The Seahawks Tuesday night weren’t confirming or denying two national reports Marshawn Lynch was set for surgery to repair a sports hernia and will be out at least a month.
FoxSports.com and the league’s official website both reported the running back and NFL’s rushing leader since 2011 will have surgery Wednesday.
Lynch has been in Philadelphia since Monday to see Dr. William Meyers, a specialist on core-muscle injuries. Coach Pete Carroll said Monday that surgery while Lynch was back east was a possibility.
The five-time Pro Bowl selection and 2012 All-Pro first felt pain in his abdomen at the end of practice Nov. 12. He last played three days later against Arizona but carried the ball just eight times, and Carroll said Lynch felt worse pain by the end of that game.
“Surgery to repair the torn tissues in the groin can be done as a traditional, open procedure with one long incision, or as an endoscopic procedure,” the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons states. “In an endoscopy, the surgeon makes smaller skin incisions and uses a small camera, called an endoscope, to see inside the abdomen.
“The end results of traditional and endoscopic procedures are the same. … Most athletes are able to return to sports six to 12 weeks after surgery.”
So the reports of a month estimate could be on the low end.
It appears Lynch will miss at least Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh, Dec. 6’s at Minnesota, Dec. 13’s at Baltimore, and the Dec. 20 home game against Cleveland. The Seahawks (5-5) have two games in the regular season remaining after that in their drive to get into the playoffs again, Dec. 27 against St. Louis and Jan. 3 at Arizona.
For now, it will be undrafted rookie Thomas Rawls leading Seattle’s NFL-best running game. And that’s worked out just fine so far for the Seahawks.
Lynch missed last weekend’s win over San Francisco in which his backup romped for a Seattle rookie-record 209 yards rushing. Rawls has two 100-yard games and that 200-yard rushing day while Lynch has been out with calf, hamstring, nausea and now the abdomen issues the last two months.
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