Getty Seahawks QB Geno Smith and RB Kenneth Walker III
The Seattle Seahawks not only lost the game in Week 11 to the Los Angeles Rams. They may have lost their leading passer and leading rusher as well. After the game, head coach Pete Carroll gave Geno Smith and Kenneth Walker III injury updates that don’t make it sound promising that they both will play in the Seahawks’ Week 12 tilt with the NFC West-leading San Francisco 49ers, as the team faces a short turnaround with the teams facing-off on Thanksgiving Thursday night.
The Geno Smith Injury Update
Smith took a monster hit from Rams superstar Aaron Donald and landed hard on his right (throwing) arm. The Seahawks’ starting QB left the game in favor of backup Drew Lock and spent most of the fourth quarter with a large wrap on his elbow.
After Lock and the Seahawks’ defense combined to cough up the nine-point lead Smith built before exiting, Seattle’s QB1 (almost) pulled a Willis Reed or Paul Pierce and came back in to lead his team to victory.
Smith got the Seahawks in field position but a last-pay run left kicker Jason Myers with a 55-yard field goal that he missed. It was a heroic effort but one that left The 12s on pins and needles. After the game, they were all waiting for one thing: The latest Geno Smith injury update.
“Geno got a bruise, kind of on his triceps, on the back of his elbow that kind of blew up a little bit,” Pete Carroll told reporters at his press conference after the game. “But he was able to come back and execute, so nice effort by him.”
While the return to the field and the term “bruise” rather than a strain, pull, or tear are both good things, when asked if Smith will be ready for Thursday night against the 49ers, Carroll replied, “I don’t have any idea. I have no idea. Sorry.”
The Kenneth Walker III Injury Update
The Kenneth Walker III injury update is even more worrisome, starting with the fact that the star running back didn’t return to the game after suffering his injury in the first quarter of the Seahawks Week 11 loss to the Rams.
At his postgame presser, Pete Carroll confirmed what insiders like ESPN’s Adam Schefter had already reported, that Walker suffered an oblique injury, which is an injury to the muscles on either side of the abdomen.
“Kenny got an oblique strain that was legit,” Carroll told the media. “He couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t move hardly with it.”
While Carroll gave no further information on Walker’s injury, it is hard to imagine that he will be fully healthy in four days when the Seahawks welcome the 49ers to Lumen Field on Thanksgiving night. According to an AP News article by Dennis Wasznak Jr. on common NFL injuries, “Oblique strains are usually treated with rest and could take a few weeks to heal, or could become a lingering issue otherwise.”
That does not bode well for those who hope to see Walker on Thursday night.
Without Walker and possibly Smith, the Seahawks face an uphill battle in a crucial Week 12 NFC West matchup. The Seahawks now enter the game 6-4 after their Week 11 loss to the Rams, while the 49ers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers handily on Sunday, boosting their record to 7-3 on the season.
The 49ers did suffer a major injury as well, though, in their win. All-Pro safety Talanoa Hufanga tore his ACL and is now out for the season.