Seahawks expect K.J. Wright, Ed Dickson to make season debuts Sunday, but two defenders ill

Starters K.J. Wright and Ed Dickson are on track to make their season debuts.

But more members of the Seahawks’ defense are sick. And their rookie running back has another finger issue.

Coach Pete Carroll said before Wednesday’s practice that he expects Wright, his Pro Bowl weakside linebacker, and Dickson, his starting tight end Seattle signed this spring, to play Sunday at Detroit.

Both practiced Monday, then again Wednesday in what the team termed a limited fashion.

“I’m anticipating that he’s going to play,” Carroll said of Wright, “and Ed as well. Something’s going to have to come off where they don’t respond to the practice work that they’ve had.

“But it looks like they’re ready to go.”

Carroll also said defensive end Dion Jordan’s knee that has bothered him for years, including the two he’s been a Seahawk, “the best he’s been in a while, too.” Jordan practiced on a limited basis Wednesday.

First defensive end Frank Clark was sick with food poisoning then its effects that he felt while playing in the loss to the Los Angeles Rams and win over Oakland in London. Now defensive tackle Jarran Reed and special-teams mainstay Neiko Thorpe are sick, too. Reed missed all of practice, andThorpe missed parts of it, with “illness” designations.

Rookie running back Rashaad Penny was limited by a finger issue new since the Raiders game and last week’s bye. It’s unknown if it is related to the broken finger and surgery the first-round draft choice had in August that cost him the final three preseason games.

Being limited in a Wednesday practice four days before the next game is not usually newsworthy. But to be limited 10 days since the last game and after an entire week off away from the field during the bye is a tad peculiar.

Until Monday, Wright hadn’t been on the field since arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in late August.

His All-Pro partner at linebacker for the last seven years can’t wait to get Wright back playing next to him.

“He brings a lot to the team,” Bobby Wagner said of the only other Seahawks defender still around who played in their Super Bowls at the end of the 2013 and ‘14 seasons. “Another guy who has been through so much, been through the up and downs of this team, this organization. He has so much experience.

“(He’s) an extremely, extremely smart football player, very instinctive. We’ve been playing together for seven years, so we have a communication that can’t be replicated. He makes plays and he’s going to make adjustments and things of that nature.

“I’m extremely excited to have him back. I think the last time you saw him (in the preseason game at Minnesota in late August), he was making big hits (on a Vikings receiver) and all that stuff.

“So that’s what I’m expecting from him.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2018 at 7:23 PM.