There weren’t a lot of injury updates from Pete Carroll’s press conference Wednesday, which is always good news for a team late in the season. The Seahawks have escaped the last couple of games without too many injuries, and having a short break after the Thursday game had players feeling fresh on Wednesday.
One player the Seahawks will be keeping an eye on on the injury front is tight end Cooper Helfet, who missed the 49ers game with an ankle injury.
“He won’t practice today,” Carroll said. “We’ll see. He’s a day-to-day shot. Thursday Friday, he’s going to have to do something for us to show us he’s getting back before game day. I don’t think we can wait all the way until game day on his situation.”
Center Max Unger likely won’t be back this week, but is making progress from the ankle and knee injuries that have kept him out of the past two games.
“Max is improving,” Carroll said. “This morning talking to him, he’s getting encouraged that he’s making a turn here. He won’t practice today.”
Carroll sounded optimistic that cornerback Jeremy Lane would be back after missing Thursday’s game with a glute injury: “He’s practicing today, so we’ll see how he handles it.”
A couple of non-injury notes…
Asked who would handle punt returns, Doug Baldwin or Bryan Walters, Carroll said, “We’ll go through the week; those guys are always competing for that, and we’ll see at the end of the week how that turns out.”
Carroll said coaches weren’t able to get a good look at the Tony Moeaki 63-yard catch that was ruled down at the 1-yard line because they were hurrying to the line to get the next play off. In retrospect, however, Carroll wished he’d have thrown the challenge flag.
“I don’t think we saw a good look at it,” Carroll said. “As I look at it afterwards, I would have challenged it for sure.”
Carroll said he has been in contact with the league about the growing disparity in penalties called on the Seahawks compared to their opponents—Seattle has been flagged for 51 more penalties than their opponents.
“We have talked back and forth,” Carroll said. “I’ve called them on it just to make sure they’re aware.”
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