Ken Walker III, Al Woods Day-to-Day as Seahawks Face 49ers On Short Week
While the Seahawks did not practice on Monday following a 30-24 loss to the Panthers, with a quick turnaround battling the 49ers on Thursday Night Football on tap, it remains to be seen whether or not they will be closer to full strength against their bitter division rivals.
With the NFL requiring Seattle to release an estimated injury report on Monday due to a short week, running back Ken Walker III was upgraded to questionable after sitting out practice all of last week as well as Sunday's defeat. According to coach Pete Carroll, the dynamic rookie remains day-to-day as he works back from an ankle strain and he's expected to participate in the team's walkthrough on Monday.
"We're gonna go day to day here, see what happens. We'll see how he handles the walkthrough today and then we'll just take it one day at a time," Carroll said.
Per Carroll, Walker has been doing workouts with the Seahawks rehab team in recent days. But Monday will be the first time he gets to see him back on the field and if all goes well in the walkthrough, he may have a chance to return to practice on Tuesday, improving his odds of returning to face the 49ers in a crucial, must-win contest.
Without Walker and DeeJay Dallas, who also missed Sunday's game with an ankle injury of his own, Seattle once again was stifled on the ground against Carolina. Away from Geno Smith's 20 yards on three scrambles, the team produced a paltry 26 rushing yards from running backs and receivers on 11 carries, finishing with less than 70 total rushing yards for the third time in their past four games.
Much like Walker, Seattle also will be evaluating veteran defensive tackle Al Woods over the next couple of days to see whether or not he can suit up after exiting Sunday's loss with a heel injury in the third quarter. Once he exited, his massive presence in the middle was missed badly as Carolina had a field day rushing for nearly 150 yards in the second half to finish off a stunning upset.
Listed as out on Monday's estimate, Carroll indicated he has a sore Achilles linked to a previous injury, putting his status up in the air with limited time to recover.
"It looks like from what we can tell that this is somewhat of an old injury. It's not the Achilles rupture type thing, but he's got a sore Achilles today, so we'll need to see what happens, see how he goes this week," Carroll clarified.
Along with Woods, the Seahawks are holding out hope defensive tackle Shelby Harris will return to action in the next few days after missing Sunday's game with a flu-like bug that has ran rampant in the team's locker room over the past couple of weeks. Unable to turn the corner on Sunday morning after receiving IV treatment, he was a late scratch and missed his first game of the season.
Still under the weather on Monday, Carroll told reporters Harris wouldn't participate in the walkthrough later in the day. But he's keeping his fingers crossed that the veteran will make a swift recovery after 48 hours and be able to play on Thursday night.
"He's kind of at the tail end of it. We've had a number of guys that have gotten sick and he's kind of one of the last guys getting it hopefully. But we'll see. Each guy has been individually kinda tasked with it. We'll see if he can get through with it."
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