Skip to main content
Advertising
Presented by

Six Injury Updates From Pete Carroll's Week 5 Monday Press Conference

Pete Carroll shares injury updates on Chris Carson, Cliff Avril, Rees Odhiambo, Jeremy Lane and more during his Monday afternoon press conference.

The Seahawks saw four starters injured in Sunday's win over the Indianapolis Colts, including defensive end Cliff Avril, running back Chris Carson, cornerback Jeremy Lane, and left tackle Rees Odhimabo, and Pete Carroll addressed those setbacks and more during his Monday afternoon press conference at Virginia Mason Athletic Center.

Here's a look at what the Seattle head coach had to say: 

1. RB Chris Carson Will Have Surgery Tuesday

Chris Carson, who was placed on injured reserve earlier Monday, will have surgery Tuesday to repair "a really serious high-ankle sprain." Carroll also said Carson is battling a fracture that will heal without surgery and that the rookie has "an outside chance" to return this season.

With Carson now expected to be out for an extended period, the Seahawks will rely on Thomas Rawls and Eddie Lacy, as well as third-down backs C.J. Prosise and J.D. McKissic, to carry the load going forward. 

"We're so fortunate that if Chris has to sit out for a while that Thomas gets to step up," Carroll said. "That's just good fortune and good planning and all of that. Thomas is really raring to go and we're excited to get him to play. We love the way he plays. So he'll obviously get more attention coming up this week."

Due to numbers at the running back spot, Rawls and Lacy have both been healthy scratches in recent weeks. With Carson's injury, however, the pair is expected to compete for starting carries.

"He's handling it admirably, but he's frustrated because he wants to play," Carroll said of Rawls not suiting up this past weekend. "Like I tell you always, I wouldn't want it any other way. He wants to go, so he gets to.

"It's looked like we've had a numbers of guy there at the running back spot, how are we going to handle this, and it was uncomfortable to not have Eddie up or to not have Thomas up because those guys are ballers and they need to be playing. But here it is, now they'll be going side by side and battling it. I really liked what Eddie did yesterday, I thought he looked great. Maxed out his opportunities and looks like it's going to be a real nice fit for us and excited about that."

2. No Timeline On DE Cliff Avril 

Defensive end Cliff Avril, who exited Sunday's game after he "got hit on the chin and knocked back," is suffering from stingers, Carroll said, and the team will take its time to figure out exactly what Avril is dealing with.

"Cliff got a serious stinger in the game and it's going to be a while for us to figure out what he's got," said Carroll. "We're going to take the time to make sure we've got him clear and figured out, there's going to be some tests and stuff like that. I don't have any timeline on that at all, but we're going to take care of him and make sure that we take our time and do this really well to look after him."

Quinton Jefferson, a fifth-round draft pick by the Seahawks last year, was signed to the team's 53-man roster Monday to provide defensive line depth should Avril miss time. Jefferson took the roster spot vacated by Carson's move to injured reserve. 

3. T Rees Odhiambo Has A Bruised Sternum

Left tackle Rees Odhiambo played 100 percent of the Seahawks' offensive snaps on Sunday, but was taken to the hospital postgame after he had difficulty breathing.

"He's been released from the hospital, they took a good look at him," Carroll said. "He does not have a bruised heart, which is out there and whatever, somebody made that up, it isn't what he has. He's got a bruised sternum and he's fine in all ways and all that. We'll see what that all means. We're not sure what that means for the week. But it's nothing beyond that."

Carroll called it a "gallant" and "great effort" by Odhiambo to finish out Sunday's win over the Colts. 

"More than we realized," Carroll said. "He just sucked it up. He was having trouble breathing and he just sucked it up and it kind of caught up with him after the game when he started to calm down and all the adrenaline wasn't pumping and all. But it was a really good effort by him to hang tough and play a good football game like that. He played pretty good. He had some problems, as everybody does, but he played a pretty good football, particularly under the circumstances."

If Odhiambo is forced to miss game time, Carroll said "we'll have to wait and see" on which player would step in at the left tackle spot. Players like Isaiah Battle, Ethan Pocic, and Matt Tobin could be options. 

"Matt has really done a great job in pressing that he can do so many things," Carroll said. "He can play both sides, both guards, both tackle spots, he's played the big tight end for us. His experience has really shown and that gives us tremendous flexibility, which really helps. He and Pocic have been really important to us because of that flexibility. Isaiah Battle has been very impressive. He is a tremendous looking young kid. He's got a chance to be a really good player. He's growing with us, not as experienced, so he has to learn a little bit more of our stuff and our style and all that, but he shows very, very well in practice. He's a little bit like J.D. McKissic has shown us — you could see why this guy could play — and so we'll see how he does and we'll see what happens during the weeks ahead here, but I wouldn't be surprised if he does wind up playing some time and does a really nice job for us."

4. CB Jeremy Lane Has A Groin Pull

Cornerback Jeremy Lane suffered a groin injury in Sunday's game that the Seahawks are still trying to determine the severity of. 

"He has a groin pull that we need to see how severe that is and what that means for the week, I don't know," Carroll said. "It was enough to keep him out of the game, so they'll be some concern about that."

Subbing in for the injured Lane were rookie Shaquill Griffin on the outside and Justin Coleman at nickel corner, and both players could be in line for more defensive snaps if Lane is unable to make it back this week.

"I thought what was really good was the play of Shaq jumping up and playing corner and also Justin Coleman coming in at nickel, he did a really good job there," Carroll said. "That gave us a chance to play really good defense with those guys up, so if Jeremy can't go then those guys will step in."

5. RB C.J. Prosise Has A Chance To Play This Weekend

C.J. Prosise missed Seattle's Week 4 game with an ankle injury, but the running back went through an encouraging workout before the game.

"I looked at it in pregame and I was all fired up," Carroll said. "I said, 'come on, let's go. Let's go put your stuff on.' So he's close enough to show that well. Neiko [Thorpe] will be trying to get back too this week. We'll see how they go, but just judging from that workout I would be really surprised if he's not right in the thick of things to play this weekend."

In Prosise's absence, taking advantage of the opportunity was running back J.D. McKissic, who had two touchdowns in the Seahawks' 46-18 win. Carroll said McKissic will compete with Prosise for playing time.

"We're really fired up about that and he's just kind of the favorite around here because he just works so hard," Carroll said of McKissic. "What jumps off the film is how hard he covers kickoffs and the effort to lead the kickoff team down the field on most of the attempts yesterday, as well as even after his second touchdown he's the first guy down again. So he's just a ball player. He's got tremendous versatility and we're really excited to see him show something in the running game. He got a couple big runs, got smacked a couple times too, but he's got a little change of pace for us that really was obvious. We've seen it and we just needed to put him on the field and give him a chance.

"He's played in C.J.'s role, so we'll just continue to grow with that and we'll see how that goes and let the competition play out."

6. WR Doug Baldwin Came Out OK

Receiver Doug Baldwin was questionable with a groin injury heading into Sunday's game against the Colts, and Carroll noted the receiver "came out OK, fortunately."

"We limited his play some, he didn't play as much as he's been playing, we just took care of him," Carroll said. "He did really well when he had his chances and he came out fine, so that's a real positive going forward."

Head to the Seahawks' sideline for an up-close-and-personal look at players and coaches during Seattle's game against the Indianapolis Colts. 

This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an issue.

Related Content

Advertising