Kicking off their practice week a day later than usual due to their Week 7 contest against the Saints taking place on Monday Night Football, the Seahawks hit the practice field with several injured players back in action or close to returning.
Among those who looks to be on track to play against New Orleans, while second-year linebacker Darrell Taylor wasn't expected to practice on Thursday, coach Pete Carroll sounded optimistic about his chances of suiting up after being carted off in a stretcher late in Sunday's loss to the Steelers with a scary neck injury.
"Darrell Taylor won't get much action today, but he feels really good," Carroll told reporters on Thursday. "He's got a stiff neck is what he came out with. After all of that that we went through to protect him and all, it's like he slept bad on his neck and he's got a stiff neck. He really feels like he's playing, he doesn't have any doubt that he can play, so we'll hold out hope that that's the case."
Along with Taylor, Carroll relayed positive news in regards to running back Alex Collins, who excited during the second half of Sunday's loss with groin and hip injuries.
Prior to being sidelined, Collins enjoyed one of the finest games of his NFL career in Pittsburgh, becoming the first Seahawks running back to eclipse 100 rushing yards in a game since Chris Carson achieved the feat in December 2019. Assuming he doesn't suffer a setback and practices all week, he should be in line for his third straight start out of the backfield.
"He's going to practice today, so that's a good sign," Carroll said. "He went through walkthrough today and looked OK."
Carroll said the Seahawks expect to have guard Damien Lewis and cornerback Sidney Jones, who both exited in the third quarter on Sunday with shoulder and chest injuries respectively, to be back at practice on Thursday as well. Overall, while the team seemed pretty banged up coming out of Week 6, Carroll indicated all of those players seemed to bounce back better than expected and have a shot to play against the Saints.
"Really a number of guys that got banged a little bit in the game were able to go through walkthrough and we'll see what we can get in a limited fashion from them in practice today, but really encouraging in that regard."
In additional injury news, Seattle designated running back Rashaad Penny to return to practice from injured reserve. After reaggravating a calf injury in the season opener, the former first-round pick has been out for the past five weeks.
The Seahawks have three weeks to activate Penny, but Carroll made it sound like he has an excellent chance to be placed back on the 53-man roster to provide backfield reinforcements this week, particularly with Collins not at 100 percent and Carson out for at least two more weeks.
"I'm really excited to get Rashaad on the field and playing for us," Carroll said. "He's gunning to go, he's ready, this is the right time for him to come roaring back. I'm hoping he'll have a chance to be a big factor in the game. Alex is playing great football, Alex was able to practice today - competition's a beautiful thing - so you'll see how we do it."
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