Duane Brown’s status an opportunity for season primer explaining Seahawks’ injury reports
The Seahawks officially listed Duane Brown as not participating in their latest practice with a knee injury.
Uh-oh. Seattle’s Pro Bowl left tackle and best pass protection missing with a new issue four days before the opening game against sack man Carlos Dunlap and the Cincinnati Bengals?
Well, not exactly.
The Seahawks’ public-relations staff had Brown walk into the team’s main auditorium before practice Wednesday to have a press conference. Brown talked eloquently about how excited he is to be reunited with his former Texans teammate Jadeveon Clowney, the pass rusher Seattle acquired from Houston in a robbery/trade Saturday.
The Seahawks don’t permit media members from talking to players who are iffy to play in the upcoming game because of an injury that concerns the team. Coach Pete Carroll is the lone official source of information on injuries and health of players, and he and the team don’t want individual players to talk about what Carroll hasn’t or won’t.
So Brown holding court with the media for 15 minutes in front of rolling cameras and live worldwide on the team’s website means he’s playing Sunday. He hasn’t missed a game due to injury in three years. His press conference is an indicator that although Brown may well have a pained knee—the 34-year-old just finished grinding every day through his 12th NFL training camp—he more likely got a veteran rest day. Carroll often gives those to starters at least one day per week during the season.
Often the listing under “injury” on the report for a veteran resting is “NIR,” not injury related. That also is what teams use for players whom Carroll excuses from practice for personal or family matters.
Brown’s official designation on Wednesday’s injury listing versus the bigger picture got me thinking the start of the season is a useful time for deciphering the Seahawks’ official practice-participation report you will see three days a week all season. The team is mandated by the league to issue the report on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday each game week of the regular season and postseason. The NFL tweaked the system a few years ago to be more descriptive on level of practice participation, and to eliminate “probable” from the official pregame injury report.
No one with the NFL or teams will say so, not on the record, anyway, but a large reason the league has injury reports and recently refined them is for bettors. Those guys and their money are keenly interested in these reports. So are fantasty football players, to whom the league more openly caters.
Let’s (try to) keep this as an intended guide for fans not wagering on the game.
If a player doesn’t practice at all, the league mandates he must be listed as “did not participate in practice.”
In Wednesday’s case, the others listed with Brown under that category are in jeopardy of missing Sunday’s game. Backup center Joey Hunt (high-ankle sprain) and wide receiver David Moore (non-displaced fracture in his upper arm) won’t play. Starting left guard Mike Iupati may not because of a sprained foot he’s had keep him out for more than a month.
Carroll said Iupati participated in Wednesday morning’s walk-through practice that goes over game-planning specifics, that Iupati has vowed he will play and that his progress through the week in practices will determine that. Ethan Pocic started all preseason for him and will again Sunday if the 32-year-old Iupati can’t.
Those morning walkthroughs are not subject to practice-participation or injury reports. Neither are the Saturday walkthroughs the day before games.
Any player who misses any segment of practice—most often a player coming back from injury who does individual position drills but not any 11-on-11, team scrimmaging or drills in the later parts of a practice must by NFL policy be designated as “limited participation.”
That’s a nuanced category for reading a player’s likelihood of playing that week. Consecutive days of “limited” become a concern. Many times banged-up player are “limited” for the fuller, occasionally shoulder-pads practice of Wednesdays (as this week’s was) and Thursdays then he returns for Friday’s light, no-pads walkthrough. That’s usually, but not always, a hint that player will play.
This category of gray area is where what the eyes and ears tell you from watching practices and listening to what coaches and players are saying are instructive—though Carroll’s relentless optimism glosses over the reality in some cases.
Clowney was on there for “limited...NIR.” It could have been “CBFH”—coming back from a holdout, all preseason in Houston. Wednesday’s was his second practice in 8 1/2 months, so of course he was limited. He’s playing Sunday.
Same with Ziggy Ansah, Seattle’s new bookend for Clowney at defensive end. Wednesday was his fourth practice with the Seahawks, since his season-ending shoulder surgery last season with Detroit.
The report listed DK Metcalf as “limited.” But Carroll said the rookie wide receiver did all the work in practice on Monday (which was not subject to the participation report). And the coach has said he’s been wowed by the second-round pick’s “fantastic recovery” from knee surgery Aug. 20. Nothing from the last two weeks suggests Metcalf won’t play in the opener.
Backup offensive tackle and extra run-blocking tight end George Fant (sprained ankle for the last month) and Shaquem Griffin (knee) are less certain to play. The rest of the week will give a better idea on them.
The other thing to look for on practice-participation reports are new injuries. Wide receiver Jaron Brown has a new toe injury listed, and he was officially “limited.” That warrants more information as game week continues.
Players who have missed time recently or have had recent injury yet practice in all segments of the workout—individual, group and team drills in their entirety—get “full participation in practice.”
That was Marquise Blair’s status Wednesday. The rookie safety and second-round draft choice is on track to return from a hip pointer to make his NFL debut Sunday.
Blair’s listed injury is officially “back.” That’s another lesson on the injury report. For accuracy, go with what Carroll has said. In this case, he has specified what the team first termed a back injury is a hip pointer paining the rookie’s back.
On Fridays (or Saturdays before Monday night games, Wednesdays before Thursday night games), teams submit to the league and release injury reports for that game. Those designations, described at the bottom of each day’s Seahawks participation report, have become decodable, too.
“Out” is self-explanatory; the guy isn’t playing.
“Doubtful” is by league policy defined as a 25-percent chance of playing. Under Carroll has almost always turned out to mean not playing. Starting right guard D.J. Fluker was officially doubtful for three games last season. He didn’t play in any of them.
Last season, Seattle listed a player as doubtful 16 times. Only once did that doubtful man play: habitually injured C.J. Prosise, of all people, in week four at Arizona. (The running back missed the final seven games of last season on injured reserve)
“Questionable” is technically a 50-50 chance by the league reporting policy. But the Seahawks’ trend is that guy is likely playing.
Doug Baldwin was listed as questionable four times in 2018 for his various injuries. The wide receiver played in three of those games. The exception was Dec. 10, a Monday night home win over Minnesota. Linebacker K.J. Wright was questionable twice last season coming off his knee surgery in August. He played in both those games. Lead rusher Chris Carson and Fluker were officially questionable for three games in 2018, and didn’t play in two of them. Starting safety Bradley McDougald was questionable five times. He played every time. Since-departed defensive end Dion Jordan was questionable for four games last season. He didn’t play in any of the four.
In all the Seahawks listed players as questionable 43 times last season. In 29 of those cases the guy played (67.4 percent of the time).
In 2017, Seattle listed players as questionable 53 times. That player participated in that week’s game 42 times (79 percent).
This story was originally published September 5, 2019 at 6:55 AM.
