Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said it would have taken a miracle for left tackle Duane Brown to play on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, and while miracles do happen on the gridiron, that was not the case for Brown.
The veteran has not only been ruled out, his status beyond Sunday’s game is murky after Carroll reported Brown is still dealing with swelling in his knee following a recent surgery.
“He hasn’t been able to just jump right back,” Carroll said on Friday. “He’s still feeling the effects of the surgery. The challenge is to get rid of the swelling. He’s not bad, but he’s working through that. So he wasn’t able to make it this week. There was a chance, this would have been crazy if he’d have come back out. So we’ll see where he is next week.”
With Brown a no-go on Sunday, the Seahawks will once again turn to George Fant to play left tackle. Fant started last week against the 49ers and played well, having replaced Jamarco Jones who drew the first start in place of Brown, but struggled to contain Cardinals defensive end Chandler Jones.
“It just gives us some confidence moving forward,” Carroll said of Fant earlier in the week. “We were a little uncertain how that was going to look, particularly this past week. These guys coming up are good, too. They rush like crazy, so we’re going to need him.”
Brown will hopefully recover in time for a potential divisional round game, should Seattle stop Philadelphia’s four-game winning streak and advance in the playoffs on Sunday afternoon.
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