Seahawks Notebook: Hasselbeck not the only hurt Hawk

Published 11:26 pm Monday, September 21, 2009

RENTON — While Matt Hasselbeck’s fractured rib was the attention-getting injury in Sunday’s loss, the quarterback was hardly the only impact player hurt in San Francisco.

Left tackle Sean Locklear left the game with an ankle injury, as did cornerback Josh Wilson. On Monday, Seahawks coach Jim Mora said that both have high ankle sprains. That is an injury that generally requires a four-to-six-week recovery.

Starting fullback Justin Griffith was also injured Sunday, suffering an MCL sprain in his knee.

Lofa Tatupu, who injured his hamstring against St. Louis in Week 1, tried to play but lasted only one series.

“We’ll see where he is this week,” Mora said. “Hopefully he didn’t make it worse. There aren’t necessarily indications that he did, but you just never know with those. Hamstrings are tricky. We all know they’re hard to predict.”

The Seahawks could get some injured players back this week to offset the injuries. Walter Jones (knee) practiced on a limited basis late last week, and could return to play left tackle, and center Chris Spencer (quadriceps) could also return. Receiver Deion Branch is expected to be back from a hamstring injury. Defensive tackle Brandon Mebane, who missed Sunday’s game with a calf strain, could also return, though Mora said Mebane’s status was still undetermined.

And while the Seahawks would like to have Jones, a future Hall of Famer, back at tackle, they won’t rush him back on account of Lockear’s injury.

“We’ll see where he is at the end of the week,” Mora said. “We’ll see how he works through the week. But we are not going to sacrifice Walter’s long-term health, or his ability to contribute for the length of this season — this is a long season — because of what happened to Sean. They’re two totally separate entities in my mind.”

Regardless of who plays, Mora said his team can’t feel sorry for itself because of the injuries.

“My mind doesn’t really work that way,” he said. “I can’t allow it to. It would be counterproductive. I’ll let everyone else do that. The minute that I adopt that attitude, we got issues. So that’s not going to happen.”

Revisiting the runs

Frank Gore broke loose not once, but twice against the Seahawks Sunday, scoring on runs of 79 and 80 yards. A day later, Mora discussed the breakdowns that lead to the big plays.

“On the first one, we got washed down a little bit up front,” Mora said. “They ran a little counter scheme, and they down-blocked. So they washed our front a little bit, which opened a hole bigger than we’d like, and then we overran it. Our backside linebacker over-pursued and it left a cutback. So he got up on the safety quick. The safety needs to make a tackle.

And big play No. 2?

“They bring the receiver over to try to seal the end,” Mora said. “The end’s got to come underneath it forcefully and make the tackle, and we just didn’t get it done on that one. And then once again, he broke into the secondary. We got to get him down. We got to get him down somehow.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/seahawksblog