Seahawks’ CB Tre Flowers, RB Rashaad Penny questionable for Week 3

As he does every Friday before a game, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll joined Dori Monson on 97.3 KIRO FM to preview Seattle’s upcoming matchup.

Why you can’t assume a Seahawks’ win over Brees-less Saints

This week the Seahawks are facing a New Orleans Saints team that – for the first time since September 2015 – will start a quarterback not named Drew Brees.

The Seahawks are also dealing with a few injuries, but they’ll get a couple players back Sunday. Defensive end Ziggy Ansah is expected to play for the first time with his new team. Week 3 could also bring the return of defensive tackle Poona Ford (calf) and wide receiver David Moore (arm).

“(If Ford and Moore) make it all the way through the workouts and pregame, they’re going to go,” Carroll said. “They’ve had a great week. Thursday and Friday were good, hard days and they look like they’re going to play for us. We’ll go all the to gametime with it.”

Another injury – one to guard Ethan Pocic – affects depth on the offensive line, but the severity of that injury isn’t yet clear. He’s been officially listed as doubtful.

“Pocic’s a little bit more a concern,” Carroll said. “We’re not quite sure; he’s got a sore neck, so we’ve got to wait that one out. Again, we’ll use all the time that we can.”

Helping matters is the participation of starting guards D.J. Fluker and Mike Iupati. Fluker (ankle) was a limited participant in practice Thursday after being out Wednesday, and Iupati (foot) was a full participant after being limited Wednesday.

In a Friday afternoon press conference, Carroll added that running back Rashaad Penny is questionable for Sunday after injuring his hamstring in practice. Cornerback Tre Flowers (ankle) and safety Tedric Thompson (hamstring) are also questionable.

Here’s the injury report for Week 3:

Seahawks injury report for Sunday. G Ethan Pocic (neck) and CB Neiko Thorpe (hamstring) are questionable. DBs Tedric Thompson and Tre Flowers are questionable. pic.twitter.com/kaxBWa23H5

— Stacy Jo Rost (@StacyRost) September 20, 2019

You can listen to a short version of Carroll’s interview in the audio clip below. Hear the full interview at 12:30PM on KIRO FM.

Here are a couple quick highlights:

When you hear that Drew Brees won’t be starting against you, is there any disappointment because you want to see your team tested against the very best? Because on the other hand, a player like that gives your opponent the best chance to win: “I just naturally after all of the years and loving the guys that have played this game, you feel bad for anybody that misses their chance… when guys get hurt, it means so much to everybody that is involved as deeply. That’s a hard thing for any of us to swallow. On the other side of it, we’ve got to take what they deal us… (and) because he’s not playing doesn’t mean we’ve got these guys. Sean Payton is a great football coach and he’s got some stuff he’s going to do. I don’t have a clue what he’s going to do; I gotta guess until we see it. So he’s got an advantage he’s going to try to utilize. That’s all part of it.”

They lead the league in sacks, don’t they? “Yeah, they’re a really good all-around football team. Sean does a great job of getting guys playing hard across the board. The special teams is the best group that we’ve faced. Their defense is physical and aggressive. They lead with their sacks and their guys up front. They mix coverages, they make it hard. And then on offense, you might think they’re just a throwing team because of Drew Brees but they’re not. Sean has always respected running the football and he runs it aggressively. They run downhill and they attack you, they run on the goal line, they run in short yardage, because he wants to have his team built on that formula. So very well-rounded club.”

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