Losing one of their best players early affects Seahawks
There went tight end John Carlson, his legs flying skyward and his Seahawks helmet crashing hard on Soldier Field's ice-cold turf.
Upended by Bears safety Danieal Manning on the Seattle sideline after a 14-yard catch-and-sprint early in Sunday's NFC divisional playoff game at Soldier Field, Carlson didn't return.
There went the Seahawks' game plan.
Carlson was to play a huge role, just as he had in Seattle's playoff upset of New Orleans the previous week. His backup, Cameron Morrah, also got nicked.
Suddenly, Seattle had no healthy tight ends.
“We got a big, giant call sheet,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. “It took it down to just like a corner of it.”
There went Seattle cornerback Marcus Trufant, sprawled on the field after Bears tight end Kellen Davis accidentally kicked him in the head on a 3-yard pickup in the third quarter.
Carlson was carted off on a stretcher. Players and coaches were silent.
Trufant was carted off on a stretcher. Players and coaches were silent.
Both Seattle starters suffered what head coach Pete Carroll said were concussions.
“John is a great tight end,” defensive end Chris Clemons said. “I love to play with him, and I love to play with ‘Tru' all day long. Losing them both were key factors because of ‘Tru's' coverage ability and John taking the top off the defense sometimes down the middle.”
There went the Seahawks' spirit, seemingly.
“Two of our starters and two of our better players, too,” safety Jordan Babineaux said of Carlson and Trufant. “We needed their presence. You just hate to see that happen to any guy. It doesn't matter if it's a teammate, friend or foe. You hate to see that in this game because some of those (concussions) are and have been career-ending.
“We just pray together and hope through the grace of God those guys will be OK and be able to bounce back and still be able to do exactly what they love.”
No Seahawk was blaming the team's in-game injuries as a reason for their 35-24 loss. Clearly, however, the visitors had a rough day from the start. Snow was falling and so were Seahawks. Morrah went down with turf toe in the first half.
“We ran into difficulties when we lost both tight ends in the first half,” Carroll said. “We were scrambling and didn't get to run the football like we would have liked to. It just got us out of sync. We didn't respond very well.”
Carroll dismissed the notion that Carlson's injury, visible for all Seahawks on the sideline, affected his team.
“You would think that it could have,” said Carroll, whose team mustered just 34 rushing yards. “But I thought we responded.”
The Bears built a 28-0 lead by late in the third quarter, but the Seahawks kept coming, scoring 21 points in the fourth.
“We had some creative stuff (planned), like we had last week, to John Carlson,” Hasselbeck said. “Because of Julius Peppers, and because of (the Bears') blitz, we (were going to be) a heavy ‘leave the tight end in and leave the running back in to block' kind of a team.”
There went that idea.