RENTON — For three straight weeks, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch has been held out of practice until Friday in order to rest various ailments, most notably the balky back that has bothered him throughout his career.
That would seemingly be problematic for a team that has to play a Thursday night game this week. But Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll says Lynch should be fine this week, even if he’s going to have to be ready to play a game on a day he hasn’t been practicing the last few weeks.
“We’re just going to go through the process and see how he does, see if he’s OK,” Carroll said. “That’s how we do it. We take good care of him, and he’s really smart about how he handles it. We’ll expect that he’ll be ready to go, and I know he won’t want to miss this thing and he’ll be ready to play.”
Lynch, who has a history with back problems, has been on the injury report with back, calf and rib injuries in the past few weeks. But Carroll said this year isn’t much different than past seasons when Lynch has been held out of practice at times to minimize the wear and tear on his body.
“This is how he’s endured the season, basically,” Carroll said. “… He’s played great, he’s just played great football, and he’s been able to respond every week. For any player, this is a challenge to get back Thursday. This is a huge physical challenge for these guys to come back Thursday night.”
As Carroll notes, playing on Thursday is a challenge for nearly every player. In a typical NFL week, Monday and Tuesday are dedicated to treatment and recovery, and practice and game planning don’t start until Wednesday. This week, the Seahawks and 49ers are cramming film study, game planning and a week’s worth of practice, albeit less physical sessions than in a normal week, in to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I hate Thursday games in general,” said defensive end Cliff Avril, who is used to playing on Thanksgiving, having spent five seasons in Detroit. “When you’re young it doesn’t affect you as much because you bounce back quicker. But once you get older, you start to realize your body doesn’t start feeling good until Thursday. So playing on a Thursday, you’ve got to rush the process. But what can you do about it?”
Injury update
With a short week, the Seahawks are fortunate to have come out of Sunday’s game relatively healthy. Carroll said tight end Cooper Helfet was “the one guy who came out banged up,” spraining his ankle on the fourth-quarter catch that gave the Seahawks their final first down before running out the clock. His status won’t be determined until late in the week.
Left guard James Carpenter, who has missed three games with an ankle injury, has a good chance to get back this week after he nearly was able to play in Sunday’s game.
“As close as you can get,” Carroll said of the decision on whether or not Carpenter would play against Arizona. “We labored over whether to go with him or not. … He was really politicking to get out there and play. But we just thought if he did, with a short week coming up, we wouldn’t get him to respond. He was that close and still would have results from this game, so we decided to hold him out and give him the best chance to be ready for this game and the ones after that.”
Cornerback Marcus Burley, “has a chance to get back,” after missing Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury, Carroll said.
The news is less encouraging for rookie linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis, who hurt his shoulder against Kansas City, and might be headed to injured reserve. While Carroll wouldn’t confirm that Pierre-Louis is out for the year, his comment of, “He’s banged up pretty good … He won’t be able to make it this week, and more news to come,” certainly indicates that a roster move could happen soon.
The status of defensive end Demarcus Dobbs, who missed Sunday’s game with a knee injury, won’t be known until late in the week, Carroll said.
Pass pro woes
With Carpenter and center Max Unger out, and facing a very good defense, the Seahawks pass protection was a bit of a mess, with Russell Wilson taking a season-high seven sacks. As you might suspect, Carroll said a lot of different things went wrong for his team to give up seven sacks.
“Oh gosh, this was a different game,” he said. “We got sacked seven times in this game, we had all kinds of problems. We got beat one-on-one, we had some scheme issues, we held the ball too long — to have that kind of onslaught, it took a lot of stuff. (Arizona) is a really, really difficult defense and they play good football. They caused a lot of problems, but they didn’t break us. … We found a way to move the ball.”
Carroll wouldn’t say if Patrick Lewis will remain the starter at center or if Lemuel Jeanpierre, who re-signed last week, would take over the job.
“We’ll find out. We’ll let these guys battle again this week,” Carroll said.
Shead “seized the moment”
DeShawn Shead was supposed to be blocking, not rushing on the play that resulted in him blocking a punt Sunday, but he took it upon himself to go off script when he realized the Cardinals were missing a player on their punt team. A day later, Carroll said he wants players to be willing to make such decisions when chances come up.
“When the opportunity presents itself, we want everybody in every position we have to go for it,” Carroll said. “I think that was a great illustration of that. His assignment told him otherwise. He saw the block for the return — he seized the moment, and captured it and took advantage of a great opportunity and took advantage of it perfectly. That’s savvy, confidence, and understanding our style; that was a great illustration of all of that. He made a beautiful play.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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