What ails Jadeveon Clowney, why Seahawks didn’t send him to specialist sooner, what’s next
The Seahawks’ news on defensive end Jadeveon Clowney’s injury is better than it could be.
So far.
The team’s top sack man who has keyed Seattle’s late-season revival of its pass rush has a sports-hernia injury. He does not need surgery. A specialist in Philadelphia recommended therapy instead.
That was coach Pete Carroll’s news following the Seahawks’ return home early Monday from Sunday’s 17-9 domination of the Eagles in Pennsylvania.
“It’s related to that, the sports-hernia stuff,” Carroll said. “That’s what he was treated for.
“We’ll see how the treatment took hold. He feels pretty good (Monday). I haven’t talked to him directly, but he’s passed along that he’s looking forward to playing this week.”
The Seahawks (9-2), a game out of first place in the NFC West behind San Francisco, have an extra day of rest and preparation before their game against the Minnesota Vikings (8-3) Monday night at CenturyLink Field.
Clowney flew to Philadelphia ahead of his team’s arrival there late Friday night for Sunday’s game at the Eagles. He was examined by Dr. William Meyers, a Philadelphia specialist. He is known for pioneering treatments on core-muscle injuries.
The Seahawks sent former stars Marshawn Lynch, Doug Baldwin and others to Meyers for sports-hernia surgeries.
Asked if the specialist determined Clowney needs surgery for his issue, Carroll said, “No.”
Clowney had dominated the offensive line for the previously unbeaten 49ers in Seattle’s game on Nov. 11.
Last week the Seahawks listed him as questionable to play against the Eagles because of a hip injury, and Clowney missed his first game since Seattle acquired him in a trade with Houston Sept. 1, days before the season opener.
Carroll on Monday clarified the injury is more in the abdomen stretching to the hip, a core-muscle issue Clowney got in the win at San Francisco before Seattle’s bye week.
So why didn’t the Seahawks send Clowney to see Meyers sooner? Like, in the 12 days between between when he got hurt during the win over the 49ers and Sunday’s game he missed against the Eagles?
“It didn’t show up as clearly. It wasn’t defined,” Carroll said.
That infers Clowney was away on his bye-week, away from the team knowing the extent of his pain.
“Often, that injury is hard to tell,” Carroll said. “Is it a hip flexor? Is it a groin? It’s always been that case. After you eliminate all the things it could be, it generally comes back to the sports-hernia thing. We’ve been watching this for years with different guys. It just took a while to realize that he’s going to need to at least get looked at by the specialist. We did that.
“They tried to treat it, in hopes that they could quiet it down.”
That is, instead of surgery. An operation would likely end Clowney’s debut season with Seattle. This is the final year of the contract and franchise tag on him that the Seahawks inherited from the Texans in the trade.
Carroll said the treatment Clowney, 26, got with Meyers set him back a few days and bothered him through last weekend. The hope is it will accelerate his healing for the longer term.
Clowney’s status will be an ongoing issue through Thanksgiving weekend and likely up until kickoff against the Vikings.
The pass rush Clowney will come back to is different than the one he got injured starring in against San Francisco.
It’s far more effective. And it’s changed the Seahawks’ season.
Edge rusher Ziggy Ansah finally had against the Eagles the game the Seahawks expected when they signed him for one year and up to $9 million in May. The 30-year-old former Pro Bowl end with Detroit had 1 1/2 sacks, two tackles for loss, two hits on Philadelphia quarterback Carson Wentz and a fumble by Wentz he forced. He had a third sack and second fumble by Wentz he forced negated because teammate Shaquill Griffin was penalized for defensive holding far away from the play.
Carroll said Ansah is heavier and stronger than he’s been in his sixth months with Seattle. Ansah was unable to lift weight and do normal offseason training all spring and summer because of shoulder surgery in December that ended his 2018 season and time with the Lions.
“He was aggressive. He’s always played with really good effort. He was more aggressive and physical,” Carroll said of Ansah in Philadelphia. “He was able to breakthrough some protection, was on the quarterback. We lose out the stats on the play that the great sack he had and a forced fumble, too.
“He was just more effective in all ways, but he was more stout. It just looks like he was just at a better level of the physical side of things. It was great to see.”
So, for the Seahawks, was Shaquem Griffin’s continuing emergence as a new speed rusher in the team’s nickel defense on long-yardage passing downs. He was an off-the-ball linebacker until his debut at rush end opposite Clowney at San Francisco. Griffin went from 14 snaps against the 49ers to 25 of the defense’s 76 plays in Philadelphia.
Griffin blew through the right edge of the Eagles’ line in the third quarter and forced Wentz to abort a pass drop and try an rushed, impromptu hand-off instead. The running back and Wentz botched the exchange as Griffin reached for them. Fellow end Quinton Jefferson recovered the fumble that bounced around, one of five forced by the Seahawks on Sunday. That was the most turnovers collected by Seattle in more than two years, and was directly a product of the pass rush that was missing its best man, Clowney.
Carroll said Griffin will remain a rare, 213-pound defensive end on passing downs, because of his threatening speed off the edge.
“He had some real flashy plays. The big forced fumbles that we kicked around and all the stuff that we did with that one, he initiated that play by being there. Kind of finished it, too,” Carroll said.
He chided Griffin for turning toward the Seahawks’ bench to celebrate while the fumble was still bounding and the play continued behind him. Griffin realized that, and got back into the back. He eventually received a lateral at about the Eagles’ 30-yard line from Jefferson that got called back when officials ruled Jefferson was tackled before that exchange.
“There was a moment in there where he was kind of leaving the action. He just kind of took a left turn celebrating and all that. Then he went back into it,” Carroll said, with a wry grin. “He’s trying to find his way a little bit. We’re trying to help him out and figure out how he can incorporate the style that he has. He can’t rush in traditional fashion. He’s 50 pounds lighter than other guys. They’d do the same thing. We’re working on it.
“It’s pretty exciting.”
Jefferson has remained steadily disruptive outside at end and inside rushing as a hyrbid tackle. Second-year man Rasheem Green awakened with a sack, a tackle for loss, two quarterback hits and a forced fumble by the Eagles.
But what Carroll and the Seahawks really want to see is Clowney returning to play with the renewed, stronger Ansah and produce together for the first time this season.
That is, after all, why Carroll and general manager John Schneider signed Ansah and traded for Clowney, after they traded away 2018 top sacker Frank Clark in the spring.
That pairing on the ends of Seattle’s defensive line remains on hold, pending Clowney’s reaction to his abdomen treatment.
“It’s what we kind of hoped for going into the season,” Carroll said of Clowney and Ansah finally producing for a pass rush that was 25th in the NFL with just 15 sacks over the first nine games. “You can see the results of what the pass rush factor is. It just makes it really hard on the offense to function at a high rate. Their quarterbacks numbers are in the 60s and 70s in ratings and stuff like that. That’s playing the kind of football that allows the ball to be available to you. That’s eight turnovers in the last two weeks.
“Those guys will just contribute more to it. They’ve got a little competition there. Griff’s making a move on them. He looks like he’s got some stuff that we can incorporate and keep developing that he can be a factor as well. You can see that when those two guys are going, we’ll be at our best.
“With Griff’s addition, too, with the things that he can bring, the speed that he injects is really valuable to us. I think it’s obvious when you watch the film or watch the games that he’s a factor. They’ve got to be careful, or he’s going to get them.
“Competition is a beautiful thing.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 7:22 AM.
