Seahawks notebook: Thursday key for Percy Harvin

By Danny O’Neil

RENTON – Coach Pete Carroll had no news on receiver Percy Harvin, which may not be good news when it comes to his recovery from the concussion he suffered Saturday against New Orleans.

“He’ll see the doctors this afternoon,” Carroll said Wednesday just after noon. “I don’t have anything to update for you until after that.”

Percy Harvin

Harvin suffered a blow to the head on Seattle’s third play from scrimmage and was taken to the locker room to be examined for a head injury. He returned to the field and played the rest of the half, catching three passes and running the ball once before he was hit in the end zone and left with a concussion.

He will now be subject to the league’s protocol for being cleared to play. All symptoms of the concussion must disappear before he resumes exercising. Once he resumes exercising, he will be monitored to make sure his symptoms do not return. He can then practice, but will be limited, before again being monitored to make sure his symptoms don’t return before he is cleared to fully practice.

That makes Thursday an important benchmark for Harvin if he is going to be able to return in time for Sunday’s game.

Wright getting right

Linebacker K.J. Wright practiced Wednesday and has a chance to play this week as he returns from a broken bone in his foot, which he suffered Dec. 8 in San Francisco.

Wright was estimated to be out at least four to six weeks, and his recovery has been quick to the point that he was back on the field for the first time Wednesday.

“He went through the walk-through,” Carroll said. “He’s going to be practicing today. We’ll see what that means. We’ll go day-to-day to see how he progresses through the week, but it looks promising. He’s got a chance.”

Wright’s absence has been conspicuous the last two games he left with injury. He suffered a concussion in 2012 against Minnesota, leaving early in the first quarter of a game in which Adrian Peterson rushed for 182 yards.

Wright’s foot injury kept him from playing in the second half of the Dec. 8 game at San Francisco when the 49ers’ Frank Gore broke free for a 51-yard run to set up the game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter.

Familiarity breeds contempt

The third meeting between these two NFC West teams won’t be confused with a reunion. That would imply the players are looking forward to seeing each other, which isn’t exactly the case.

“There’s no love lost,” cornerback Richard Sherman said. “There’s no love found. It’s going to be intense. It’s going to be physical. I don’t know if there are going to be handshakes after this one.”

But this isn’t a personnel vendetta. It’s more professional than that, according to Sherman when he was asked when this rivalry intensified.

“When both teams started to find success,” Sherman said. “If both teams were 4-12 it wouldn’t be such an intense rivalry.”

The two teams have won a total of 24 regular-season games the past two years. Each has won a divisional title. Both have held serve at home in those two seasons, which is one reason the stakes are so high Sunday.

“That’s where you get rivalries,” Sherman said. “When both teams are firing on all cylinders. Both teams are winning ballgames and winning big ballgames. You start to become those kind of rivals.”