RENTON – Fans may presume that professional athletes receive the finest medical care. But if you’re looking to get understandable injury explanations from Seattle Seahawks players or coaches, don’t expect elaboration or specifics.
After injuring his wrist at Arizona a week ago, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck mumbled some gibberish about “radial … distal … something.” Turns out, he had two broken bones in his left wrist.
Top receiver Mike Williams was sidelined in Sunday’s 34-19 loss to New Orleans, and on Monday coach Pete Carroll reported that Williams’ health situation will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
“He did something very unusual to his foot. It might not be as serious as we had originally thought, but we’ll have to wait and see how it responds,” Carroll said.
Asked again later, Carroll vaguely expanded: “He was running down the field and felt something pop, so we have to have to find out … they know exactly what it is, and I can’t explain it to you. And they’ve never seen it before … something in the bottom of his foot.”
Perhaps it’s radial-distal-something of the foot.
Whatever is ailing Williams, it’s important that it heals, because he’s Seattle’s leading receiver with 52 catches.
Other health issues were the primary news out of Seahawks headquarters Monday. Veteran cornerback Marcus Trufant suffered a concussion in New Orleans and also will be “day-to-day” according to Carroll.
An ankle injury to left guard Chester Pitts could lead to some scrambling, because his backup, Mike Gibson, is rehabbing an ankle sprain. Carroll said Gibson ran in a workout Monday, but he’s also “day-to-day.” Another option would be to bump backup tackle Tyler Polumbus to guard.
Carroll’s film study of Sunday’s loss left him disappointed in the team’s tackling.
It isn’t something that’s shown up in other games,” he said. “Team-wise, we didn’t do a good job of hitting it all the way we like to, and wrapping up in a real fundamental sense. It’s something that we really have to work on; we can’t let that be a factor.”
The video did not help Carroll understand a roughing-the-passer call against Seattle’s Raheem Brock, which sustained a New Orleans drive in the first half, and seemed a pivotal point as the Saints padded their lead.
“It was a huge turning point in the game,” Carroll said. “I thought it was a normal football play. I don’t know what was wrong with that play.”
Carroll cited Hasselbeck for another fine performance, especially with his “radial-distal” injury in a cast. Hasselbeck passed for 366 yards with 32 completions in 44 attempts against the Saints, who entered with the NFL’s top-rated pass defense.
Because of Hasselbeck’s effectiveness the past two games, the Seahawks have veered away from the running game, Carroll said.
“A big emphasis on throwing the football has happened the last couple weeks,” Carroll said. “We wanted to make sure we were moving the football against the teams we were playing. That changes game by game, but in these last two games, we had reason to go for it (with the pass). The efficiency that Matt is creating for us, the completion percentage, the taking care of the ball, the conversion of third downs, those things are really sharp and it really livened up our attack.”
The goal remains to create a better run-pass balance, Carroll said, “but we have to try to win football games so we’re going to do what we have to do there, first.”
The Seahawks came out of the weekend ranked 29th in the NFL in offense and 28th in defense, but their 5-5 record keeps them atop the NFC West Division heading into Sunday’s game at home against Kansas City.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.