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Earlier this week, Seattle coach Pete Carroll said his team will prep for Sunday's road matchup with the Cowboys as if star wideout Dez Bryant (foot) will suit up.
The Dallas receiver now has a few limited practices under his belt, his first workouts since going out of the lineup to injury in the regular-season opener, and in a Friday morning interview with KIRO Radio's Dori Monson, Carroll said the Seahawks expect to see Bryant, who's officially listed as questionable for this weekend's game, back in the mix.
"We think he's playing," Carroll said. "It sounds like he is and that's good for them and hard on us. He's a fantastic football player and a very emotional leader on their team, too, so they'll get a boost from him coming out there."
The last time the Seahawks and Cowboys squared off came in 2014 at CenturyLink Field, a game that saw cornerback Richard Sherman shadow Bryant on defense after Seattle's other cornerback, Byron Maxwell, left the game to injury. It's something Seattle has asked Sherman to do against more of against the NFL's top wideouts this season, with Sherman sticking to Cincinnati's A.J. Green for most of the Seahawks' Week 6 game against the Bengals and shutting down San Francisco's Torrey Smith in last Thursday's win over the 49ers. Carroll was asked what the Seahawks would do with Sherman if Bryant plays, but the Seattle coach wasn't ready to tip his team's hand.
"Well, we'll see," Carroll said. "We'll show you come game-time what our thoughts are and how we'll do that, whether we do or not. I know that you'd love to know that, but I'm not revealing it right now. Whatever we say here, Dori, is going out. So we'll just wait on that one and see what the plan is, but we do respect him a lot and we know he's a big factor for their team."
After Sunday's game at Dallas, the Seahawks enter a bye week that's followed by three straight games at home. Carroll said getting back to .500 this weekend would be the first step in setting up a potential late-season run.
"Well, we're really hoping, and it starts with this ballgame," Carroll said. "There's nothing we can do about the other ones yet, but what a rare circumstance to be able to play three times at home in front of the 12s is really a cool thing. So we're going to try to set that up with a big win and then we'll take a break and come back raring to go."
