Adrian Peterson won’t play for Seahawks at Houston. Quandre Diggs, Alex Collins will
After one game in, Adrian Peterson is out of the Seahawks’ plans.
For this weekend, anyway.
The future Hall-of-Fame running back has what any 36-year-old who got slammed into about a dozen times in his first game in weeks might have: a pained lower back.
Coach Pete Carroll said that will keep Peterson out Sunday when Seattle (4-8) plays at Houston (2-10) in the veteran rusher’s home state.
“Adrian, he had a lower-back issue that came up, just felt a little bit coming into Wednesday,” Carroll said Friday before the team got on its charter flight to Texas. “Then on Wednesday, he couldn’t go (practice). So we are going to hold him out.”
The Seahawks can afford to do that because the reason Peterson started last week in his Seattle debut no longer exists.
Alex Collins missed the team’s win over San Francisco last weekend with abdominal and groin issues through which he’d been playing the last month. Collins has been the fill-in starter for Chris Carson, who had season-ending neck surgery.
Collins practiced all this week and will be the lead back once again Sunday at Houston.
Peterson played 18 of 70 snaps last weekend against San Francisco. He rushed for 16 yards on 11 carries. Carroll and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron went out of their way to get Peterson his 126th career touchdown to tie Jim Brown in NFL history. They gave Peterson a rare fullback, Nick Bellore, in I formation for his 1-yard scoring run in the second quarter.
“We do have Adrian Peterson and you’re on the goal line right there,” Waldron said, “so you feel good about maybe getting a wide zone (run) — which is something that I think he has done a time or two in his career — to tie Jim Brown there. It was a pretty special moment there, pretty exciting, and it was great to see the reaction of guys around him, celebrating with him.”
Bellore said after the game Peterson, who signed Wednesday and played Sunday, likely didn’t know who he was when he entered the huddle before the touchdown run.
Waldron agreed.
“He might have been learning a couple of guys in the middle of the celebration, of who they were,” the first-year play caller said. “But it was a great thing and a great accomplishment by him. It was a great situation to come up and play in the game, and I was happy that it was able to play out for him.”
Travis Homer will not play at Houston. The third-down back who ran 73 yards past stunned 49ers for a touchdown with a fake punt on the game’s first possession last weekend has had calf and hamstring injuries in his right leg that did not improve this week.
Rashaad Penny will play. Seattle’s first-round draft choice in 2018 is coming off injured reserve last month — then his most impressive game of this final season of his rookie contract. He took a screen pass 27 yards from the right side of the field to the left past most of San Francisco’s defense. He also slammed into a 49er blitzing up the middle to give Russell Wilson time to complete a 17-yard pass into San Francisco territory.
Carroll loved that play. He showed it Monday in a team meeting as an example of grit, smarts, decisiveness and selflessness.
The question now for the often-injured Penny remains the same as it’s been for four years with the Seahawks: can he have a series of those performances without getting hurt again.
Sunday will be just the third time since he tore knee ligaments in Dec. 2019 that Penny will play in consecutive games.
“Yeah,” Carroll said, “it feels like the first time he’s been back to back in a while, (where) we really come back the next week and go again. ...
“I’m hoping that he will be a big part of it in the (Texans) game. Not telling you numbers or any of that kind of stuff, but I’m just real anxious for him to be a real part of it and see what he can contribute, in all of the different aspects of the plan.
“It was really good to give Alex the week, because he’s got kind of the nagging issue that he’s dealing with. But he made it through fine.”
More Penny?
Penny had 35 yards on 10 carries against the 49ers last week. Those were his most rushes since Dec. 2, 2019, the game before he ruined his knee running after a reception against the Los Angeles Rams and missed the next 12 months.
He had a 10-yard run into Niners territory in the fourth quarter. Then two plays later he romped with Wilson’s screen pass for the 27 yards for the second-longest reception of his career.
Carroll has been hinting this week it could be more of a 1 and 1A arrangement with Collins and Penny in carries in Seattle’s offense than it’s been yet this season.
After weeks of 10, 11 and 17 carries by running backs in three consecutive losses, Waldron gave the backs 23 rushes against San Francisco. The Seahawks, last in offensive plays and time of possession in the NFL all season, finally out-possessed an opponent. Their defense was on the field for 27 instead of 41 minutes, and rose up at the end for the goal-line stand that ensured the team’s second win in two months.
“Like always, I don’t care about who gets the ball the most,” Carroll said. “But what I will try to do is get a feel for who’s doing well, who’s got a good feel for it, and give them more opportunities as the game goes on.”
Diggs in
Quandre Diggs is listed officially as questionable with a calf injury.
But Carroll was direct in saying Diggs is playing in his home state Sunday.
“He’s going. He feels good,” Carroll said.
Diggs had his fourth interception of the season last weekend. He’s playing the final games of his contract. He’s wanted a new one from the Seahawks since before the summer.
His price to re-sign goes up by the game.
“Nobody can tell me I’m not the best in the league” at safety, Diggs said last month.
Shell out
Brandon Shell will not play at Houston because his shoulder injury that forced him out of last weekend’s game.
Undrafted rookie Jake Curhan from the University of California is likely to make his first career start Sunday. Curhan had to play left guard for the first time last week with starter Damien Lewis out injured. Lewis is back for Sunday.
Curhan has a been a right tackle most of this season in practices, so he is the choice there Sunday over rookie Stone Forsythe. Forsythe was a left tackle at Florida and Duane Brown’s backup all this season there.
Forsythe played right tackle for Shell against San Francisco only because Curhan had experience playing guard this past offseason in his first weeks after signing with Seattle.s
This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 3:09 PM.
