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Pete Carroll Shares Seahawks Injury Updates Following 2019 Preseason Finale

Head coach Pete Carroll shares Seahawks injury updates following his team's 2019 preseason finale against the Oakland Raiders.

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The Seahawks finished the regular season Thursday night and now turn their attention to next week's season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, and the status of a few players for next week's game will be in question due to injuries.

Following his team's 17-15 win over the Raiders, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll provided a number of updates on those injured players.

Quarterback Geno Smith, who made a strong final push for the No. 2 job with his play, unfortunately came out of the game a bit earlier than planned due to a knee injury, the severity of which was not immediately known.

"We didn't put him back in to finish the half when we wanted to, because he got a little tweak in it, so we don't know what that's going to be," Carroll said. "We're going to check it out and we'll know more in the next couple of days."

Rookie safety Marquise Blair (back bruise) and linebacker Shaquem Griffin (knee) both made it back from injuries this week and played early in the game, but both were unable to finish because of those injuries.

"Just kind of the same injuries," Carroll said. "Marquise didn't make it through with the same hip-pointer thing kind of aggravated. And the same thing happened again for Shaquem with his knee, unfortunately. Not injured, but it just bogged down and couldn't finish the game for us. So we'll have to figure out what that's all about."

Asked if Griffin's injury, which first occurred in the preseason opener, could be a long-term issue, Carroll said, "I don't know that yet, but it has persisted some, so we'll see. I think we'll get him checked out again, an MRI on it again, just to make sure we know what's going on. It has been a little different injury than a normal knee injury. He got hit on it, and we thought bruised early on, but it just hasn't gotten well fast enough for us."

Carroll also gave updates on a few players who didn't play on Thursday.

Defensive end L.J. Collier

Collier, Seattle's first-round pick in this year's draft, has been out since early in camp with an ankle injury, but did go through a pregame workout and could return to practice on Monday.

"L.J. had a really good workout in the stadium here tonight, and it was really encouraging, really encouraging," Carroll said. "We come back on Monday and have a practice, he might get some work out there. I'm a little bit hopeful here, a little bit optimistic, but he might get work in that practice, and we'll see what that means."

Even if Collier practices next week, that doesn't necessarily mean he'll play in Week 1, Carroll cautioned.

"This is not the injury or the guy to rush," Carroll said. "He just hasn't been with us enough, so to think he's going to come in and save the day, I'm not doing that with him. We'll get him well and make sure he's well, but if we could get him back to practice, that would be really important for us. So we'll see what happens."

Guard Mike Iupati

Iupati, who has been sidelined by foot and calf injuries for most of camp and all of the preseason, is still hoping to get back next week. If he doesn't make it back, Ethan Pocic would get the start at left guard.

"Mike's going to be close," Carroll said. "Mike's fighting to get back and play in this game, as is George (Fant). They both want to, we'll see if they can pull it off. We're going to be fortunate to make that happen, but they're battling for it. Every day next week is going to be important. We won't know until Thursday or Friday, if they're successful in the first couple of days. We'll have to wait it out."

Defensive end Ziggy Ansah

Ansah, who had shoulder surgery last season that kept him from being ready for the start of camp, returned to practice last week, and remains on track to be ready for the opener.

"He went through pregame tonight, he practiced during the week, he'll practice this next week and he's ready to go," Carroll said. "The docs have given him the ready to go as long as he makes it through the days, so we'll have a plan on how to do that. I'm thrilled. This is a guy we expected to come in and be a big factor for us. He plays really hard, he's really a tough guy, and that kind of mentality coming along with the big ability that he has will fit really well, and we'll put that together."

Game action photos from the Seattle Seahawks' final preseason game of 2019 against the Oakland Raiders at CenturyLink Field.

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