As well as beaten, Seahawks were beat up

RT Russell Okung has only a bone bruise on his right knee and may be able to play Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, but WR Doug Baldwin had his front teeth knocked out and WR Charly Martin remains hospitalized in Phoenix with a collapsed lung.

Even though he’s uninjured, rookie QB Russell Wilson took a beating beyond sacks and rushes.

“He got hit a lot,” head coach Pete Carroll said Monday after the 20-16 season-opening defeat at Arizona.  “That’s more than we want the quarterback to get hit. We have to come together as a group and keep them off of the quarterback.”

The Seahawks took a pounding, and need to heal fast for Sunday, when the Cowboys come to Seattle for the first time since 2007 and just after they beat the Giants in New York.

Wilson was sacked three times, hit seven more times and took off running eight times. That was a lot of manhandling.

“He was under siege,” Carroll said of Wilson, making his regular-season debut.  “He really was rushed well. They didn’t get him as much as they rushed him, but they were around him a lot. It was a very difficult game for the quarterback because of that, and he saved us. we need to help him more by cleaning things up front.”

Asked whether the line had progressed from last season in pass blocking,  Carroll was tentative in his appraisal.

“I would like to have though that we were,” he said. “We felt like we had made a lot of progress (in training camp and preseason) and hoped that that wouldn’t be the issue, but it wasn’t as well equipped as we thought based on (Arizona’s pass rush).

“I think they had a lot to do with it. I think (Arizona tackle Darnell Dockett) was
really on it. He’s as good a player that we’ll play at that position. He was on fire and he gave us problems.”

Sunday was also the rookie debut of starting right guard J.R. Sweezy, and more importantly his first real game as an offensive lineman after a high school and college career on the defensive line. It was too much.

“He struggled a little bit,” Carroll said. “It was hard on him. He had Dockett all
over him. But it was the group communication and working together with all the pressure that they brought. We need to do a lot better handling it much more effectively.”

Carroll indicated that John Moffitt, last year’s starter at right guard who sat out the opener recovering from preseason elbow surgery, is ready to go and may end up starting Sunday.

Carroll said the Seahawks are scrambling to fill for Martin, who is listed as doubtful for Sunday. He  impressed in the preseason and caught an important 15-yard pass for a first down in the Seahawks’ final, futile drive for the game-winner. He was targeted on one pass in the end zone for the game-winner, but Wilson overthrew him and Martin was injured on the play.

“It was pretty serious,” Carroll said of the injury. “He’ll be (in the hospital) there until at least (Tuesday) if not the next day. We’re going to have to take care of Charly and bring him back. It’s going to be a couple of weeks for him.”

Even though the Seahawks expect the return of WR Golden Tate, Carroll was asked if the search for Martin’s replacement would include Kellen Winslow, the tight end who was surprisingly cut by Carroll after the preseason and before his $3.3 million contract was guaranteed. He failed a physical exam with New England and is a free agent.

“Everybody’s a possibility at this point,” Carroll said.

Carroll felt Wilson did all right in his first game, given the conditions.

“There’s things that he could’ve done cleaner at times,” he said. “He missed on some throws that, an inch here or there, might’ve been a more catchable ball for a guy. Guys had to make great plays on a couple of balls. So he wasn’t as sharp, but it was because he had so much pressure that he was dealing with. He’ll do better.”