‘Chest complications with a cold’ limit Seahawks’ Maxwell

Published 11:45 pm Saturday, January 10, 2015

SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks thought they were at full strength in their defensive secondary heading into Saturday night’s NFC divisional playoff game against Carolina, but ended up playing down a man.

And the absence of Byron Maxwell was noticeable.

Maxwell missed practice on Wednesday because of illness, but after he returned Thursday the Seahawks thought he was OK and listed him as probable for the game. But because of what Seattle head coach Pete Carroll described as “chest complications with a cold,” Maxwell did not play at all on defense.

He did have limited special teams work, playing on the punt-return team, but Seattle’s usual starting right cornerback stayed on the sideline the rest of the evening.

“He just didn’t feel well enough,” Carroll said. “We thought he would come out of it — he was sick during the week — and he just didn’t feel well enough to contribute on a steady basis. He participated on special teams and was available to us if we needed him in nickel, but really he just didn’t feel well at all.”

Asked if Maxwell would be OK for next week’s NFC championship game, Carroll said, “I don’t know that. I was kind of surprised he couldn’t rally tonight. We went in thinking he would be able to go; he practiced Thursday and looked OK there, he just couldn’t shake it.”

With Maxwell out, Tharold Simon started at cornerback, and Carolina targeted him frequently, having success going his direction, including two touchdown catches for rookie Kelvin Benjamin.

“It was a hard night,” Carroll said of Simon. “He had a lot of work, and he had no help at all. Scheme-wise, we were so tucked in for the running game and all the things that Cam presents to us, that he had to hang out there by himself, and they worked it pretty good and did a nice job. … He survived the game and his confidence was strong. He knew that was a hard night because they kept working the ball underneath him.”

Seattle had two players leave the game with injuries, rookie receiver Paul Richardson, who landed hard on his left knee while attempting to catch a deep pass from Russell Wilson, and center Max Unger, who had a Carolina player fall into his legs in the fourth quarter.

Unger, who had missed the previous six games with a high-ankle sprain, injured the same ankle, but Carroll sounded optimistic this injury might not be as serious.

“Max did roll his ankle a little bit, the same one he had injured,” Carroll said. “He felt pretty good once he got into the locker room, so maybe it was a bit of a scare right there, we’ll see. We don’t know, we’ll see what happens.”

Carroll didn’t know the severity of Richardson’s injury, though Carroll noted it was the same knee Richardson had surgery on in college.

“Sometimes you can’t tell on the tests right now, but he’s pretty sore it looks like,” Carroll said.

Tickets for Sunday

Though most tickets for next Sunday’s NFC championship game (noon kickoff) will be purchased by season ticket holders, approximately 1,200 tickets will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the CenturyLink Field northwest box office only. Fans may buy two tickets per person.

Foolish penalties

If there was any disappointment about the way the Seahawks played on Saturday, it probably was with some of the team’s foolish penalties.

Midway through the first quarter, Seattle was in position to kick a field goal, but a third-down dead-ball penalty on Ricardo Lockette for unsportsmanlike conduct _ he was flagged for taunting a Carolina player _ moved the Seahawks out of field goal range. They had to punt.

Just before halftime Seattle got another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on a Seattle defender (the official announced offensive tackle Russell Okung’s number, but it was believed to be defensive end Michael Bennett). The penalty followed a personal foul on Carolina, and came at the end of a play that initially was ruled an interception by Seahawks safety Earl Thomas.

After a video review, it was determined that Thomas had not caught the ball and the play was ruled an incomplete pass. Because the two dead-ball penalties offset, the Panthers retained possession at the Seattle 24. Had the Seahawks not been penalized, the Carolina would have pushed the Panthers back to the 39 and out of field goal range, pending the replay of third down.

Carolina ended up kicking a field goal on the final play of the first half.

Seahawks legend

Former Seattle safety Kenny Easley, a four-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowl selection, raised the 12th Man flag before the game. Easley is one of nine former Seahawks players in the team’s Ring of Honor, displayed on the suite-level façade at CenturyLink Field.