RENTON — A Seahawks injury report that looked a little ominous earlier in the week ended up containing mostly good news Friday, with just three players who apparently won’t play Sunday against visiting Atlanta — defensive lineman Shelby Harris, cornerback Justin Coleman and safety Joey Blount. The only other player given a game status designation was safety Quandre Diggs, listed as because of a knee injury,
But Diggs practiced Friday, and coach Pete Carroll said “he looks good to play.” Carroll said Diggs’ knee was sore after Sunday’s 27-7 loss to the 49ers.
Harris was ruled out because of a glute injury and a family matter that has kept him away from the team all week. He will likely be replaced in the starting lineup by Quinton Jefferson, with Myles Adams expected to be active for the first time this season.
Coleman is dealing with a calf injury that held him out against the 49ers. He was listed as doubtful, but Carroll said Friday that “it will be hard for him to play this week.”
So that means rookie Coby Bryant will get a second start as the nickel cornerback. He started against the 49ers after getting two snaps in Week 1 against Denver.
Bryant, a fourth-round draft pick out of Cincinnati, gave up a touchdown against the Broncos and was called for two penalties — pass interference and illegal contact — against the 49ers.
But Carroll said he has seen progress from Bryant, who won the 2021 Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in college football.
“There’s so much that happens, there’s so much to learn at that spot,” Carroll said. “ … Fortunately he’s a really good football player, and he can get through tough situations pretty well and make good decisions. But he needs all of the reps, so he’s still growing at it.”
Blount, a rookie backup safety, also missed the 49ers game. Seattle signed Teez Tabor as safety depth last week, and he will likely be active.
Seattle had three starting offensive linemen miss at least one practice this week due to injury — guards Gabe Jackson (knee) and Damien Lewis (thigh) and center Austin Blythe (shoulder).
But all three practiced fully Friday, and Seattle is expected to have its regular starting offensive line available Sunday.
Carroll said Blythe, who showed up on the injury report this week, had a sore shoulder and the team decided to give him Thursday off. Lewis was injured early against the 49ers and replaced by Phil Haynes. But Carroll said he bounced back quickly this week.
Woolen catches 49ers off guard?
Seattle’s lone TD against the 49ers came when rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen blocked a field-goal attempt and Michael Jackson returned it 86 yards for a touchdown.
As Woolen noted Thursday, he was on the field-goal-block team because Coleman was sidelined — Woolen didn’t play on the field-goal-block team against Denver.
“With JC being out, it was just a chance for me to go out there and fill his spot,” Woolen said.
The 6-foot-4 Woolen, who has run a 4.26 40-yard dash, also noted he initially lined up on the left side, trying to block kicks with his right hand, before moving to the right side for the block, which he blocked with his right hand, all of which might have caught the 49ers by surprise.
“It’s a timing thing and me having speed and length helped a lot,” he said.
He also marveled that the ball took a perfect bounce to Jackson.
“Like a bounce pass in basketball,” he said. “It was pretty cool seeing that. Whenever I got up, I was looking for the ball, but Michael Jackson already took off running. I just saw the kicker trying to get him, so I took off sprinting to at least try and get the kicker. Once the kicker failed his tackle attempt, we just celebrated in the end zone.”
Lockett ‘forgot’ he was mic’d up
Receiver Tyler Lockett garnered a lot of attention last week when the Seahawks released a video of him mic’d up during the win over Denver for a scene that showed him pointing out that Russell Wilson was using the same hand signals as he had with Seattle.
The video showed Lockett telling Woolen that when Wilson tapped his wrist it meant the receiver is supposed to change his route to a “go” route.
Lockett said this week he hadn’t intended for that to become public.
“I forgot I was mic’d up,” Lockett said. “So they probably shouldn’t have even shown it.”
Lockett noted that the hand gesture is subtle enough that even as a receiver playing with Wilson it was sometimes hard to see.
“That’s what makes him so good,” Lockett said. “Like as a receiver you’ve got to know how to see it and when it’s coming and know when it’s coming. You can watch film, and you might not even see it.”
And for the big deal made on social media about the signal, it’s worth noting that players change teams all the time — the Seahawks have cut/released/traded numerous receivers who played with Wilson during his years in Seattle and could have told their new teams about Wilson’s signals. All of that is a common part of the game.
“You’ve got to know what you are looking for and when to look for it and all that,” Lockett said.
Still, Lockett said he was just trying to help the Seahawks win.
Woolen said it helped.
“Yeah, of course it does,” he said. “Having any of those small inputs and information helps you play a lot faster. Once me and him went over the different signals and communications that they used, it helped a lot.”