RENTON — Tyler Lockett should be recovered from his broken leg in time for training camp next season and play in the 2017 season.
Thomas Rawls’ bruised shoulder should be fine for him to be Seattle’s lead runner again Sunday at San Francisco.
And, no, the Seahawks’ coach is not like most of you. He is not alarmed.
That is the gist of what coach Pete Carroll said Monday, two days after his Seahawks splatted on Christmas Eve. Their 34-31 loss to Arizona left the home fans booing, leaving CenturyLink Field early — and fretting the NFC West champions’ upcoming postseason won’t last long.
“It’s quite obvious we missed a big opportunity in the ballgame this weekend. We’re really disappointed in that,” Carroll said. “It’s clear that we didn’t play well enough coming out of the chute.
“Very difficult to take.”
For the players, too.
The defense allowed Arizona to win with a drive in the final 60 seconds to the winning field goal as time expired — after Seattle’s offense rallied with 13 points inside the final 3 minutes to tie.
“It just sucks that we lost in that manner,” Pro Bowl defensive end Cliff Avril said.
“It just sucks.”
The Seahawks (9-5-1) are still lacking the consistency a division winner should have by the final days of December. But when asked if that is alarming to him, Carroll shook his head.
“I don’t think it’s alarming,” he said. “I just think it’s what we’re working with.
“Obviously, it’s going to be really difficult to expect us to play a great game until we do.”
Carroll said Lockett was to stay in the hospital until Tuesday, and that he felt better than he did on Sunday. The second-year wide receiver and 2015 Pro Bowl kick returner had overnight surgery into Sunday morning after breaking the tibia and fibula in his right leg Saturday while he completed a catch at the goal line against the Cardinals.
The injury was so bloody and traumatic to Lockett and his teammates that fellow wide receiver Doug Baldwin got on both knees and prayed with him as Lockett was on his back getting an air cast applied to his leg.
Asked if Lockett would return in time for training camp that begins in late July, Carroll said: “Yeah, sounds like it.
“Really, all indications are if everything goes as it is supposed to, he’ll be in pretty good shape and he’ll have a chance to come back, really, without question (by training camp).
“There’s always that opportunity for complications and stuff. But the extraordinary worker that he is, his attitude, his mentality, will lead to indications that he should be able to come roaring back.”
Lockett had surgery Saturday night to stabilize his lower right leg. The procedure ended around 4 a.m. on Sunday.
“The surgery went exceptionally well,” Carroll said. “He has a real chance to get back moving four to six weeks from now, and work his way back in a few months and have a chance to get himself going.
“He’s absolutely, positively optimistic about all of that. All he could do is ask about everybody else. He wants to know how everybody else is doing. … Classic Lockett.”
Rawls was doing better Monday, Carroll said, than when the team’s No. 1 running back missed the entire second half against Arizona with a bruised shoulder. The coach said he expects Rawls to start at San Francisco.
The Seahawks need him to. C.J. Prosise, the rookie who starred in his first career start last month at New England then broke his shoulder blade, is still a week or so away from an evaluation to see if he can return for the postseason.
The offense produced just three points while losing at Tampa Bay late last month, then 40 points while routing Carolina to begin this month, 10 points in the blowout loss at Green Bay, then three points and 94 total yards in Saturday’s first half.
“It all starts up front,” Carroll said simply of the offense’s inconsistency.
He had this assessment for undrafted rookie George Fant, for right tackle Garry Gilliam, for the entire offensive line, in fact: Bad early, better later.
“We’re showing youth and awareness of a new group out there we’re going against and overreacting some to stuff that’s happening. Then when they settle down, they’re fine,” Carroll said. “That’s a very positive thought, in that we know we can get them.
“We just have to make sure we do it throughout the whole game and see if we can get them right from the start.”
The loss to the Cardinals did more than deny the Seahawks their fourth-ever undefeated regular season at home. It likely will mean Seattle plays on the first weekend of the postseason, Jan. 7 or 8, at home against a wild-card team rather than having a first-round bye that would leave them one home playoff win from the NFC title game.
To get the second seed and bye, the Seahawks need to beat the 49ers (2-13) on Sunday, have NFC South division-champion Atlanta lose to New Orleans and have Detroit lose one of two games. The last condition happened on Monday night when the Cowboys beat the Lions, 42-21.
“We got one big game coming up and we’ll know where we are after this week,” Carroll said. “And nobody knows right now. We’ll see what happens. We’ve got to win our game and take care of business and we’ll see where that leaves us. And then away we go.
“Then, it’s the new season. And we’ll see how that goes.”
