Pete Carroll said Wednesday that receiver Sidney Rice has been cleared to return to action after taking a nasty-looking shot to the head on the final play of Sunday’s win in Chicago. Rice wrote on Twitter that night that he was fine and had been cleared, but Carroll said the next day that Rice would go through the league’s concussion protocol as a precaution.
Rice apparently got through that fine, and while Carroll said his leading receiver would be limited in practice today, he is expected to play against the Cardinals this weekend.
The Seahawks are also expecting to have Red Bryant available again after the defensive end surprised his coaches by fighting through a foot injury and playing last week. Bryant’s foot is still and issue, and likely will be all season, but Carroll said Bryant felt better this Monday than he did the previous Monday. Bryant won’t practice Wednesday (and it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s limited or sits out Thursday too) but Carroll said he’s anticipating Bryant will play.
Linebacker Leroy Hill, who missed last week’s game with an ankle injury, is progressing well, though he may have to battle to win his job back. Carroll praised the way second-year linebacker Malcolm Smith played in Hill’s absence, and when asked if there’s now competition at the weakside linebacker spot, Carroll responded, “Heck yeah, it’s on.”
Carroll said Monday that cornerback Marcus Trufant has a fairly significant hamstring injury and that it would be tough for him to get back this week. He had no new update on Trufant Wednesday.
As for James Carpenter, whose season ended when he was placed on the reserve/non-football illness list on Tuesday, Carroll said that decision was related to the knee issues Carpenter has been having. Carpenter’s rookie season ended because of a serious knee injury, and while he made it back ahead of schedule, that knee did give him problems this year, most notably when he came out of last week’s game after one series after experiencing what Carroll called “A sharp pain” in his knee.
And if you’re wondering why Carpenter was put on the non-football illness list and not injured reserve, that is because it didn’t suffer a specific injury in one game, but rather have a lingering issue that needed to be addressed. Basically, it’s semantics that don’t mean a lot other than the fact that Carpenter’s season is done no matter how you classify it.
Carroll said they do not believe Carpenter will require another surgery on the knee.
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