RENTON — Despite a moment of optimism last week, Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu is indeed out for the season.
Tatupu, who suffered a torn left pectoral muscle in Seattle’s loss to Arizona on Oct. 18, underwent surgery Thursday afternoon in Alabama and will be out for the remainder of the year.
Season-ending surgery was the initial prognosis after that loss to the Cardinals, but a day later Seahawks coach Jim Mora said there was a chance Tatupu may not need surgery. The team did more tests, and Tatupu went to Alabama this week to meet with renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews.
Tatupu underwent surgery Thursday, ending any hopes of him returning this year. He will join Walter Jones as the second Seahawk Pro Bowler to go on injured reserve this week.
Tatupu’s roster spot most likely will be filled by cornerback Marcus Trufant, who has not been added to the roster since returning to practice. The Seahawks can wait until as long as Saturday to move Trufant from the physically unable to perform list to the roster for Sunday’s game. Trufant has been sidelined since before the start of training camp with a back injury.
Tatupu, Seattle’s defensive captain, made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons. He battled through a number of injuries last season, including a broken thumb, but only missed one game. The pectoral injury was the second of the season for Tatupu, who also missed all of one game and most of another with a hamstring pull.
David Hawthorne will take over the starting middle linebacker role with Tatupu out, and while losing a player of Tatupu’s caliber certainly hurts, the Seahawks can at least take comfort in knowing that Hawthorne has played well when he has had to fill in for Tatupu so far this year. In his only start, a loss to Chicago, Hawthorne recorded 16 tackles and interception.
Injury update
After taking a day off Wednesday and not doing a lot during Monday’s practice, Matt Hasselbeck was back at it Thursday. Hasselbeck said he was given the option to go hard last week and take it easy early this week, or take last week off and go hard this week in practice.
“Hopefully I can get to a point here where I just feel 100 percent healthy,” he said. “Hopefully that comes real quick, but having the bye week was nice for everybody just to recover a little and try to gain some ground on the nagging things.”
It has been almost six weeks since Hasselbeck was injured and he is getting close to being fully recovered, he said.
“When they start to heal everything gets a little tight and sticky, and that’s where I’m at right now,” he said. “So I’m at the final stages. I think this is week six for my injury, which is typically what it takes to heal. So it is better than it’s been.”
Also practicing with injuries Thursday were DE Patrick Kerney (groin) and G Rob Sims (ankle), both of whom were listed as participating fully.
T Sean Locklear (ankle) and S C.J. Wallace (hamstring) did not practice.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog.
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