Running back Marshawn Lynch was supposed to return for the Seahawks for Sunday’s NFC wild-card playoff game at Minnesota, which Seattle won 10-9 to advance to face top seeded Carolina. Lynch, who missed seven weeks because of an abdominal injury, practiced in full all last week, including Friday afternoon. However, Lynch did not board the team plane Friday evening and ended up missing his eighth straight contest.
However, Seattle coach Pete Carroll was adamant that Lynch did not suffer a setback.
“He just didn’t feel like he could go,” Carroll said. “He really didn’t have the confidence that he’d be able to go. This is his first surgery ever and it happens to be right in his core. You know what kind of runner he is and all the lateral things he does with his body that are so abrupt and so sudden. He needs to feel that he can do those things. Even though he could run fast and look like he’s moving, he didn’t have the confidence he could go out there and react to guys and do that. So there’s nothing we can do about that.”
Carroll said he’d have to wait and see whether Lynch will be able to play next Sunday at Carolina, so it’ll be another week of Beast Mode speculation.
In other injury news, the only player who came away from Sunday’s game with an issue was fullback Will Tukuafu, who suffered a hamstring injury. The severity of the injury is still not known. Defensive end Michael Bennett, who had to leave the game at one point because of a knee injury, only suffered a scrape and should be fine. Tight end Luke Willson, who missed the game because of a concussion, is expected back.
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