After being down six key defensive players with injuries by the second half of Monday night’s loss to the Detroit Lions, the Seattle Seahawks’ injury report indicates they should be in better shape heading into Sunday’s matchup against the New York Giants.
However, there are still several players whose status remains uncertain.
Seahawks Injury Report: 2 players out, key defenders to return
With Seattle being a heavy favorite over the struggling Giants on Sunday and with a massive NFC West showdown looming next Thursday night against the San Francisco 49ers, will the upcoming schedule play a factor in how quickly the Seahawks bring any of their injured players back?
That was a discussion point Friday afternoon on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob.
“They have to turn around and play Thursday night football against the 49ers,” co-host Bob Stelton said. “That’s a big game. That’s a division game. It’s got more meaning to it. You can extend that lead in the division, so going into that one healthy has much more value to it that this one.
“I’m not saying you’re kicking this one to the side and if you lose, no big deal. Certainly you want to win. But if there’s a guy and you’re going, ‘He’s 80 percent, but if we give him a few more days, he’d be close to 100,’ maybe I don’t play him in this game. Maybe I want him as close to 100 for the 49ers. And they should still be able to handle this Giants offense.”
The Giants have averaged just 15.0 points per game this season, tied for 29th in the NFL. And they will be missing their top playmaker in rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers, who remains in concussion protocol.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks have ruled out defensive tackle Byron Murphy II (hamstring) and listed both outside linebacker Boye Mafe (knee) and safety Julian Love (though) as questionable.
That indicates defensive lineman Leonard Williams is on track to play after missing Monday night’s game and inside linebacker Jerome Baker is on track to return after missing the past two games.
It also means outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu could make his season debut after missing the first four weeks with an MCL sprain. However, Nwosu was listed as limited in practice and head coach Mike Macdonald told reporters Friday that it’s unclear yet whether he will play.
“I know that every single game is crucial and that you go into every week like, ‘We’ve gotta beat this team right now. We’ll worry about everybody else later,’” former NFL linebacker Dave Wyman said. “But I do think you need to have some long-term planning here. And I’m curious to see how that shakes out. That’s gonna be very interesting on gameday to see which guys are up, which guys are down.
“And this is all new with Mike Macdonald. We don’t know how he’s gonna handle situations like this. … It’s all new territory for us, because we don’t really know exactly how he runs a team.”
Listen to the full conversation on Wyman and Bob at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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