As Seattle prepares for Monday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, one thing is clear: time is against them. Throughout Thursday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals, for example, the Seahawks suffered a bruising victory, and there may not be enough time to get players back on track before Monday.
Although the game played out the way they wanted it to, in the end, the Seahawks finished the night with a lot more injured players than the Cardinals did. At this point in the season, the Seahawks have now begun conducting walk-throughs in practice to avoid injuring other players and risk losing the healthy key players.
Despite playing it safe though, the team still has 13 players listed on their injury report as unable to practice, conduct run-throughs, and will likely have to sit out Monday’s game. This makes them the most vulnerable team right now in the NFC West.
So, who are the 15 players?
The 15 players reported on the team’s official injury report are: D.J. Alexander, Jimmy Graham, G Oday Aboushi, Michael Bennett, Luke Joeckel, T Germain Ifedi, Eddie Lacey, Paul Richardson, Jeremy Lane, Richard Sherman, Tyler Lockett, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Tre Madden, and Marcus Smith, who took a bone-crushing hit to the head just before the Washington game.
Of those listed on the injury report, Luke Joeckel has already been ruled out with a knee injury. According to the team’s reports, he should be expected to return in three to four weeks’ time against the 49ers, or Eagles.
Seattle’s head coach Pete Carroll also stated that Tre Madden will likely not play in the upcoming weeks after he suffered a pretty serious calf injury against the Redskins. Whether or not Madden will be out for more than one week is unknown. But if there is one thing fans love about their beloved Seahawks, it’s the fact that they like to operate their offensive run game with a fullback leading the way. One option the Seahawks could try is to implement former University of Washington Husky wide-receiver Marcel Reece into the mix. He was signed last year by the Seahawks and remained with them up until this year, but was cut when they decided to go with Madden (who’s now injured).
Marcus Smith will also likely miss Monday’s game after team officials conducted a concussion protocol in which Smith wasn’t able to pass, which forced him to sit out of practice on this past weekend. To fans, this might come as devastating news, but with lawsuits being filed at every level of the game over traumatic brain injuries – starting from middle school and up – don’t expect officials to take a chance with Smith.
Besides, the timeline for an athlete to return after suffering a concussion is usually anywhere from 7 to 14 days starting from the first day they reach their baseline, according to Ohio University. This will allow doctors and other team physicians to closely monitor Smith’s condition and keep him out of harm’s way.
Moving forward the Seahawks don’t seem to have a lot of updates on the other players just yet, mainly because head coach Pete Carroll hasn’t had the chance to meet with them.
The good news, however, is that the team listed Sheldon Richardson as “limited,” which means there’s a good chance he’ll end up playing against Arizona come game time. Richardson, who missed the entire Washington game after suffering an oblique injury in practice a few weeks ago is a much-needed asset at this point in the season.
