KIRKLAND – With the most important game of the season on tap for Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks are clinging to a sliver of hope that two of their key defensive players might be available.
After a scare that forced him to spend Sunday night in a San Francisco area hospital, cornerback Ken Lucas returned to the Puget Sound with a bruised lung Monday. His status for this Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams is up in the air.
Defensive end Grant Wistrom, who was expected to be out until later this month because of a fractured bone in his left knee, is also holding out hope that he’ll be able to return Sunday to play against his former team.
Wistrom will travel to St. Louis even if he can’t play.
“I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll be playing,” he said Monday. “We’ll see.”
Chances are that neither player will be available, leaving defensive end Antonio Cochran to fill in for the third week in a row while cornerback Kris Richard could make his first NFL start.
Richard stepped into the lineup early in the second quarter of Sunday’s win over the San Francisco 49ers, when Lucas suffered the injury.
“It’s still Ken Lucas’s job,” Richard said Monday. “If he’s capable of playing, then he’ll play. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll continue to do what I do every week, and that’s go out and prepare as if I was the starter – just in case.”
Richard would be the starter opposite Marcus Trufant even though veteran Bobby Taylor is on the roster. Coach Mike Holmgren said Monday that Taylor is still fighting through a knee problem and that the Seahawks prefer him playing an inside position against slot receivers.
Although Richard has seen limited playing time in three NFL seasons, the Seahawks like his potential at cornerback.
“He has really good coverage skills,” Holmgren said, “and those guys are hard to find, guys who can cover man-to-man.”
Richard spoke to Lucas by cell phone Monday morning, while his teammate was still in San Francisco. The duo rooms together on road trips.
“Just to hear his voice was good,” Richard said. “It was like, he’s still Ken Lucas.”
Lucas suffered the injury when he landed on the natural grass at Monster Park diving for an interception. San Francisco receiver Brandon Lloyd fell onto Lucas’s back as they came down, and the Seattle cornerback had difficulty breathing afterward.
Team doctors compared the injury to someone being in a car accident and having the steering wheel slam against his or her chest. Richard said it looked like “a train wreck.”
“I was worried about him,” Richard said. “When you see a guy try to get up and fall back down, that’s never really good. It was like, whoa, wait a minute, that can’t be good. So (Monday) was good news.”
Lucas will be evaluated throughout the week, and it was not even certain Monday whether he’d be available to practice. The bruised lung could make it difficult for Lucas to do any kind of cardiovascular activity.
“I expect him in” the training room today, Holmgren said, “and that’s wonderful. He was hurt, and we were worried for him. It’s good news.”
Wistrom is expected to participate in practice on a limited basis. He hyperextended his knee 23 days ago and was supposed to miss four to six weeks. But he’s been progressing ahead of schedule.
“Right now I’d list him as doubtful,” Holmgren said. “But I had (Darrell) Jackson listed as doubtful last week (and Jackson played against the 49ers).”
Wistrom’s teammates are looking forward to his return, whenever that may come.
“I want him to heal as fast as possible and get back with us as fast as possible,” defensive end Chike Okeafor said. “But things like that, you’ve just got to roll with whatever happens. If he’s able to come back, that’s great for us. But we can’t sit here hoping.”
Another possibility to return this week is wide receiver Bobby Engram, who has missed three weeks with an ankle sprain.
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