The Seahawks have a short week to prepare for a Thursday night game against the 49ers, but there is optimism that quarterback Geno Smith will be ready for that game despite suffering an elbow injury that knocked him out of Sunday's game in Los Angeles before he was able to return for the final drive of the game.

"We don't know much today yet," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said on his weekly show on Seattle Sports 710AM. "But it was a good sign that he could get back in and throw. He's going to be more sore today, we'll see how he responds the next couple of days, but it was a good sign that he was functional and could throw the football all right, so it was a good job by him getting back out there."

Carroll later added, "It's just seeing how soon it settles down, but it's a good sign that he's functional, that's not the issue, it's just how sore he is. He'll make it back."

Asked if that meant make it back for Thursday's game, Carroll said, "I would think so."

Carroll described the injury as a contusion and said there is not believed to be any further damage to Smith's elbow.

"He got hit on the tendon on his triceps, the bottom of his triceps, that's where the helmet hit the back of his arm," Carroll said. "So he had a contusion there, they don't think there's any damage other than that. But we've got to see how much it swells up. The docs were all over him all through the flight last night and all of that, so he's getting all the treatment he can get."

Carroll was not asked about any other Seahawks injuries in the game, including the oblique strain that knocked running back Kenneth Walker III out of the game, so there were no further updates there. As for Jamal Adams, who missed Sunday's game, Carroll said when asked if Adams would be able to play Thursday, "I think so, I'm hoping so."

On right tackle Abraham Lucas, who returned to practice last week, Carroll said, "He should be really close, we've got to see how it goes." Carroll did add, however, that the short week could make it more difficult for Lucas, who has been on injured reserve since leaving the season opener with a knee injury, to make it back this week.