Chris Carson returns to practice to run vs. Rams, Russell Wilson ‘pre-hab’ work on hamstring
As promised, Chris Carson was back to work.
One day after coach Pete Carroll said he was taking it easy on his lead running back and his sore hip before turning him loose on Thursday, Carson indeed was back practicing three days before the Seahawks’ mammoth NFC West test against the unbeaten Los Angeles Rams.
Carroll said Wednesday Carson should be “full go” in practice Thursday, but the team listed him as a limited participant, as he was for the three practice days last week before he missed last weekend’s win at Arizona. But Carroll said Wedneday of Carson “he’s going to be fine.”
Defensive end Frank Clark missed his second consecutive practice with what the team is listing as an “illness.” Carroll, the lone Seahawks source for injury information, doesn’t speak to the media from before Wednesday’s practice until after Friday’s. So the exact nature of Clark’s illness remained unknown.
K.J. Wright continued to remain out, though Carroll said the Pro Bowl outside linebacker continues to do more in his recovery from arthroscopic knee surgery in late August. Wright will miss his fifth straight game to begin the season on Sunday, with the hope he might be able to play next week against Oakland in London.
A potential concern in Wright returning then: the notoriously soft, sometimes messy grass soccer pitch at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Pro Bowl wide receiver Doug Baldwin (maintenance day on his recently sprained knee), starting right guard D.J. Fluker (knee) and starting strong safety Bradley McDougald (knee) were limited participants in practice.
McDougald’s injury was a new listing Thursday. He has a vital role to Seattle’s chances for an upset of the Rams. Los Angeles’ 35-points-per-game offense will be coming at him with Todd Gurley’s inside runs and Jared Goff’s many throws down and across the middle.
Russell Wilson is back on the injury list for the second time in two weeks with the same sore hamstring. The franchise quarterback who has never missed a game in his seven seasons as Seattle’s starter won’t miss Sunday’s, either. He said he’s been getting to team headquarters early each morning for extra treatment.
“I’m good. I feel great. I think just, they have to, like any (nagging pain they have to list it),” Wilson said, referring to NFL reporting rules. “I don’t call it rehab. I call it ‘pre-hab.’ Like in any pre-hab work, they’ve got to put it on there.
“So I’m up here early in the mornings getting work and stuff. But I feel great.”
Rookie tight end Will Dissly posted on his Twitter account his initial progress from the patellar-tendon injury in his right knee he got last weekend against the Cardinals. Carroll said this week the fourth-round pick from the University of Washington was heading to surgery.
He went on injured reserve this week and is out for the season.
Third-string tailback Mike Davis started for Carson last week, and duplicated Carson’s first career 100-yard rushing day with his own. So now the Seahawks have two styles of runners in what appears to be a 1 and 1A arrangement for the Rams’ massive and formidable defensive line of Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh and Michael Brockers. Carson is more of a physical, run-you-over runner than the shiftier Davis.
“He’s nifty, not that Chris isn’t,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said of Davis, who was Seattle’s starter late last season after Carson broke his leg in October. “Chris can make people miss. Chris will run over you, but Mike plays at a little bit of a different tempo out in space. He kind of sees things a little different than other backs. He’s very instinctive in space.”
Asked if the Seahawks now believe they have a more dynamic running game than eevn two weeks ago, when Davis was barely playing, more of a change-of-pace combination between Carson and Davis they can employ at the Rams, Schottenheimer said: ““I would agree with that.
“I think we have a number of backs that can challenge you different ways. That’s why it’s hard to get guys rolling sometimes. But I think we’ve figured that out the last two weeks that you go in with a mindset of ‘OK, this is the guy that we’re going to start with’ and if things don’t work out that way then you adjust. But Chris the week before got significantly most of the touches (32 carries), and then this last week, the plan was to let Mike go. A veteran player, let him get started, see how he does.
“And he didn’t disappoint.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2018 at 7:07 PM.