Seahawks Tackle Injuries Roberts Hobbled For Two Months After Operation To Tender Left Ankle

The Seattle Seahawks, trying to rebuild an offense that finished 24th in the National Football League, took a “blindside” hit Wednesday when they learned that left tackle Ray Roberts will be lost for the first three regular-season games.

Roberts, who protects the blindside of quarterback Rick Mirer, underwent an arthrosopic operation on his left ankle by Dr. Pierce Scranton. It was his fourth operation since he broke the ankle last December.

He will be on crutches for 10 days and will miss 6-8 weeks of action.

“He’s tried to play on it,” Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson said. “He’s a tough son of a gun. (Without surgery) it may heal or might not heal, but it can be really painful. He’ll miss three games and then be completely healed unless something else happens. Then we’ll have him the rest of the season for 13 games.”

Roberts’ injury wasn’t the only bad news handed to the Seahawks.

Right tackle Howard Ballard had a Magnetic Resonance Imaging test on his right knee Tuesday that revealed chronic cartilage problems but no damage to ligaments. Fluid was drained from the knee, and he might be able to play in Saturday’s exhibition opener against the St. Louis Rams.

Holdout guard Jeff Blackshear showed up at Seahawks headquarters Tuesday afternoon and loitered around the lunchroom visiting teammates. Instead of reporting to camp and signing a one-year contract as his agent (Ted Marchibroda Jr.) said he would do, Blackshear returned home.

The medical prognosis of injured linebacker Bob Spitulski was worse than expected. A Florida doctor operated on a torn patella tendon in Spitulski’s right knee Wednesday. Erickson said he might miss at least 10-12 weeks, almost a month longer than earlier reports.

“I’ve talked to a couple other coaches in the league the last couple days and they are just in as bad a shape,” Erickson said. “When you feel like you’ve got all the problems, call somebody else, which I’ve done. So I feel really good today.”

Roberts, however, felt terrible about his surgery news. Rehabilitation from surgeries consumed so much of his time that he was only able to spend about eight days this off-season visiting family.