RENTON – The Seattle Seahawks could be playing without their two rookies on the right side of the offensive line for the remainder of the season.
A day after the team announced that right guard John Moffitt had been placed on the season-ending injured reserve list because of a knee injury, right tackle James Carpenter suffered a knee injury during one-on-one pass protection drills and had to be carted off the field during Wednesday’s practice.
According to the team, Seattle’s first-round pick in this year’s draft out of Alabama will be evaluated further and undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests.
If the injury is serious, losing Carpenter would be a huge blow for a Seattle offensive line that had played better in recent weeks, helping running back Marshawn Lynch churn out back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances for the first time with Seattle.
Moffitt, Seattle’s third-round selection in this year’s draft out of Wisconsin, and Carpenter started four preseason contests and nine regular-season games together, although Carpenter played the regular-season opener at left guard with Robert Gallery out with a sprained knee.
Reserve offensive lineman Breno Giacomini finished practice at right tackle with the first unit while utility man Paul McQuistan worked at right guard in place of Moffitt.
Lemuel Jeanpierre replaced Moffitt at right guard against Baltimore on Sunday, but the South Carolina product also serves as the backup center behind Max Unger, so coach Pete Carroll said McQuistan was a better fit as the replacement for Moffitt.
“He’s played before,” Carroll said of McQuistan. “He has a little more experience. Also, we have a situation with Lem (Lemuel Jeanpierre) where he’s the backup snapper in this game. We’ve got to make sure that with only two snappers available to us, we’ve got to make sure he’s available to us if we need him.”
McQuistan started three games at left guard when Gallery was out with a groin injury earlier this season.
In terms of Moffitt’s long-term prognosis, Carroll said the team has no specific time table on his recovery from the medial collateral ligament (MCL) and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) tears in his right knee, but the Seahawks are hoping that he can start doing some football-related drills in the early spring.
“The good thing is it’s not an ACL, so it’s a little different in that regard,” Carroll said. “So it might be a little quicker. Those are usually in nine months (or) eight months, in there. So maybe we get him a little bit before that. But we won’t know until they take a look at it. They can’t even operate on him for a while. They’ve got to let this thing calm down before they go after it. So we won’t know until they get in there and see what happened.”
INJURY UPDATE
Receivers Sidney Rice and Doug Baldwin and linebacker Doug Vobora were limited participants in practice on Wednesday. Safety Kam Chancellor was a full participant. All four players are suffering from post-concussion symptoms, but Carroll is hopeful that they will be available to play Sunday at St. Louis.
“We’re still going to take care of guys today – that would be Baldwin, Kam and Sidney, and Vobora too will be taken care of a little bit today just to double-check and make sure we’re right on that one,” Carroll said. “But those guys will be out there through the walkthrough and doing a lot of stuff. So they’re on the way back. It looks like there’s a good chance those guys will play.”
Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson (pectoral muscle) was a limited participant, and tight end Cameron Morrah (toe/knee) returned to practice as a full participant after missing last week’s game against Baltimore.
Defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove and safety Atari Bigby did not practice because of hamstring injuries.
Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437 eric.wiliams@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks
SUNDAY
Seattle (3-6) at St. Louis (2-7), 1:05 p.m., Ch. 13, 97.3-FM, 710-AM
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