Seahawks coach Pete Carroll Saturday gave no further indication how much time Percy Harvin could miss because of a labrum injury in his hip, then backtracked on a statement he made to USA Today: “If you have hip surgery, it’s a lot longer than the season,” Carroll told the paper Friday. “Hip surgery, he’s not going to play for the season.”
Well, not exactly. Carroll acknowledged that safety Kam Chancellor played the entire 2012 season with a similar ailment (he opted against surgery). Harvin next week will head to New York to seek a second opinion regarding whether he will need to go under the knife.
“I don’t know that. We’ll just wait and see,” Carroll said when asked how much time the wide receiver will miss. “We know that there have been guys with a similar injury who play, and there’s been guys with a similar injury who don’t.”
The biggest takeaway from Carroll’s confusing statements: The severity of Harvin’s injury remains unknown.
“It wouldn’t necessarily be season ending,” Carroll said. “That’s one of the scenarios it could be, but the likelihood of getting back just depends on what they have to do. There’s a whole array of different circumstances — some guy make it right back, some guys take longer.”
Big Red is much better
Seahawks fans last season didn’t see the Red Bryant to which they had grown accustomed.
Gone were the smothered rusher, unexpected interceptions, fumble recoveries and occasional touchdown dances. The converted defensive end, once the NFC’s premier run-stopper, was often ineffective in 16 games as he struggled to cope with the plantar fascia injury in his right foot.
It began bothering him in the middle of the season — though he refused to complain — and Seattle’s run defense started to falter.
“It’s something that I don’t broadcast,” he said. “You have to deal with injuries all year.”
A big dude whose Texas drawl is much softer than his play, Bryant’s relative silence about the nagging injury created surprise among many, including right tackle Breno Giacomini, who had no idea he was less than 100 percent. The pair regularly compete against each other in one-on-one drills and during scrimmages.
“No, I didn’t even know he was hurt,” Giacomini said Thursday. “I swear to God. I couldn’t tell any difference.”
That’s the way Bryant prefers it.
“It was something I had to deal with at a crucial point of the season last year,” he said. “I’m just glad that it’s behind me now, and I can really just hit it running this year.”
Bryant wasn’t terrible in 2012, finishing the season with 24 tackles. But those numbers fell short of expectations after Bryant, 29, recorded 32 tackles and two interceptions in 2011, then signed a five-year, $35 million contract with Seattle. The 6-4, 329-pounder is in his fifth year with the Seahawks.
“I just rested, really,” he said of dealing with the injury. “That’s the only thing I really could do. It was really getting better and better. Right when we finished mini-camp and OTA’s, I knew I was finally over it.”
Despite the improvement, Seahawks GM John Schneider opted to scan the free agent market and sign Michael Bennett, a pass rushing defensive end who spent the last four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, he’s more than a high-priced (one-year, $4.8 million) insurance policy.
Bennett will provide a complement to Bryant on passing downs rather than potentially steal his playing time. In 2011, Bennett recorded nine sacks and forced three fumbles.
If Giacomini’s assessment is any sort of hint, Bennett’s ability to decrease the likelihood of Bryant seeing the field on passing downs has the Texas A&M product looking more like the player who blocked four field goals during 2011.
“He’s been good, man,” Giacomini said of Bryant. “He’s a strong, powerful dude.”
Other injury news:
• TE Zach Miller remains on the physically unable to perform list, but Carroll said his return is imminent, adding there is little chance he misses the season opener.
• FB Michael Robinson missed his second consecutive practice with what Carroll labeled a sore ankle. Carroll said it wasn’t sprained.
• WR Sidney Rice didn’t practice (rest), nor did rookie DT Jesse Williams (sore knee).
• The Seahawks put LB Korey Toomer on their non-football injury list. He was hurt while working out with his own trainers.
Seahawks sign injury-plagued linebacker
The Seahawks Saturday claimed linebacker O’Brien Schofield off waivers from Arizona. Schofield, 26, played in 35 games and made nine starts in three seasons after the Cardinals draft him in the fourth round in 2010.
He played in nine games last season and recorded four sacks, but was released Thursday by Arizona, a consequence of free agent defensive end John Abraham. Schofield, a cousin of former Seahawks wide receiver Bobby Ingram, last year tallied 34 tackles but had his season halted when he went down with an ankle injury in a game against the Packers. To make roster room, Jack Bscherer was released.
4 Comments
Harvin may as well wait to see if his him improves on its own since surgery would put him out for the year. And the M’s were aware of his health issues before they traded for him. What is it with those Vikings players? Rice only finally played a full season last year.
M’s?
add Tavaris to that list as well.
To T-Jack’s credit, he stuck through that entire 2011 season when he should have been on injured reserve.