The Seattle Seahawks were dealt a number of hard blows in their Week-16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, including potential season-ending injuries to running backs, Chris Carson and C.J. Prosise.
But until Sunday, it was mostly the defensive side of the ball with the most health concerns. Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney was inactive for his second-straight game with core troubles and cornerback Shaquill Griffin has been sidelined in as many matchups with a hamstring injury.
“Both those guys were not right, they couldn’t make it back,” coach Pete Carroll said after the loss. “They both tried, and they weren’t right and they couldn’t pass the tests with the trainers. So, it wasn’t even a tough call when we got down to it. We held out hope that maybe they could turn a corner, but neither one of them did.”
Clowney and Griffin aren’t the only defenders battling injuries, Quandre Digss is still out with a high-ankle sprain and linebacker Mychal Kendricks and defensive end Ziggy Ansah only finally returned to the action Sunday afternoon.
“It’s interesting that a few of our guys – sometimes earlier in the season you get to the end of the week and they can make it back,” Carroll continued. “Here, these guys didn’t in this case. So, we’ll just see how that goes next week.”
Carroll did say that both Griffin and Kendricks would return to practice on Tuesday.
The Seahawks will need every healthy available player when they face off against the 49ers for the division crown Week 17.
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