RENTON — Marshawn Lynch is back to being day-to-day.
The Seattle Seahawks running back, who has missed the past eight games because of an abdominal injury, fully participated in practice Wednesday at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. However, it’s still not known whether Lynch will play in this Sunday’s divisional playoff game against the Carolina Panthers.
“We’re going to go day-to-day, day-to-day is how we’ll do this,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said before practice. “We’ll evaluate the next day and see how it goes. I can feel he’s encouraged to go forward again and we’ll see if we can get it done.”
Lynch seemed set to return to the field for last Sunday’s wild-card game against the Minnesota Vikings after practicing in full throughout the week. But following Friday afternoon’s practice Lynch did not board the team flight to Minneapolis, missing Seattle’s 10-9 victory in historically cold conditions.
Carroll said Monday that Lynch did not suffer a setback during practice last week, and Lynch was back taking a regular workload at practice Wednesday.
“He looks good,” Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said following Wednesday’s practice, adding that Lynch looked a little better than he did in practice last week. “I can’t judge each and every day, but probably one of the best days he’s had out here today. He’s in there, he’s moving around, he’s making more cuts, probably a little more tempo to it as well. We’ll just continue to go day-to-day with it.”
Was Bevell surprised Lynch didn’t make the trip to Minnesota after practicing in full last week?
“Surprised? Probably,” Bevell answered. “He practiced the whole week. But only Marshawn knows how he’s feeling. It’s something we can’t determine. I can’t determine it by even watching him. It’s a feel a thing. He had surgery, they cut on him, so he has to have a feel and he has to feel very confident that he’s going to be able to go out and do it. We don’t just want him to go in and have a couple plays and be done. We want him to be able to finish the game and continue to play, and I think that’s what he’s trying to get a feel for.”
Ryan roots for Silvertips
Seahawks punter Jon Ryan was sporting the scars from Sunday’s game against the Vikings. A cut across the bridge of his nose and a pair of bruises under his eyes were evidence of the broken nose he suffered in the first quarter, after a botched snap had him trying to hurdle a defender, only to fall flat on his face. But Ryan finished the game, and Wednesday he looked back with good nature upon the incident.
“It was a low snap, and I believe if I would have kicked it, it would have been blocked, so that was the right decision,” Ryan recounted. “Then it opened up and obviously you have to trust your instincts as a professional athlete, you never second-guess your instincts. My instinct was to run it up the middle, then when it closed off I did my best hurdling attempt. (People have said) maybe run left, run right would have worked better. But as I tell all the Monday morning quarterbacks, this isn’t Madden. I couldn’t just press L2 and jump outside. I’m a middle-aged white guy, it doesn’t quite work that way.”
Ryan said the broken nose is not causing any pain, and it didn’t prevent him from attending Tuesday night’s Everett Silvertips game at Xfinity Arena, seeing his hometown Regina Pats beat the Tips 4-3 in overtime.
“I was cheering for Everett, though, I was backing them,” Ryan, who was an avid hockey player himself as a youth, was quick to point out. “I’ve been a Pacific Northwest guy for eight years now. I said, ‘Y’know only one of these teams ever cut me, the Regina Pats back in 1998.’ I’m not saying I’m holding a grudge, but I wasn’t cheering for them.”
Extra points
Seattle tight end Luke Willson, who missed last Sunday’s game because of a concussion, returned to practice Wednesday and is expected to be able to play this Sunday against the Panthers. However, fullback Will Tukuafu, who suffered a hamstring injury against the Vikings, did not practice Wednesday, leaving his status in doubt. … Carroll called the NFL offices following last Sunday’s game to receive clarification on the pass-interference penalty on Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor during the game’s final series, a play in which it appeared Minnesota tight end Kyle Rudolph ran into a stationary Chancellor. The response from the league: “A defender has the right to his space that the offensive player has to try to avoid,” Carroll said. “In that instance Kyle was trying to get out of the way and they were going to run into each other, and unfortunately Kam’s hand came up outside. What the official saw was his hand outside the frame of his body. Had his hand been inside, likely it would have been a no-call.”
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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