Most daunting Seahawks injury: center Ethan Pocic’s concussion on O-line vs. Aaron Donald
The Seahawks are still without their top running backs.
There’s an even more daunting issue at center.
Lead back Chris Carson (sprained foot) and second runner Carlos Hyde (strained hamstring) missed practice again Thursday, as they have since getting hurt Oct. 25 in Seattle’s overtime loss at Arizona. That again left Travis Homer, rookie DeeJay Dallas and last week’s practice-squad signee Alex Collins as the only available running backs.
Center Ethan Pocic, who’s been stellar replacing injured-then-released Justin Britt this season, was one of seven starters to miss practice three days before the Seahawks (6-2) get their next NFC West test at the Los Angeles Rams (5-3). Pocic got a concussion, apparently while playing every offensive snap in the team’s loss at Buffalo last weekend.
Kyle Fuller now is poised to anchor the line, make its pre-snap reads and calls—and often be nearly helmet to helmet with Rams All-World defensive tackle Aaron Donald on Sunday.
Gulp!
Fuller has not played a down on offense for Seattle in his three-year NFL career. He signed with its practice squad in Sept. 2019. His Seahawks career so far consists of 12 snaps in on special teams in two games this season. That was after the NFL suspended him this summer two games for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.
Fuller played his first two seasons in the league for Houston and Washington. His only two NFL starts have come at tackle, a total of 40 snaps over two games in 2017 for the Texans.
Yet quarterback Russell Wilson and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said they have confidence in Fuller debuting.
Maybe because at this point they need to have confidence in Fuller.
Wilson calls Donald the best player he’s ever faced. The quarterback smiled when it was pointed out to him the week you have to try to block Donald isn’t the best one to debut a new center.
“I know Kyle is ready,” Wilson said. “He’s been prepared. He’s had an unbelievable training camp. He’s done great ever since he’s gotten here. He’s extremely smart, played a lot of ball in college (at Baylor). So I feel extremely confident about him, too.
“He’s extremely athletic guy, string smart. I mean, he’s a wizard. He’s a wizard in terms of, you know, how he takes in information. He’s really special in that so I’m looking forward to Kyle had to step up, if that’s the case.”
Schottenheimer wasn’t any more revealing to whether Pocic can play Sunday. The league’s concussion protocol is a seven-day process.
“Kyle Fuller’s a guy we’ve got a lot of confidence in,” Schottenheimer said.
The play caller used the same word as Wilson—”unbelievable”—to describe Fuller’s first training camp with the team, in August.
“Probably one of the most improved players that we had,” Schottenheimer said.
“If he has to go and answer the call, we don’t have any question he’ll play well.”
Donald has 12 career sacks against Wilson and the Seahawks, including eight sacks in their last four meetings.
Cornerback Quinton Dunbar missed practice again with the knee injury that hobbled him throughout last weekend’s game at Buffalo, when Josh Allen threw for 415 yards while repeatedly targeting Dunbar.
Ugo Amadi was back fully practicing for the first time since straining his hamstring three weeks ago in that Arizona game.
That means D.J. Reed, the nickel for Amadi the last two games, could move outside to replace Dunbar as starting cornerback. Tre Flowers would be the other cornerback against the Rams.
That’s on the assumption Pro Bowl corner Shaquill Griffin misses his third consecutive game on Sunday. He missed practiced again while recovering from a strained hamstring.
This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 6:41 PM.
