RENTON — The Seattle Seahawks’ euphoria from winning their first game of the 2015 NFL season was tempered a tad Monday because of continuing concerns about the health of running back Marshawn Lynch.
Lynch, Seattle’s workhorse back, suffered a hamstring injury while catching a fourth-down pass late in the first half of Sunday’s 26-0 victory over the Chicago Bears at CenturyLink Field. Lynch did not return, and Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll revealed Monday that Lynch needed an MRI to determine the extent of the damage.
“He’s getting (an MRI) today for sure on his hamstring, and he had one — I don’t even know what day that was now, they did his leg,” Carroll said during his Monday press conference at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
Lynch had already been questionable for Sunday’s game because of a calf injury that necessitated the first MRI. Though Lynch was activated, he needed extra time to warm up and did not emerge from the locker room until nearly eight minutes had elapsed in the first quarter. He ended up carrying the ball five times for 14 yards in the first half, then did not return in the second.
“We’re taking care of him and rehabbing him,” Carroll said. “His hamstring seemed to bother him a little bit in the middle of the game, and so we’re going to just take care of that. Fortunately we have an extra day (the Seahawks play on Monday night next week), that helps a little bit. But we really won’t know until we start practicing.”
Carroll said he believes Lynch’s calf injury was resolving itself, but now the Seahawks are playing the waiting game on Lynch’s hamstring.
“We’ve just got to wait and see,” Carroll said. “We’ve got a couple days here to figure it out, and usually he goes light on the Wednesday, which would be on Thursday this week, so he’s got some time to figure it out, and we probably won’t know until Friday. The MRI will be important, though, when we get the results back from that.”
In Lynch’s absence, third-string running back Thomas Rawls filled in admirably. Showing off an ultra-aggressive running style, the undrafted rookie out of Central Michigan University ran for 104 yards on 16 carries. All but one of those carries came in the second half when Seattle’s offense picked up the pace following a pedestrian first half.
Rawls was a somewhat surprising selection to deputize for Lynch. It was thought veteran Fred Jackson, signed just before the season started after he was cut by the Buffalo Bills, was brought in just for this type of situation. But Rawls ended up with 16 touches versus just four for Jackson, and Rawls justified the coaches’ faith.
“He’s very aggressive, and he was looking for hits downfield,” Carroll said of Rawls. “He’s not looking to make a guy miss as much as he is to go run right at you. Through the line of scrimmage he’s got nice wiggle and all that, but he’s got an attitude that he wants to let you know he’s coming, and that’s what I got excited about. He made a lot of yardage in college, of course. But it was more the way he did it, and that was what he did yesterday. On one of those runs right in front of our bench he popped both DBs and hit them really hard, and he made a statement that he’s coming after you. I just like the way he does it.”
Rawls helped the Seahawks stroll to victory against a Bears team that was overmatched. Chicago not only was a winless team, going through a rebuild under first-year head coach John Fox, the Bears were also left without a passing game because of the absence of starting quarterback Jay Cutler and No. 1 receiver Alshon Jeffrey because of hamstring injuries.
Nevertheless, Carroll wasn’t discounting the victory, despite the caliber of the opposition. Especially considering the Seahawks were 0-2 themselves and desperately in need of a win.
“Well, the things that we needed to get done last weekend were taken care of in terms of getting the feeling of winning,” Carroll said.
“We had a nice finish to the game,” Carroll added. “We started a little bit slow in some regards, but had a really big game once we figured it out and took control of it. It was a nice game for us.”
Extra points
Seattle’s other injury from Sunday saw defensive tackle Brandon Mebane go down in the first quarter with a groin strain during a pileup. Carroll said Mebane was “getting around OK today, with what the trainers said, but we’ll have to wait and see.” … Strong safety Dion Bailey was claimed off waivers by the New Your Jets. Bailey was waived by the Seahawks on Saturday to make room for Kam Chancellor on the 53-man roster. Bailey, an undrafted free agent who spent last season on Seattle’s practice squad, started Seattle’s opener at St. Louis in Chancellor’s place, but was replaced by DeShawn Shead in Week 2 at Green Bay. Had Bailey made it through waivers the Seahawks would have had the option of signing him to their practice squad. … It seems the Seahawks were too much to handle for all the Bears — including the punter. Chicago punter Pat O’Donnell, who had a busy day as he was called into duty following all 10 of the Bears’ drives, reportedly suffered a sprained knee and is now considered day-to-day. Chicago became the first team since 1991 to punt on its first 10 possessions.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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