From Arizona: Kenneth Walker now out for Sunday. The Seahawks’ plans without him are...
Kenneth Walker said immediately after their latest win that the Seahawks were at a season-high in belief.
They now need to believe they can win without their lead back and leading scorer.
Walker will not play Sunday when the first-place Seahawks (7-5) play at the second-place Arizona Cardinals (6-6) in a showdown pivotal to determining the NFC West champion. The Seahawks downgraded Walker from questionable to out on Sunday. That’s because of injuries to his ankle and calf he got while rushing 16 times for 49 yards last weekend in the Seahawks’ rally to win at the Jets.
Seattle’s leader with eight touchdowns in 10 games will miss a game for the third time this season. He had an oblique injury sideline him in September.
The Seahawks elevated rookie running back George Holani from the practice squad for depth in the game Sunday, behind fill-in lead back Zach Charbonnet. Kenny McIntosh is the other running back on the active roster.
Holani played in one game on special teams, week two at New England, before he went on practice-squad injured reserve. He recently returned to practicing.
Walker was not in on the goal-line plays when Seattle failed to score on five tries for the 1-yard line in the second half. And it was Charbonnet, not Walker, who ran 8 yards with the winning touchdown with 5 1/2 minutes remaining that beat the Jets.
Coach Mike Macdonald said Friday it was scheme and not Walker’s injuries that kept him off the field for those deciding scoring situations late in last weekend’s game.
“No. To my knowledge, he got out of the game fine,” Macdonald said. “Some of these things pop up later. It gets kind of funky. To my knowledge, I don’t think he was limited as the game wore on.”
Kenneth Walker and belief
After the Seahawks’ third consecutive win last weekend, Walker sat at his locker in the Meadowlands and talked about belief being a big reason his team rallied from down 21-7 early at the Jets — and for his team going from last place to first so quickly in the NFC West. Five games remain in the regular season.
“Yeah, I feel like that’s got something to do with team chemistry,” Walker said, showing no signs last Sunday postgame of being injured.
“We know the guy next to us has got our back. I feel like if we didn’t have that team chemistry it’d be easy to quit or give up, or blame the next guy. But instead, everybody rallied together.”
Sunday, they likely must rally behind quarterback Geno Smith throwing against the NFL’s 18th-ranked pass defense, and a Seahawks defense that has resurrected itself and the team’s season.
Even with Walker in the first meeting against Arizona two weeks ago, the Seahawks rushed for only 65 yards on 25 carries, a meager 2.6 yards per rush. The Cardinals often overran Seattle’s offensive line in that first meeting. They sacked Smith five times and intercepted him once.
Also on Nov. 23, Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams dominated Arizona left tackle Paris Johnson and left guard Evan Brown. Devon Witherspoon remarkably chased down quarterback Kyler Murray on a Cardinals fourth-down play, forcing an interception Coby Bryant returned for the game-turning touchdown. The Seahawks beat Arizona 16-6 at Lumen Field.
A win Sunday and Seattle will have in essence a three-game lead on the Cardinals with four games remaining. That’s because the Seahawks would own the head-to-head playoff tiebreaker, having beaten Arizona in both meetings this season.
“This is a road playoff game,” Macdonald said.
Michael Dickson situation
The punter is questionable to play because of back spasms. Those kept him out of the final 1 1/2 quarters of the Jets game.
The Seahawks on Saturday elevated punter Ty Zentner from the practice squad to be available if he’s needed against Arizona. Seattle signed the former Los Angeles Rams punter to the practice squad Friday. Zentner punted against the Seahawks last month at Lumen Field.
Macdonald called that move a “contingency plan.” The head coach and special-teams coach Jay Harbaugh both said entering this weekend they expect Dickson will be able to punt Sunday.
Sataoa Laumea’s 2nd NFL start
The one change on Seattle’s offensive line from that game: rookie Sataoa Laumea is now the starting right guard. He’s replaced Anthony Bradford. The starter in the first meeting against the Cardinals is on injured reserve.
Laumea is making his second NFL start Sunday.
“I think for Taoa, certainly the physical skill set’s been there and there’s been some things that we’ve been impressed with since day one,” Seahawks offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said.
“He’s coming from a very different system (last year at the University of Utah). So, I think just verbiage and terminology, pass-set structures, things like that, those things take a little bit of time. And so it certainly wasn’t just a week. This has been a process and something we’ve definitely been looking at and giving reps the Taoa for a while. We just felt like he was going to give us our best chance.
“He’s really like the last, I would say month, three weeks, really come on and just felt more comfortable in the offense and the calls and executed really well.”
Asked what he’s telling Laumea coming out of his NFL debut last weekend at the Jets, Macdonald said Friday: “Keep building, man. Got a game under your belt, you should have a lot of confidence.
“He’s had a great week of practice.. ‘Go throw your fastball.’”
Tre Brown hurting
The Seahawks added reserve cornerback Tre Brown to the game injury report Saturday. He’s doubtful to play because of a hamstring injury.
Brown could have been an option to be a new kickoff returner. The team waived their two kickoff returners this week, Laviska Shenault and rookie Dee Williams. They fumbled three kickoffs combined early in the Jets game to hand New York most of its 21-7 lead.
Signs are Charbonnet and perhaps newly added return man Jaelon Darden will be back deep on kickoffs in Arizona. McIntosh is another option.
“I’m ready,” McIntosh said.
This story was originally published December 7, 2024 at 6:57 PM.
