Russell Wilson, Dee Eskridge are off Seahawks IR to play Packers. Chris Carson remains out
The Seahawks will have two of three large, missing pieces to Shane Waldron’s offense back in Green Bay.
Russell Wilson will start at quarterback for the first time since he tore a tendon, dislocated and fractured two bones in the middle finger on his passing hand Oct. 7. He’s missed the last three games. Those have been the first three starts he’s missed in his 10-year career. Seattle (3-5) lost two of those games, and the game against the Rams, after Wilson got hurt in the third quarter.
Coach Pete Carroll said the Wilson was full go in practice Friday. He increasingly threw more and more effectively in the final two days on the field, before the team flew to Wisconsin Friday afternoon.
“I expect him to go just like he always plays. I don’t expect anything different. Nothing different,” Carroll said.
“He is pretty hungry to play football, now. He missed it. ...If anything, I’m just worried about that he’s too excited, too amped up.
“But he’ll be fine. Really, I’m just so impressed with how this thing has worked out, and that he’s gotten us to this point. Really fired up to see him play football.”
Dee Eskridge will also play Sunday against the Packers. The speedy wide receiver and Seahawks top rookie draft choice has been out since getting concussed running the second of his two fly sweeps Sept. 12 in the opening game at Indianapolis.
“Did everything,” Carroll said of Eskridge in practices this week. “He’s to be included in the plan. We can use him how we want to.
“He really had a great week and looked terrific.”
Wilson had a role in that.
Wilson recommended to Eskridge the specialist in Florida, Dr. Matthew Antonucci, who recently solved Eskridge’s lingering issues from the concussion. Antonucci once helped Wilson’s sister recover from a concussion.
“He saw (Pittsburgh Penguins hockey star) Sidney Crosby. He saw my sister, and he changed my sister’s life and Sidney Crosby’s life,” Wilson said of the doctor.
Wilson and Eskridge officially came off injured reserve onto the active roster Friday afternoon, so they can play Sunday. The Seahawks’ two corresponding moves to create roster room for them: putting Marquise Blair on injured reserve and waiving fourth-string tight end Tyler Mabry.
Blair, the safety and nickel defensive back, recently had season-ending knee surgery.
Carson remains out
Chris Carson will be staying on injured reserve.
Seattle’s lead running back practiced twice this week, but his long-term neck condition did not respond well enough to that work. He didn’t practice Friday. He hasn’t played since Oct. 3 at San Francisco.
“We don’t feel like it’s time yet, so we are going to keep him out,” Carroll said.
“He had two good, hard days. He just didn’t quite clear it enough. He’s dying to play, and all that. But we’ve just got to make sure that we are doing the right thing. So we are going to take care of him this week, and see what happens next week (before Seattle hosts Arizona).”
The neck condition warrants extra care, particularly for a running back that gets hit and usually hard every play, whether he is running with the ball, catching it or blocking.
Alex Collins will again start for Carson. Collins has been banged up with hip and groin issues for the last several weeks, but is not on the injured list for Sunday’s game.
Seattle is 21st in rushing offense and 29th in total offense through nine weeks of the season.
Care for Carson
Carroll said two weeks ago Carson needed to “make a turn” to play again this season.
Friday, the coach was asked if the team and its leading rusher are back to square one with the neck issue.
“He looked really good running the ball at practice. We banged him around some, so we could get a gauge on it,” Carroll said. “It just didn’t seem like it’s time yet where we’re sure where he is on it. I know he’s got the heart of a lion. He wants to go out there and do it. We’ve got to make sure we are taking care of him, so we want to use more time.
“Now that he’s been back, let’s get another week of practice and see what he looks like next week, and see how that fares.
“It’s not going back to square one. We’re really taking advantage of the fact we’ve got some stuff and information this time out. Let’s see how he responds next week.
“I just don’t think it’s quite right, time-wise, just yet.”
Tackle Al Woods, one of Seattle’s best and most consistent players on a shaky defense, is questionable for Sunday.
“A personal issue,” Carroll said.
Carroll said he expected Woods to travel to Wisconsin, and that it’s possible the 34-year-old veteran plays Sunday.
The Seahawks could use the run-stuffing Woods in the middle of their defensive line. Seattle is 25th in the 32-team NFL stopping the run. The Packers (7-2) have Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon in a formidable rushing offense. They have often controlled games with the run, letting Aaron Rodgers then exploit the Seahawks’ defense by throwing, during Green Bay’s nine consecutive wins over Seattle at Lambeau Field. The Seahawks haven’t won in Green Bay since 1999.
Wilson was 10 years old when Seattle last beat the Packers at Lambeau.
He’s about to turn 33 this month. This weekend he’s doing something he’s never done before: coming back after missing games.
He made 165 consecutive starts (including playoff games) to begin his career before his injury. His 149 straight regular-season starts to begin his 10-year career is the sixth-longest streak in NFL history.
Doctors told Wilson he would miss six to eight weeks.
He may wear a glove over his repaired hand Sunday in Green Bay, where the forecast for the game is temperatures in the mid-30s.
So what? Just the Super Bowl champion and owner of 26 team records being back in the huddle has the potential to revive the Seahawks’ season.
At least that is their belief.
“Well, he’s been pretty important player in all our history together,” Carroll said. “He’s played in this setting before. He’s played so much football, I just think it just gives us every chance to be at our best.
“So we are planning to start our second half off, and away we go. And what a great way to start it, against the team that is basically leading the NFC.
“It’s a championship match-up, for sure, for us.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 3:49 PM.
