Seahawks DB Marquise Blair fractured kneecap in loss to the Saints, Pete Carroll says

SEATTLE – Seahawks third-year defensive back Marquise Blair suffered a fractured kneecap in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s 13-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints and will have surgery, coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday.

Blair “is going to have to get that cleaned up,” Carroll said during his radio show on ESPN 710 Seattle.

Blair has been rotating at the nickel corner spot with Ugo Amadi and played 15 snaps against the Saints before being injured.

It’s the second consecutive year Blair has suffered a significant injury as he tore an ACL in the same right knee in the second game and missed the rest of the 2020 season.

Blair was Seattle’s second-round pick in the 2019 draft, taken 47th overall out of Utah. But due to injuries and other factors, he has played just 22 games, and whether he plays again this year remains unclear.

After the game, Carroll said the only other injury was right tackle Brandon Shell reinjuring his ankle. Rookie Jake Curhan played the last play of the game in place of Shell. But Jamarco Jones would likely get the start Sunday against Jacksonville if Shell can’t go. Jones started at left guard against the Saints in place of injured Damien Lewis (shoulder).

But Carroll said Tuesday that both Lewis and defensive end Darrell Taylor (neck) should return for the Jacksonville game.

“They were close this week,” Carroll said. “Both those guys should make it back.”

Taylor suffered a neck injury against the Steelers on Oct. 17 in which he was carted off the field on a backboard and taken to a local hospital. But he was able to practice last week with what Carroll said turned out to be mostly “a stiff neck,” and Carroll had spoken optimistically of him playing.

Carroll said after the game Taylor did not have a setback but that it was just decided before the game to hold him out.

“No, he didn’t have a setback,” Carroll said. “He just didn’t turn the corner. And he was – it was such a positive kind of return with, all the good news that he wasn’t hurt seriously. But his neck still was sore. And it just didn’t – it didn’t go away. So he had a real stiff neck that he couldn’t shake yet. He’s really frustrated by it. Because he feels pretty darn good, but he just didn’t have his mobility and it wasn’t – he couldn’t play.”

Taylor, a second-year player out of Tennessee, leads Seattle with four sacks.