While there has been plenty of speculation on a time table for the return of Zach Miller, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said it’s too soon to know exactly how long they will be without the tight end, who had surgery on his ankle last week to clean out loose bodies.
Carroll did, however, confirm that Miller will play again this year, possibly in a few weeks.
“He had his ankle cleaned up,” Carroll said. “There’s a lot of speculation about how long it’s going to take, we’ll just have to wait and see. We don’t know yet. Give him a couple of weeks, then we’ll go week-to-week and see how he does.
“It’s been bothering him for a number of week, and he’s been playing with it. We just don’t want him to have to tolerate it any longer, wanted to see if we can fix him up. Hopefully he’ll have a speedy recovery—it’s just a cleanup kind of thing—but he had some loose bodies in his ankle that were bothering him and he was very, very uncomfortable.”
Asked if they like their in-house options better than signing outside help in Miller’s absence, Carroll said, “Yes, we really do. We’ve looked hard, we’ve had a lot of guys in here, worked out a lot of people, and we would like to stay with our people. Banking on the system and the communication working for us and all of that, so we’re going to get it fixed right here.”
Those in-house options start with Luke Willson, who will now take on a bigger role, as well Cooper Helfet, who made his debut last week after being inactive for the first two games, but played only on special teams. The Seahawks also have one tight end on their practice squad, RaSaun Allen, an undrafted rookie out of Southern University.
For blocking purposes, the Seahawks also have two backup tackles, Alvin Bailey and Garry Gilliam, who have played as an extra blocker in jumbo packages. And Gilliam, an undrafted rookie out of Penn State, was actually a tight end until moving to tackle as a senior, so he could be an option to do more than just serve as an extra blocker.
Carroll said that while Gilliam isn’t the type to come and ask to play a new position, it has been discussed and the rookie is more than willing.
“He could (play tight end),” Carroll said. “He has it in his background. He played it at Penn State for a number of years, and he’s already worked there, so he’s eligible for that too.
“He hasn’t really come up and banged on my door about that, but he’s more than willing. We’ve talked about it for a long time ever since we first got him in here that this could be a possibility, so he’s ready if we call on him.”
Carroll joked that the less-reserved Cassius Marsh, a rookie defensive end, has banged on his door volunteering to take on a pass-catching. Marsh occasionally played offense at UCLA and caught a couple of touchdown passes. It’s pretty unlikely, however, that you’ll be seeing Marsh on offense no matter how much he asks.
As for what the Seahawks will miss with Miller sidelined, Carroll said, “Zach does a ton of things. He was with Tom all those years back in Oakland, and that background that they build has really helped us a lot, in so many different. All the little things that he knows how to do; the finesse kind of situations of motioning and being in the backfield playing as a fullback as well as a normal tight end, and also we’ve moved him everywhere. He’s a very versatile player, extremely on it, and a tough competitor too, so we’ll miss a lot missing Zach.”
Asked if playing through the injury was an option for Miller, Carroll said, “We thought it was just going to mount on him in time. It wasn’t going to get any better, so he needed to get fixed up.”
On Willson, who now becomes the starter, Carroll said, “Luke’s done a really good job. He’s going to obviously play a ton now and it’s really a great opportunity for him to step up. He’s improved in every area. He’s one of those young guys who’s gotten a ton better since he’s been with us. He’s stronger and he’s faster than he was a year ago because of the offseason. In every way he’s improved. This is a lot to ask of him though, it’s the first time he’ll have this kind of duty, but it’s his turn to step up.”
Even with a player of Miller’s importance sidelined, Carroll said the offense won’t change drastically in his absence.
“No, not necessarily,” Carroll said. “We’ll see in time how we do, but we’re going to continue to do the things we’ve been doing.”
And speaking of ankle injuries, Carroll had said last week that Kam Chancellor, who is dealing with bone spurs—he reportedly nearly needed surgery after the ankle was an issue against San Diego—could be dealing with that injury as the season goes on, but after the bye it sounds like that may not be the case.
“He looked great today,” Carroll said. “It was an issue a couple weeks ago in San Diego, he made it back and did a really good job last week, played great football, and he looks fine today. So we might have put that one behind us.”
As for CB Tharold Simon, who is recovering from knee surgery, Carroll said, “He’s doing great. He’s only a couple weeks away from getting back out here, so we’re really excited about that. His workouts have gone great, so we should expect him to at least come back to competing here in a couple of weeks.”
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