Seattle’s offensive line spent Sunday in tatters
RENTON, Wash. – Hey you, can you play guard? That’s how zany it got for Seahawks vs. Oakland.
Injuries across the offensive line had coordinator Darrell Bevell and line coach Tom Cable ad-libbing between plays trying to determine what plays their fill-ins could run during the second half of last week’s win over the Raiders.
How crazy was it along the Seahawks’ makeshift offensive line last weekend?
During the third quarter of Seattle’s 30-24 victory over Oakland, after left guard James Carpenter sprained his ankle, the Seahawks had an undrafted rookie college tight end plus a former defensive tackle as guards (Garry Gilliam and J.R. Sweezy). They had a first-time starter at left tackle (Alvin Bailey). They had a rookie at right tackle (Justin Britt). Oh, and a fourth-string center whom they had cut weeks earlier (Patrick Lewis).
Between offensive series and then between plays, Bevell and Cable were talking to each other through their headsets on the sideline about which plays the fill-ins could or could not execute.
Cable walked onto the field at one point, turned his back to it to look at what linemen he had remaining available on the sideline, then began telling guys, “OK, you go to guard. You go to tackle.”
Just like a kid captain might on the playground.
“Yeah, there was some great communication going on,” Bevell deadpanned following Wednesday’s practice for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants, when the line may get back from injury center Max Unger and left tackle Russell Okung.
“We hadn’t been able to rep every one of those guys at the positions that they were at. We had to fall back on Tom a lot and say, ‘What do they know? What can they run? And where can we put them to make them successful?’ ”
When Carpenter got hurt Cable made the decision to replace him with Gilliam, whom Seattle signed this spring to be a tackle. Before Gilliam ran onto the field, Cable asked him a question.
“So how many plays do you know at guard?”
“That’s an example of what it was like,” Cable said Wednesday.
“As the game went on, we put Alvin at guard (and Gilliam at tackle). We were mixing and matching – depending on the play.”
So in that context, a sputtering offense in the second half is more understandable, if not acceptable.
Cable has coached for 27 years. He told head man Pete Carroll following Sunday’s game it was probably the most challenging one he’d had.
And he used to be the head coach of the Raiders.
“We’ve been lucky to train our guys,” Cable said. “But you don’t expect on Sunday morning to hear, ‘Well, he’ll be up (active) but it’s an emergency (basis only).’ And then James gets hurt. So you’ve just got to piece it together. Let’s go.
“But it’s a grind, with all the junk that goes on in there.”
DE Scruggs to IR
The Seahawks placed defensive end Greg Scruggs on injured reserve three days after he injured his knee against Oakland. Seattle claimed defensive end DeMarcus Dobbs off waivers from San Francisco to fill that spot on the active roster.
Dobbs, an undrafted free agent from Georgia in 2011, has played six games for the 49ers this season. He has been on their special-teams units as well as defense.
Scruggs missed all of last season following knee surgery.
There could be another roster move this week, if the Seahawks decide to activate nickel back Jeremy Lane off the IR-with-a-designation-to-return list.
Seattle may like his fill-in, this fall’s revelation Marcus Burley, so much it doesn’t need Lane as much as first thought.
Nine miss practice
Safety and key special-teams player Jeron Johnson was back at practice after missing last week with a concussion.
But nine teammates sat out the outdoors practice at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
Unger took what Carroll described before practice as a personal day. The coach expects his two-time Pro Bowl center to practice today and potentially play Sunday against the Giants for the first time in more than a month since he sprained his foot. Running back Marshawn Lynch got his normal Wednesday rest.
Carroll had expected safety Kam Chancellor (groin) and Okung (calf) to practice half of Wednesday’s workout, but the team listed each as not participating. Last week was Chancellor’s first missed game since 2011.
Doug Baldwin’s groin injury is apparently at least a tad more than minor, as Carroll had estimated it was following Sunday’s win over the Raiders. That’s a reason Bryan Walters is back on the team to return punts this week, after Baldwin did it on a fill-in basis last week. Carroll said the team re-signed Walters on Tuesday “to get him right back in.”
Stephen Schilling’s knee injury becomes a bigger concern if Unger doesn’t make it back to play against New York. Schilling’s injury is why Lewis started against Oakland.
Carpenter’s status for the Giants game remains iffy, at best. He was in a walking boot to begin the week.
Carroll said he walked off the field with his starting left guard during this morning’s walkthrough workout and Carpenter told his coach he had this same sprain on his same ankle as a senior at Alabama in 2010, so that gives the Seahawks’ training staff a precedent to treat his more recent sprain in hopes of getting him ready to play Sunday.