Hours after his Monday morning radio appearance on 710 ESPN Seattle, Pete Carroll met with reporters at Renton's Virginia Mason Athletic Center to update the injury status of free safety Earl Thomas and other key personnel.
Here's a look at what the Seahawks head coach had to say a day after his team's 41-38 win over the Houston Texans at CenturyLink Field:
1. Earl Thomas Is "A Little Sore"
Carroll said Thomas, who came out of Sunday's game with a hamstring injury, is "a little sore" today.
"We've looked at it," he said. "He's got a strain that we've got to figure out, may be on the lower level of the degree of it. We won't know, we won't know until late in the week."
Carroll said Thomas hopes to play in this Sunday's home game against the Washington Redskins, but the Seahawks staff plans to take care of him throughout the work week before making a determination on his availability.
"We won't know until we get going," Carroll said. "You saw his nature. His nature is just to go back out and play and that's what he plans on doing. But we'll take good care of him, figure it out, and it'll just be some days before we know."
2. C.J. Prosise "Will Practice This Week Is The Plan"
C.J. Prosise, who in last week's game aggravated an ankle injury that kept him out of two games earlier this season, was sidelined again for Sunday's contest against the Texans. Carroll said the plan is for the running back to return to practice this week.
"Talking about it today, what this week means, we really don't know until we get him out there," he said. "He will practice this week is the plan and then we'll just see by the end of the week how he's doing. He has continued to maintain a little bit of soreness from the high-ankle kind of indicators, so if we can get rid of that then he'll be fine. We're close. We're really close right now."
3. Justin Britt "Busted His Tail To Do His Stuff"
Justin Britt, who suffered an ankle injury in Week 7 against the New York Giants and was questionable for this past weekend's game against the Texans, wound up playing 100 percent of the Seahawks’ offensive snaps, though health-wise, the center wasn't 100 percent, Carroll said.
"You could see him, he tried, busted his tail to do his stuff, but the power wasn't there," Carroll said. "So he just wasn't as good as it has been. But his mentality about it, the smarts that he brings to it, the leadership that he brings to our group is, really, we can't replace it. And he knew that, so he stepped up and got the job done to get out there and play and did a wonderful job. He's one of our guys. He's right in there with all the guys that come through and do that kind of stuff, kind of blow you away, and he was able to be one of those guys yesterday, for sure."
4. It's A "Big Week" For Dion Jordan
After opening the season on the non-football injury list, Dion Jordan returned to practice last week and Carroll said this week will be the defensive end's first full slate of work.
"It'll be a big week for Dion Jordan," Carroll said. "He got to practice on Friday for the first time. This'll be his first full week of practice, we'll get a good evaluation. He really took it very well. He handled the work that we did and he looked good, so we're excited about that. I don't know what that means for this week, next week and all that. Short week coming up after, that would probably be possible. So we're getting closer. But he's got to make progress each day this week too, but it's a good sign."
5. Extra Points
- Carroll briefly commented on the status of left guard Luke Joeckel, who underwent knee surgery during the bye week, noting it could be another four or five weeks before he returns. "He's five weeks or something like that maybe before he gets back, maybe four weeks from now or something like that," Carroll said. "So it's going to be a while."
- Cornerback Jeremy Lane, in his first game back from a groin injury, played just eight percent of Seattle's defensive snaps against Houston after suffering a thigh bruise in the game. "He got a little thigh bruise that happened," said Carroll.
Game action photos from the Seahawks' 41-38 victory over the Houston Texans in Week 8 at CenturyLink Field.