Seahawks’ Chris Carson, Shaquill Griffin, Ethan Pocic practice, ready to return at Eagles
James Brown was blaring again over the speakers throughout practice.
That’s one of 69-year-old coach Pete Carroll’s favorites. But that’s not why he was dancing.
The Seahawks’ head man was giddy over the return of Chris Carson practicing fully for the first time in a month. So giddy, Carroll practically bounded up to Carson during the players’ stretching at the start of Tuesday’s practice and began shadow boxing at his lead running back.
The punch is back in Seattle’s offense — just in time for another playoff push.
“Doing all the regular practice stuff today,” Carroll said. “So that’s a good sign.”
Good?
It could be vital, the key to Seattle’s offense in this final stretch of the regular season.
For the first time in more than a month, the Seahawks (7-3) expect to have Carson back in the backfield Monday when they meet the Eagles (3-6-1) in Philadelphia.
Carson, Pro Bowl cornerback Shaquill Griffin and center Ethan Pocic did all the work everyone else did in the 20 minutes media members were permitted to watch Tuesday’s practice. They will play for the first time in weeks against the Eagles.
Griffin hasn’t played since the same Arizona game Oct. 25 in which Carson got hurt. Griffin is coming back from a concussion and strained hamstring.
Pocic has missed the last two games while in an extended stay in the NFL concussion protocol.
Having Carson, Griffin and Pocic back is big for a team that remains behind the Rams in the NFC West on a head-to-head tiebreaker, pending a rematch in Seattle Dec. 27.
Though Carson hasn’t had a completely injury-free season in his four years with the Seahawks, he’s been their leading rusher. He has commanded attention from opposing defenses after finishing as a top-five running back in the NFL in yardage in both 2018 and 2019. He romped for a career-high 1,230 yards in 15 games last year.
His absence from Seattle’s backfield the past month has had a clear impact, particularly on quarterback Russell Wilson. Carson has been sidelined since October, when he left early in the Seahawks’ overtime loss in Arizona. He had five carries for 34 yards before a sprained foot sent him to the sideline in the second quarter.
He’s been inactive each of the four games since. Seattle’s backfield was averaging 129.5 yards rushing in the games Carson started. It has averaged 109 yards per game on the ground without him. And many of Seattle’s recent yards rushing have been from Wilson scrambling away from constant pressure from blitzing defenses who have disregarded the Seahawks’ feeble run game without Carson.
Without Carson, the Seahawks used a combination of backups Carlos Hyde — who also missed three games the past month with hamstring injury before returning against the Cardinals last week — Travis Homer (now sidelined by a hand injury), rookie DeeJay Dallas and practice-squad call-up Alex Collins. But mostly they’ve relied more heavily on the pass in a one-dimensional offense that’s so much easier to defend than the Seahawks are with Carson.
With opposing defenses constantly pressuring Wilson and ignoring depleted rushing attack, the quarterback had 10 turnovers in three losses. Carson was hurt for all three of the defeats.
In games at the Bills and Rams this month with Carson and Hyde still out, the Seahawks rushed for a 170 yards, total. Wilson got hit 34 times in those two games, committed seven turnovers and Seattle lost both to fall out of first place in the NFC West.
Despite the missed time, Carson remains Seattle’s top tailback with 323 yards on 66 carries with three TDs in the six games he has played. Wilson (55 mostly scramble runs, 367 yards, one touchdown) is the team’s leading rusher through 10 weeks.
But, with Carson healthy and ready to go this week, and Hyde coming off his best performance of the season (14 rushes, 79 yards and a score against Arizona) there’s reason for Carroll’s characteristic optimism and playful shadow-boxing while watching his running backs practice.
Finally.
Together, Carson and Hyde account for nearly half of Seattle’s rushing yards this season. Hyde has 45 carries for 204 yards and three touchdowns in five games. When they have played they have averaged 4.9 and 4.5 yards per carry, respectively.
The Seahawks also haven’t lost a game when their top two backs have both been healthy.
“For the first time we saw Chris and Carlos out there together in some time. That’s great to see,” Carroll said Tuesday, a bonus practice day coming off a four-day break after the Thursday win over Arizona. “That makes it a really full (running backs) room. These guys have been battling. They’ve been competing all the way through. ... The attitude that Travis and DeeJay bring to that room, and their ability to sustain through the time here when those other guys were out, it was real admirable.
“It’s just a terrific group. Chad (Morton, their position coach) does a great job with them. They’ve got great spirit. Practice like crazy when they go. And they’re all tough guys. So, it’s a great room. It’s a really, really big time room.”
Penny, Taylor updates
Running back Rashaad Penny and rookie defensive end Darrell Taylor have yet to return to practice.
Penny remains on the physically-unable-to-perform list. Carroll said he’d be surprised if Seattle’s first-round draft choice from 2018 was not practicing within two weeks. Then the team’s medical staff will reassess whether his knee reconstructed surgically 11 months ago has healed enough for him to make his season debut in the final regular-season games.
Taylor remains on the non-football-injury list. The team’s second-round pick in April was supposed to be its “Leo,” pass-rushing defensive end this season. He had surgery Jan. 30 to have a Titanium rod put in his lower leg following a stress fracture.
Carroll said the Seahawks were awaiting a latest doctor report on Taylor Tuesday before deciding when he might practice for the team for the first time.
“There’s still hope he’ll practice this week,” Carroll said.
Scarbrough surgery
Carroll said running back Bo Scarbrough needs season-ending surgery to repair a torn hamstring. Last week’s signing to the practice squad made his season debut in Thursday’s win over the Cardinals. On his final play his legs split.
Sullivan surgery, too
Stephen Sullivan’s rookie season also is over after one game played.
He needs surgery for a hip-flexor injury.
The seventh-round pick was drafted out of LSU to play tight end. Last month, before the Seahawks traded for two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Carlos Dunlap, coaches moved Sullivan to defensive end in practices. He made his NFL debut at defensive end Nov. 1 in Seattle’s win over San Francisco and made a play on his first NFL snap.
Carroll said his defensive and offensive assistants were “fighting over him.” But Sullivan is going back to tight end when he recovers from surgery into next offseason.
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Seahawks’ Chris Carson, Shaquill Griffin, Ethan Pocic practice, ready to return at Eagles."
