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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Seahawks send Miller under the knife

Ankle surgery will keep TE out couple of weeks

Bob Condotta Seattle Times

RENTON – Seattle tight end Zach Miller played 71 of a possible 78 snaps when the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos in overtime on Sept. 21.

He did so on an ankle painful enough that last week Miller had arthroscopic surgery to repair what coach Pete Carroll called “some loose bodies.”

“It’s been bothering him for a number of weeks and he’s been playing with it and we just don’t want him to have to tolerate it any longer,” Carroll said. “See if we can fix him up and hopefully he will have a speedy recovery. Just a clean-up kind of thing.”

Miller, 28, had been listed on the team’s injury report before the Denver game after missing two practices due to the ankle, but then recovered well enough to play against the Broncos.

Miller will miss at least two games. Seattle plays at Washington on Monday and then hosts Dallas on Oct. 12. But Carroll indicated that Miller could return any time after those two weeks.

“We’ll give him a couple of weeks and then we’ll go week-to-week and see how he does,” Carroll said of Miller, who is fifth on the team in receiving with six catches for 76 yards and also is a valuable blocker. The 6-foot-5, 255-pound Miller is in his fourth season with Seattle.

In the meantime, Seattle appears content to go with backups Luke Willson and Cooper Helfet. Carroll said the team brought in “a lot of people” for tryouts, but hasn’t found any options better.

“We would like to stay with all of our people, banking on the communication and the system working for us,” he said. “So we are going to get it fixed right here.”

Carroll called it “a really great opportunity” for Willson to get a starting role for a few weeks.

It’s not an entirely new role, though. Willson started two games last year as the first tight end when Miller missed games at Indianapolis and against Tennessee with a hamstring injury. Willson also started five other games when Seattle began in two tight-end sets and has eight career starts. He also started the Green Bay game this year as a second tight end.

Willson has one catch this season for 1 yard, but receiving is considered his strength. He had 20 catches for 272 yards last season, including a 39-yard touchdown at San Francisco.

The bigger question for the Seahawks is how well they will replace Miller’s blocking. Miller has been considered one of the better blocking tight ends throughout his eight-year NFL career. He has been called on often this season to help protect against edge pass rushers, particularly on the right side where Seattle is starting rookie tackle Justin Britt.

But Carroll says Willson has improved across the board since his rookie season.

“He’s tougher and faster than he was a year ago because of the offseason,” Carroll said of the fifth-round pick in 2013 out of Rice. “So in every way he has improved. But this is a lot to ask of him. This is the first time he’ll have this kind of duty. But it’s his turn to step up.”

It could be an even bigger opportunity for Helfet, in his third year out of Duke. He had not played in an NFL game before the win over the Broncos. He spent last season on Seattle’s practice squad, then made the 53-man roster out of training camp. But Heflet missed the first two games with a knee injury before seeing time on special teams against Denver.

Carroll said Helfet is healthy now and that “he’ll be integrally involved. He’ll be all over it.”

Seattle has some other options, if needed, such as tackles Alvin Bailey and Garry Gilliam, who each have experience playing as an eligible tackle/extra tight end.

Gilliam, who made the roster this year as an undrafted rookie, began his college career at Penn State as a tight end before moving to tackle in 2013, catching eight passes for 86 yards.

Notes

• Safety  Kam Chancellor came back well from the bye week and the ankle injury that slowed him against San Diego. “He looked great today,” Carroll said. “It was an issue a couple of weeks ago. He … did a really good job last week and played great football and looks fine today.”

• Carroll said CB  Tharold Simon continues to recover well from knee surgery and is “only a couple of weeks” from returning.