feeling and all.”
Carroll was happy with how the Seahawks’ line played against the Browns with Fant and rookie Jamarco Jones filling in for Brown and right guard Fluker, who was out with a hamstring injury. He also noted how with Fant playing on the line, it took away one of their tight end options, meaning more playing time for Willson and Hollister.
“What happened yesterday with George coming in, he had a big challenge on the edge with these guys. … Jamarco played another really consistent game. We also lost Diss and we also lost George playing tight end, so it was a double whammy there so that meant Luke and Jake Hollister had to step up and come through. You saw Joey Hunt in there as well a little bit. It’s not just one guy or two guys, it’s three guys and then the fourth guy, even. We took some real hits yesterday and the guys came through and continued to play well and gave us a chance.”
Carroll also credited the line for their role in running back Chris Carson rushing for over 100 yards in three straight games while also praising Carson’s recent performance.
“I think what’s really cool, when you look at the last three weeks, Chris’ performance has been exactly the same. He has just been totally on it. He is at his best. He’s ripping and roaring every time he gets the football, making big plays, guys missing, dropping tacklers everywhere. But the guys up front have continued to give us the opportunities to make those runs.”
Return of Reed
The Seahawks didn’t have a single sack in Cleveland, but Carroll wasn’t concerned about it. First, he said it had to more to do with Seattle’s game plan to deal with the Browns’ myriad of run-pass option plays. But secondly, the Seahawks get defensive tackle Jarran Reed back this week.
Reed, who had 10.5 sacks in 2018, was suspended by the NFL for the first six games for a violation of the league’s personal conduct policy. The violation was in regards to a 2017 incident in which police were called but Reed was not arrested or charged.
Carroll said Reed was ready to go bright and early on Monday.
“He was up in the office this morning and he was like a little kid. It’s Christmas for him,” Carroll said. “He’s so excited to be back. It was so hard to just sit and watch and wait and all that. He said he couldn’t sleep last night, so he was in real early today. We’re looking forward to it, everybody wants him back.”
You can listen to the full Pete Carroll Show at this link or in the player embedded below.
Follow 710’s Danny O’Neil, Paul Gallant and Michael Bumpus on Twitter.
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