Renton – After three solid days of practice with no apparent setbacks, Seattle Seahawks head coach Jim Mora said starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is probable, meaning he likely will play in Sunday’s home game against Jacksonville.
Hasselbeck missed the past two games for Seattle – both losses – after fracturing a rib while attempting to scramble into the end zone against San Francisco on Sept. 20. He was drilled in the back on the play by 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis.
But Hasselbeck looked surprisingly agile during practice this week and will give the Seahawks an added boost in a critical game for his 1-3 team.
“Every day, he looked just more comfortable, more confident and less doing this kind of stuff,” said Mora, motioning to feeling on his ribs. “He seemed to be more focused every day on the plays he was running rather than how he was feeling.”
Wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh echoed Mora’s comments, saying Hasselbeck showed improvement each day.
“He looked good,” Houshmandzadeh said. “Everybody looks good when you ain’t got nobody who’s going to hit you. So hopefully it stays that way Sunday. But he looked good. Every day, I thought he got better.”
Houshmandzadeh said he’s played with rib injuries during his nine-year stint in the league and said it will be important for Seattle’s makeshift offensive line – playing without three starters – to keep Hasselbeck from taking any unnecessary hits.
“He’s healthy enough to play, but if you get hit in the right spot, you kind of go back to square one again,” Houshmandzadeh said. “Hopefully that doesn’t happen, but it will help us because he was our starting quarterback for a reason.”
Offensive tackles Walter Jones (knee) and Sean Locklear (ankle) and guard Rob Sims (ankle) aren’t expected to return to action until Nov. 1 at Dallas.
Brandon Frye will get his third start at left tackle. Mansfield Wrotto will go at left guard in place of Sims. And with Locklear out, Ray Willis will continue to start at right tackle.
“We’re light, obviously,” Mora said about the offensive line. “We’ve got six guys healthy that are on the active roster, and so we’re light. And so we’ve got to make sure that they stay healthy through this game.”
Trufant on the move
Cornerback Marcus Trufant continues to inch closer to a possible Nov. 1 return. Placed on the physically unable to perform list with a disk issue before the regular season, Trufant ran sprints on the field for the first time Friday, and he performed agility drills on a hill at the team’s facility.
Mora said he was pleased to see the 28-year-old defensive back making progress.
“Watching him stride out here today and run that hill, he looked good to me,” Mora said. “So we’ll see what they say.”
Extra points
Mora addressed a recent ESPN report that stated Aaron Curry had been fined $20,000 in the first three games of the season by the league for plays the league deemed unnecessary roughness or unsportsmanlike. “We’re not even in the top 10 in the league in fines,” Mora said. “So we’re not too worried about it.” Mora also noted that Curry hasn’t been penalized on the field for any of the plays for which he was fined. … CB Josh Wilson (ankle), FB Justin Griffith (knee) and LB Lofa Tatupu (hamstring) were full participants in practice and are probable for Sunday’s game. DE Patrick Kerney was a limited participant in practice and is questionable. Jones, Locklear, Sims and Leroy Hill (groin) are out.
Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437
eric.williams@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks
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