RENTON – Early in the day Wednesday, the Seattle Seahawks had strong hopes that oft-injured left tackle Sean Locklear could be a viable contributor in the game Sunday, when the Seahawks play host to the Detroit Lions at Qwest Field.
Locklear was scheduled to return to practice with the team, having missed basically the prior six weeks with a high ankle sprain.
However, by the end of practice, those hopes seemed to have evaporated, and Locklear appears unlikely to play except on an emergency basis.
The fifth-year tackle did a few individual drills early in practice, but did not participate in any team drills. Then he left the field.
While Locklear wasn’t supposed to practice fully, his performance did seem to temper some of the optimistic comments coach Jim Mora made before practice during his weekly Wednesday press conference.
“I need to see him function at a high level by Friday and we’ll work him into it rather slowly. Today, he’ll be (doing) individual stuff, the installation stuff. We’ll see where he is, maybe get him a few snaps here and there, ramp it up tomorrow and hopefully ramp it up Friday. But it’ll be good to get him back on the field practicing with the team in a team environment rather than on the side.”
However Locklear got no team snaps, and offensive coordinator Greg Knapp didn’t sound optimistic about Locklear being a key contributor against the Lions.
“He can come back, but realistically to have him start and play would be hard to ask of him and I don’t think would be fair to him,” Knapp said. “He could possibly be the third guy for us. We want to see him the next two days and evaluate his practice and see how he recovers from a full practice.”
Locklear suffered the injury in the second game of the season, and hasn’t played since.
However, the team doesn’t seem to be desperate to rush him back. While the Seahawks have patched together a starting offensive line each week, the five starters last week against the Cowboys – Ray Willis, Max Unger, Chris Spencer, Rob Sims and Damion McIntosh – remain relatively healthy, meaning the Seahawks could have the same starting five in back-to-back games for the first time this fall.
Tatupu speaks about injury
Seahawks middle linebacker and defensive captain Lofa Tatupu talked to reporters for the first time since traveling to Alabama last Thursday to have surgery performed on his torn left pectoral muscle.
Tatupu, who was injured in the second quarter against Arizona on Oct. 18, traveled to Alabama to see Dr. James Andrews last week. He said he was leaning toward having surgery but planned to keep his options open, hoping he would not need surgery and could play through the injury.
However, Andrews advised Tatupu that surgery was his best option to maximize his playing career.
Tatupu said he’ll be in a sling for about a month. After that, he hopes to get back to training drills and prepare for next season by starting the team’s offseason workouts.
Tatupu said he’s ready to serve as a mentor for others, now that he’s on injured reserve for the rest of the season.
“It’s a role that I accept,” he said. “I’m one of the captains on this team. It was tough for me to leave last week just to get surgery, to leave my men. So I hope that they let me travel with the team and be around the team as much as possible.”
Mora noted that Tatupu attended an early film session and sat next to David Hawthorne, his replacement, and rookie Aaron Curry to offer advice.
“This is my life,” Tatupu said. “I love this game, but at the same time I’m frustrated I can’t be out on the field with my guys.”
Branch downplays incident
After catching a 23-yard touchdown pass in Sunday’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys, wide receiver Deion Branch, in the midst of his celebration, looked into the television camera and said: “Y’all come find me. … Anybody want me, come find me.”
The unknown context and meaning of that statement led to a 48-hour flurry of speculation on sports talk radio and the Internet. Much of the presumption was that Branch was somehow asking to be traded (though the NFL trading deadline for this season has passed) or released.
Branch tried to explain himself on his weekly radio show with fellow receiver Nate Burleson on KJR-AM, saying it was a misunderstanding and he just wants to win and wants to retire a member of the Seahawks.
On Wednesday, he met with the media to discuss the incident and its effects.
“A big misunderstanding,” he said. “What you all hear is not what’s coming from me. I just want to win, I want to play and that’s the bottom line. When you’re 2-5, a lot of stuff you hear, it may sound different, but the meaning of that is not that.”
What exactly Branch meant, no one was certain and Branch really didn’t give a great explanation, saying only:
“The way it sounded, trust me it didn’t come out that way. I didn’t mean it that way.”
Branch has two years remaining on a six-year, $39 million contract he signed in 2006, after he was traded from the New England Patriots. He is scheduled to earn $5.47 million in 2010 and $5.95 million in 2011.
Eric D. Williams contributed to this report.
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483
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