KIRKLAND – And so the wait continues.
In what is becoming a weekly routine, the Seattle Seahawks found out again Tuesday that running back Shaun Alexander’s return would likely be delayed. Coach Mike Holmgren said during his Tuesday press conference that Alexander is expected to miss a sixth consecutive game this weekend because of a foot injury.
“I wouldn’t expect him to be able to play this week,” Holmgren said after Alexander went through another series of medical tests. “Now, I suppose there’s an outside chance.”
Holmgren offered that Alexander and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck could practice later this week, but neither player is expected to play before the Nov. 19 game at San Francisco.
Hasselbeck has missed two games with a sprained right knee, while Alexander has a crack in the fourth metatarsal bone on his left foot and has not played or practiced since the Sept. 24 game against the New York Giants.
Wide receiver Bobby Engram (thyroid condition) and starting right tackle Sean Locklear (ankle) are also expected to be out another week.
Holmgren said that he was frustrated by Alexander’s long absence but that return dates are never easy to pin down.
“The crack (in the bone), over the weeks here, it gets smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. And it is healing,” Holmgren said. “What throws us off a little bit is that he feels good. It’s not sensitive to the touch, necessarily. And so you get this hope that he can play.
“But there’s still a little crack there, so (team doctors) are just being safe.”
Maurice Morris, who has started in Alexander’s place in five consecutive games, rushed for a career-high 138 yards against the Oakland Raiders on Monday night.
A groin for a groin? Raiders coach Art Shell told reporters on Tuesday that the actions of defensive lineman Tyler Brayton were a reaction to similar tactics by Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens.
Brayton was ejected from Monday’s game after kneeing Stevens in the groin near the end of the fourth quarter. According to a transcript from Shell’s Tuesday press conference: “Tyler was reacting to someone trying to kick him in the groin area.”
Shell was also quoted as saying: “You tell your guys not to react to things like that, but in that situation you understand.”
Replays showed that Stevens’ left leg came up between Brayton’s legs as the two players wrestled with each other, but it did not appear that the Seahawks’ tight end was trying to kick Brayton.
“Jerramy’s leg comes out, but if you look at the film, they’re battling up on top,” Holmgren said. ” (Stevens’s) body mechanics are that he’s just trying to throw (Brayton) off. To me, it was kind of a normal thing that happens. It wasn’t anything close to resembling what actually occurred afterward.”
If Stevens did do something wrong during the incident, Holmgren believed it was the words that were exchanged before the players got tangled up.
“I don’t like it,” Holmgren said of Stevens’s propensity to talk trash. “Not just Jerramy, but I think there’s way too much of that in the league. I don’t like it. It can get you off your game just a little bit by participating in it. So I’m going to address the team about it (today) – not just Jerramy, but the whole team.”
Raiders safety Stuart Schweigert, who got tangled up with Stevens earlier in the game, didn’t have any sympathy for the Seahawks tight end.
“He’s a dirty, dirty player, and I knew he was,” Schweigert said of Stevens when asked about the incident with Brayton.
Quick slants: Citing cornerback Jimmy Williams’s importance to the defense, Holmgren said that receiver Nate Burleson is likely to continue as the team’s punt returner. Burleson took over those duties for Williams in Monday’s game. “Nate’s not getting as many snaps (on offense) as he would like, and he is a talented punt return man, so let’s give him a chance,” Holmgren said. … Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams will mark the fifth in a row in which the Seahawks have faced a new head coach. Seattle faced the Rams’ Linehan in Week 6, followed by fellow first-year coach Brad Childress (Minnesota), former Jets coach Herm Edwards (Kansas City) and Shell, who was an assistant in Atlanta last season. … The Seahawks players had Tuesday off, and they will practice today through Saturday before Sunday’s home game against the Rams.
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