Chris Carson returned to practice last week after a four-game absence hoping he could return to action. Instead, the neck injury that landed him on injured reserve did not respond as well as hoped, and now the Seahawks running back will have surgery and miss the rest of the season.

"Chris is going to have season-ending surgery so that he can get ready to play for next season," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "We went as long as we could, and he worked as hard as he could at it, and after just not being able to get it to happen and turn around, this is the best choice we got. So we'll look forward to him getting all of that taken care of and being ready for a big year next year."

Asked how much confidence he had that Carson will be able to play next year, Carroll said, "Every bit of it that he will. That's the whole reason that we're doing it now, and he's all for it. He just couldn't shake it. He tried like crazy to get it done, and this is so he can play next year."

Carroll said the injury isn't a long-term one that carried over from past seasons, saying, "There's just a little spot in one of his (vertebrae), he's got a rough spot in there that's irritating a nerve. … It's a wear and tear type of thing that developed. He has not had signs of it from the past."

Carroll reiterated a point he made earlier in the season that Carson's injury is not the same as the neck injuries that ended the careers of Seahawks Legends Kam Chancellor and Cliff Avril, hence the optimism Carson will play next season.

"It's different; it's not the same situation," Carroll said. "Each one of those guys had their own unique situation as well, and this one is uniquely different."

Losing Carson is obviously a blow for Seattle's offense, though they've been without him for five games now so it's not necessarily anything they need to adjust to this week.

"We've been kind of dealing with it for some time, so we've had to be prepared to move on, but Chris has been one of my favorite guys for a long time, ever since we found him and drafted him, all the style and toughness that he's brought to us," Carroll said. "He'll always been one of my favorite guys. Looking at that big 32, there's just something about the way he carried it that we obviously have missed all season. But we've got to go on, we've got to take care of him and get him right."

Since Carson went down with the injury, Alex Collins has been handling the lead role, with DeeJay Dallas, Travis Homer and Rashaad Penny all mixing in as well. With Penny in particular, Carroll said they're expecting the former first-round pick to take on a bigger role starting this week.

"I'm really looking forward to Rashaad, really looking forward to seeing where he goes and contributes this week," Carroll said. "He's got a really good role for us and we're anxious to see him get going. It's really his time to help us. As we go through the next couple of weeks, you'll see him continue to be a big part of it."