Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll sounded optimistic about Russell Okung’s ankle injury, noting it was not as serious as the injury he suffered in the preseason. While Carroll did not rule Okung out for this weekend, he made it sound as if Okung was a long-shot to play against the Oakland Raiders (via The Seattle Times’ Danny O’Neil).
“It’s not nearly like the other one,” coach Pete Carroll said of Okung’s injury. “We don’t know what that means yet.”
Carroll, however, did not rule Okung out for this week’s game.
“We’ll just wait and see,” he said. “I think it will be a challenge for him to get back, but we’ve got to wait.”
Without Okung, there was a noticeable drop in the production of the Seahawks run game and the offense overall. Tyler Polumbus filled in at left tackle, but couldn’t match the productivity of Okung against the Arizona Cardinals. It’s clear that Okung makes a huge impact on the offensive line and losing him, again, for a significant amount of time will impact the ability of the Seahawks offfense to move the ball.