RENTON — The Seattle Seahawks will be without linebacker Bruce Irvin when they entertain the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
Irvin, Seattle’s starter at strong-side linebacker, suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his knee late in the Seahawks’ 39-32 loss to the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday, meaning he’ll be unavailable in the short term.
“He’s got a sore knee,” Seattle head coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. “He’s going to miss this week unless something miraculous happens. Hopefully we can contain it to a two-week thing if that’s the case.”
Irvin is currently tied for ninth on the team in tackles with 30, and he’s tied for second on the team in sacks with 4.5.
Carroll said Mike Morgan will play in Irvin’s absence. Morgan filled in against the Cardinals after Irvin went down. Carroll also said rookie defensive end Frank Clark will likely see more time, slotting in on the downs when Irvin would typically be deployed in the pass rush.
There was some speculation that with Irvin out, the Seahawks would move weak-side linebacker K.J. Wright to the strong side and slot Kevin Pierre-Louis in at the weak side. However, Carroll nixed that possibility.
“We could do that, but we’ve made the decision to go with Mike and leave K.J. alone,” Carroll said. “He’s playing great football and that keeps him at his best spot and his strongest spot.”
Seattle had one other player leave the game against the Cardinals because of injury. Receiver Paul Richardson, playing for the first time this season after being activated from the physically-unable-to-perform list, made it through just six snaps before straining a hamstring while making a 40-yard catch, his only reception of the game. Carroll did not know Richardson’s status for the game against the 49ers.
“We’re going to find out,” Carroll said. “We’ll know (Thursday). He’s going to jog (Thursday) and see where it is. Tests show that he has something, he doesn’t feel it and he has really good strength in his hammy, so it’s a little misleading right now. We need to find out what that means. We’re not going to know until we start to work him. He’s resting again today and we hope to find out. He actually feels pretty good about it, he doesn’t sense that he’s hurt, but he did feel it in the game and it did show up on the MRI, so we we’re treating the player instead of the MRI right now.”
On the plus side, Carroll was optimistic about the possibility of cornerback Jeremy Lane being activated against San Francisco. Lane, Seattle’s nickel corner last season, has spent the entire year on the PUP list because of arm and knee injuries sustained during last season’s Super Bowl. He returned to practice last week, and there had been some talk about the possibility of Lane being activated against Arizona.
“He’s going for it,” Carroll said. “He’s going to go for it this week. He’ll be a bit limited (Wednesday) but he’s going to practice and if he can make it through the week then he’s available to us this weekend. I’d really like to see him play this week.”
Extra points
Receiver Chris Matthews, who was placed on waivers Tuesday, went unclaimed Wednesday. Matthews, a big 6-foot-5 target who had a breakout four-catch, 109-yard performance in last season’s Super Bowl, had just four catches for 54 yards in nine games this season. Matthews is now a free agent. … The Seahawks made some changes to their practice squad Wednesday, signing receiver Douglas McNeil and releasing defensive end Julius Warmsley. .. The Dallas Cowboys added their third former Seattle running back this season Wednesday, signing Robert Turbin. Turbin, who was released by Seattle earlier in the season and signed by Cleveland, was released by the Browns last week. Turbin takes the place of another former Seahawks back, trade acquisition Christine Michael, who was waived by the Cowboys on Tuesday. Rod Smith is the other running back on Dallas’ roster who was with Seattle at some point this season.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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