RENTON, Wash. (AP) -Seattle Pro Bowl defensive end Patrick Kerney is out indefinitely and getting a second look at what’s wrong with his surgically repaired shoulder.
It’s the latest in a long list of injuries for the Seahawks.
Coach Mike Holmgren said after practice on Friday that Kerney is returning to Alabama to see Dr. James Andrews.
Andrews is the surgeon who repaired torn labrum cartilage in Kerney’s left shoulder after last season. The Seahawks’ top pass rusher, who has five sacks in seven games, re-injured the shoulder late in Sunday’s win at San Francisco after he had recovered a fumble and returned it 50 yards.
Holmgren said “the medicine” Kerney took Sunday wore off, leaving him extremely sore by midweek. On Wednesday, Kerney was wearing a sling while sitting stiffly at his locker.
The coach hopes to know when – or if – Kerney can play again this season by the middle of next week.
Branch. Hasselbeck is out indefinitely because his right knee is being weakened by a bulging disk in his back. Backup Seneca Wallace will make his third consecutive start against Philadelphia (4-3) on Sunday.
These are Wallace’s first starts since 2006, the last time Hasselbeck was out.
“I feel better. … The confidence level’s a lot different,” Wallace said. “Being in our offense a long time and knowing what Mike wants, it makes it a lot easier.”
Branch’s return is also unknown. The team shut him down after the former Super Bowl MVP failed tests of his bruised heel last week. The Seahawks have had seven injuries at that position this season.
Pro Bowl middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu, who has had four interceptions in Seattle’s past two games against the Eagles, missed practice all week with a groin injury that caused him to leave last week’s game early. Yet Holmgren thinks Tatupu may play on Sunday.
Starter Leonard Weaver didn’t practice all week and Holmgren isn’t sure if he will play.
He bruised his foot at the bottom of a pile early against the 49ers. He played on, becoming the first fullback since the 1970 NFL merger to catch two touchdown passes of 43 yards or more in a game. Then the foot became extremely sore.
When asked how concerned he was over Kerney’s situation, Holmgren shook his head and sighed.
key guys on our defense. But I’m going to wait and see,” he said. “This has been a little bit of a roller coaster year with the injury thing anyway. So, instead of getting too down or too up about what might happen, let’s wait and see what the doctor says.”
Kerney, who turns 32 on Dec. 30, missed the final seven games of the 2006 season when he was with Atlanta because of torn pectoral muscle.
He then voided the final two years of his contract with the Falcons to sign a six-year contract worth $39.5 million, including $19.5 million in guaranteed money, with Seattle in March 2007.
Last season he earned his second trip to the Pro Bowl with a career-high 14 1/2 sacks, which led the NFC. Then Kerney tore the cartilage in his shoulder in a playoff game last January. While running after Washington Redskins quarterback Todd Collins, Kerney stuck out his arm and Collins ran into it in a full-speed collision that awkwardly twisted Kerney’s arm.
Kerney – renowned for his alternative ways of healing and dealing, such as hyperbaric chambers, “earthing” sheets and electric stimulation of his adrenal glands before games – made seven tackles and hit Collins four times that day. He played the following weekend at Green Bay in the divisional playoffs and had surgery a few weeks later.
for his first action of the season.
“Kerney’s been an outstanding player on this team,” Atkins said. “Us three combined, maybe we can hold it up for him.”
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