RENTON — Mike Holmgren delivered the news in short bursts and without any visible signs of agony.
When the Seattle Seahawks coach announced Friday afternoon that Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and all-everything left tackle Walter Jones were unlikely to play Sunday against the New England Patriots, he showed no pain. Holmgren looked like a man who’s been through this before — and a man who knows full well that his Seahawks won’t get back in the playoff hunt even with the two Pro Bowlers in uniform.
“The guys that show up will play hard, the coaches will coach them, and we’ll do the best we can,” Holmgren said after a Friday practice that saw Hasselbeck watch backup quarterback Seneca Wallace take all the snaps with the No. 1 offense while Jones was nowhere to be found.
Holmgren was asked whether the Seahawks’ current situation — a 2-10 record and absolutely no chance of postseason play — had anything to do with the decision to rest his offensive stars, and he said that the injuries were too serious to risk playing Hasselbeck and Jones.
“Those are medical decisions,” he said. “I’d always force (the players) in there (even if they’re hurt).”
Jones has not practiced all week after struggling with an injured leg in a Thanksgiving Day loss to Dallas. While Holmgren originally expected him to be ready for the New England game, he said Friday that the 34-year-old lineman will be a “Sunday decision.”
Hasselbeck’s sudden injury was more of a surprise. While the quarterback has missed five games this season because of a bulging disk in his back, the injury was thought to be a thing of the past. After Hasselbeck sat out Friday’s practice, Holmgren said he was suffering “residual” effects from the Dallas game eight days earlier.
“We’re going to list him as doubtful for the game,” Holmgren said. “He has to get to feeling better.”
Linebacker Leroy Hill is also doubtful for the game after suffering a stinger on Thanksgiving Day. If Hill and Jones miss this Sunday’s game, they will mark the 17th and 18th Seahawks starters to sit out a game due to injury this season.
“Maybe we’re all getting it out of the way in one shot because this is pretty bad,” said offensive lineman Mike Wahle, who has missed two consecutive games due to a shoulder injury and was placed on injured reserve Friday. “Every week, it’s something new.”
Injuries have decimated the offensive line this season, with Wahle joining starting center Chris Spencer on IR this week. Jones is the only offensive lineman to start all 12 games for Seattle this season. If he can’t play, right tackle Sean Locklear would move to the left side, with guard Ray Willis going to right tackle. Mansfield Wrotto would likely make his first NFL start at right guard.
Jones’s injury could leave Willis as the only original starter on the line from the season opener.
At quarterback, Wallace is likely to start in place of Hasselbeck against New England.
“It’s kind of rough, but we’ve obviously dealt with it this year,” fullback Leonard Weaver said. “We’ll just have to go out and get it done.”
Wahle to IR: Wahle said that his ailing right shoulder never regained the strength he expected, so he’ll undergo surgery in the near future.
Wahle was placed on injured reserve Friday, ending his season.
The 31-year-old Wahle started 10 games this season before his surgically-repaired right shoulder started to give him problems.
“We tried to see if I could rally for the end of the season,” he said Friday. “But it just wasn’t in the cards. We tried everything short of surgery.”
Wahle had surgery on a torn labrum on the same shoulder in 2007, but he said this injury is not directly related. He did not get into specifics as to what kind of surgery he will undergo, but he did say that he expects a short recovery time.
With an open roster spot, the Seahawks signed veteran center Steve McKinney.
The 33-year-old McKinney has started 133 NFL games over 11 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans. Houston cut him in March after McKinney underwent major surgery on his left knee, and he unsuccessfully tried out with Miami in training camp.
McKinney practiced with the Seahawks on Friday while wearing a knee brace.
“He’s a center, and we’re really thin there,” Holmgren said when asked why the Seahawks signed McKinney.
Starter Chris Spencer was placed on IR earlier this week, leaving Steve Vallos as the only true center on the roster. Wrotto had been working as Vallos’s backup, but he is slated to start at guard on Sunday.
Game time changed: While Sunday’s game against New England appears as a prime-time affair on most schedules, it will be played in the afternoon because of the NFL’s flex-scheduling policy.
Last week, the league moved the Seahawks-Patriots game from its nationally-televised spot at 5 p.m. to a 1:05 p.m. kickoff. The decision was made because the Washington-Baltimore game has better playoff implications.
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