Jordan Simmons’ significant knee injury on top of D.J. Fluker’s pain puts Seahawks on guard
The Seahawks have gone from on their way to the playoffs to on guard.
On right guard, to be exact.
Pete Carroll’s news on Monday that Jordan Simmons has a significant knee injury that is “going to be an issue” makes the status of starting right guard D.J. Fluker’s comeback from a strained hamstring even more important than it already was entering Sunday’s home game against Kansas City.
“He’s got a...we’ll let you know in a couple days for sure what’s going on, more so when we know, but he has a knee injury,” Carroll said. “He’s got a pretty good knee injury. It’s going to be an issue.”
That sounds like injured reserve is a possibility for Simmons.
He had a hard time taking off his shoe on the injured leg after he was face down on the grass at Levi’s Stadium late in the third quarter of Sunday’s 26-23 loss in overtime at San Francisco.
It was Simmons’ third career start, all in the last five weeks for the injured Fluker.
Fluker, the Seahawks’ best run blocker, has missed the last two games. He spent practice time last week riding on an exercise bike instead of practicing with teammates. He ran on Sunday at the stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., before the game Sunday’, and Carroll said that went well.
Asked Monday about whether Fluker will be able to play now that Simmons cannot Sunday night against the Chiefs, Carroll said: “We are going to know in the next few days. I can’t tell you right now. We’re hoping that he might have a chance.”
REALLY hoping.
The previous two starts were the first two in the NFL for Simmons, who entered the league as an undrafted rookie free agent with the Raiders in 2017. The Seahawks ran for 273 yards at the Rams last month. Last week, when Simmons started again, Seattle romped for 214 yards in a win over Minnesota.
All seemed well on Sunday as Simmons plowed lanes for lead back Chris Carson into the third quarter, on Carson’s way to 119 yards rushing. Then as Carson ran past him for a 5-yard gain Simmons rolled face-down into the wet turf. He sustained what Carroll said after the game was a “first-degree” knee sprain.
Those aren’t Seattle’s only concerning injuries. Strong safety Bradley McDougald, who has been one of the best and most consistent players on the remade defense, left the 49ers game in the first half after he forced a fumble that teammate Tre Flowers recovered. McDougald said after the game he had his knee tendinitis flare. It’s a condition he’s had for weeks.
How did McDougald feel Monday?
“Pretty sore,” Carroll said.
The coach added “It’s going to be all the way to the end of the week” before the team knows if McDougald can play Sunday against the Chiefs and their high-flying offense with NFL MVP candidate Patrick Mahomes throwing the ball all over CenturyLink Field. When McDougald was out against San Francisco, 49ers backup Nick Mullen succeeded throwing at replacement safety Delano Hill over the middle with tight ends George Kittle and Garrett Celek.
Kansas City has an All-Pro tight end: Travis Kelce.
Back to what Seattle might do at right guard Sunday if Fluker can’t play, with Simmons now sounding out for the Chiefs game and perhaps beyond: Ethan Pocic entered for Simmons against the 49ers. And the 2017 second-round draft choice showed why he’s been the third-string guard.
Pocic was called for holding that negated Mike Davis’ 19-yard run to the San Francisco 38 with 53 seconds left in regulation. Instead of being in winning field-goal range in a tie game, Seattle had first-and-20 at its own 33. The Seahawks punted a few plays later and the game went to overtime.
In the extra period Pocic basically tackled a 49ers defensive lineman about to break in on quarterback Russell Wilson on third and 4. That flag wiped out Wilson’s 32-yard pass down the right sideline to J.D. McKissic on third down. Seattle eventually punted, and never got the ball back. The 49ers scored the winning field goal on the ensuing drive.
After the game Sunday night Carroll in Santa Clara gave one of the most negative assessments you will ever here from the usually sunny coach: “He didn’t work out very well. He didn’t work out very well.
“I haven’t seen the call or anything like that so I can’t tell you (in detail). But we have to be in position and keep our hands inside and not give them a chance to call it.”
Monday, Carroll further assessed Pocic. And it wasn’t a ton better.
“He had a bit of a struggle on a couple of plays,” Carroll said. “He did some good things in the running game, and got in a bad situation on his pass set.”
Yes, Carroll was still thinking about Pocic’s critical penalty in overtime.
“(He) tried to save Russ by grabbing the guy. Nice thought. We don’t want to do that,” Carroll said. “Put it on Russ, you know. Russ has to move and get out of the way and get the ball off, and not go to that choice. Don’t go grabbing the guy.
“It was a legit penalty on that one.”
Pocic started the first two games at left guard this season. Seattle lost both those games when Pocic started, at Denver and Chicago.
If Sunday and Monday are any indication, the Seahawks don’t want Pocic starting a third game this season.
If Fluker isn’t healthy enough to return, Jordan Roos would be an option at guard.
The Seahawks made him a top priority in the spring of 2017 to sign as a rookie undrafted free agent, giving him a higher-than-normal signing bonus for an undrafted player of $20,000 . Roos appeared in seven games last season for Seattle. He is currently on its practice squad, and has been since the first days of September, after the team waived him among its final cuts of the preseason.
Pocic’s flags were two of Seattle’s 14 penalties for a team-record 148 lost yards Sunday against the 49ers. Another was the pass-interference call on cornerback Shaquill Griffin in overtime on second and 15 for the Niners. San Francisco got into position to get the winning field goal one play after what Griffin repeatedly said afterward was a “terrible call,” which he said came without explanation from the official who threw the flag.
Asked if he would or has coached Griffin to play that ball any differently in the future, a former college defensive back and NFL secondary coach and defensive coordinator said flatly: “No.”
“Oh, that’s a tough call,” Carroll said. “He knew what he was doing. He was trying to stay clear. You could see his hand off the guy on the whole thing, but the official saw it the way he saw it.
“Obviously, those are total judgment calls.”
The Seahawks (8-6) losing amid a team record for penalties this past weekend at 4-10 San Francisco doesn’t change what Seattle needed entering Sunday: one NFC win to make the playoffs. One more conference win would give the Seahawks all the tiebreakers over every other wild-card contender.
So they still have to beat Arizona (3-11) at home on Dec. 30 to assure themselves of a wild-card berth. That’s even if the Seahawks lose to the Chiefs.
If Seattle only beats the AFC West co-leading Chiefs (11-3) Sunday night at CenturyLink Field but lose to the Cardinals, they have no worse than a 95-percent chance to make the postseason.
According to a New York Times computer simulation of more than 90,000 possible outcomes for the final two weeks of the NFL regular season, right now the Seahawks have a 95-percent chance to make the postseason. If they beat the Chiefs that probability rises to 99.5 percent. If they lose to the Chiefs then beat the Cardinals, they clinch a berth, as noted above.
If they lose to Kansas City and lose to Arizona, the Seahawks still have a 61-percent chance to make the playoffs, pending what Carolina, Washington, Philadelphia and Minnesota do in their final two games. Losing their last two games would leave the Seahawks needing a myriad combination of losses by those other contenders to still get in.
Then there’s this non-math: If the Seahawks lose to both 49ers and Cardinals, two of the four worst teams in the league, with the playoffs at stake they don’t deserve to be in the postseason. And if they still get in, they won’t stay in longer than a day playing the way they did on Sunday in the Bay Area.
Giving away the game in Santa Clara on Sunday ended the Seahawks’ four-game winning streak.
“We’ve got to get crankin’,” Carroll said, “and get going again.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2018 at 5:47 PM.
