Iffy Seahawks O-line: Duane Brown, George Fant questionable for Sunday; Iupati doubtful
The left side of the Seahawks’ starting offensive line remains a question for their biggest game this season.
The team lists Pro Bowl veteran left tackle Duane Brown and his recent injury fill-in George Fant as questionable, plus starting left guard Mike Iupati doubtful for Seattle’s NFC divisional playoff game at the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
Coach Pete Carroll was especially vague and evasive following practice Friday discussing Brown’s and Fant’s possibilities of playing. He said they will be game-time decisions.
All he revealed on Brown “did some stuff” Thursday.
When I asked “what kind of stuff,” Carroll looked at me like a passerby looks at a guy on the street, with a silent head nod.
Carroll didn’t say it, but still getting the sense Brown is going to try to play Sunday.
Fant injured his groin last weekend in the wild-card playoff win over the Eagles. He was practicing some for the first time this week in the opening portion of the light, indoor practice open to the media, before the team left on its flight to Wisconsin later Friday.
“He has improved,” Carroll said.
Brown was not practicing for the third consecutive day, and third week since minor knee surgery Dec. 23.
Brown was on the field with his teammates for the start of stretching. Iupati did a few minutes of light position drills then departed the field.
Jamarco Jones made his first career start at left guard against the Eagles, and would again if Iupati can’t play in Green Bay. Carroll said he thought Jones played very well against Philadelphia, and is proving to be a strong pass blocker at guard.
If Brown and Fant can’t play, Chad Wheeler is an option the Seahawks really would rather not use as a Plan C left tackle. The team promoted Wheeler from its practice squad on Wednesday.
Wheeler was an undrafted rookie in 2017 out of USC who started five games that year for the Giants and Mike Solari, the Seahawks’ offensive line coach who had that same job in New York that season. Wheeler started 14 games at right tackle in 2018 for the Giants, who waived him injured before this season. New York gave him an injury settlement off injured reserve during this season. He signed with Seattle’s practice squad Oct. 15.
The Seahawks drafted Jones in 2018 to be a left tackle, the position he played at Ohio State. But he’s been immersed at guard since October, making his first three career starts there, two on the right side for D.J. Fluker and last week for Iupati.
The Seahawks list defensive end Quinton Jefferson, a consistent pass rusher this season, questionable with an ankle injury. But Carroll said it “looks like he’s going” to play Sunday.
Rookie safety Marquise Blair, lately a sixth, dime defensive back, is questionable for Sunday. He got a minor ankle sprain in practice Thursday. Carroll made it sound optimistic Blair will play.
Starting cornerback Tre Flowers is ready to play. He’s not listed on the injury report. He had been limited in practice Thursday by a new injury.
Fant has started the last two games for Brown, including Seattle’s victory at Philadelphia last weekend in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs.
The Seahawks want to have Fant back in his usual role as run-blocking tight end Sunday for their divisional playoff game at Green Bay. But that will only happen if Brown can play.
Rookie Travis Homer and returning hero Marshawn Lynch, Seattle’s top two running back the last two games in the wake of Chris Carson’s and Rashaad Penny’s season-ending injuries, ran for 19 yards on 18 carries combined against the Eagles. That was with Brown out, Fant in at left tackle and no one in that role of extra blocking tight end.
“It’s a factor. It’s a factor. We’ve been counting on that,” Carroll said this week of Fant averaging 17 snaps per game over the 12 games he’s been a blocking tight end this season. “We love that part of our game. We didn’t have that. It’s a difference. ...
“When you lose some aspects of your game, you’re not sure what the factor is going to be. It didn’t help us to not have that, I know that. We love that part of our game. ...We still would’ve used George playing tight end. Being 325 pounds at tight end, there’s a factor there and we’ve learned that.”
If Brown plays, and Fant goes back to his role of blocking tight end, the Seahawks will be better equipped to do what they must against Green Bay’s 25-sack duo of Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith: run the ball.
Dive into our daily Seahawks playoff digest:
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 2:25 PM.
