Brandon Mebane has "really legit" hamstring pull, will miss some time; Seahawks injury update

Seahawks nose tackle Brandon Mebane has a 'really legit' hamstring pull and will be out for a while, Pete Carroll reported at his Monday afternoon press conference. That is vague, obviously, but I would expect that it means Mebane will miss, at least, a few weeks, but it could be significantly longer. Hamstring injuries are notoriously fickle and chronic, so this is a big hit for Seattle's base defense.

In Mebane's spot, we can expect Kevin Williams, Jordan Hill, Tony McDaniel, and Demarcus Dobbs to rotate in, depending on the scheme. Carroll said that Williams will likely be getting a little more playing time while Mebane is out. He also mentioned that fullback Will Tukuafu can help out on the defensive line if they need him to.

On the offense, James Carpenter is looking like a "long-shot" to play this weekend in Kansas City with an ankle sprain, so that means that Alvin Bailey is likely to get his second straight start at that spot (and third straight start overall after he subbed in for Russell Okung vs. Oakland). Bailey seemed to fare pretty well this week, as evidenced by Seattle's franchise record rushing performance, but will have his work cut out for him next week against the Chiefs very strong defensive front.

Meanwhile, Carroll said that they expect safety Kam Chancellor and linebacker Malcolm Smith to practice Wednesday, and that will give them a barometer for whether or not those two can return to action on Sunday. Linebacker Bobby Wagner is now running, so the team will see how quickly he can get back up to speed. As Carroll put it, "Bobby's taking a big step forward, we'll see what that means."

Tight end Zach Miller will not practice/play this week, and he's taking a little longer than they expected in his recovery for a surgery to remove bone spurs from his ankle. Luke Willson's injury status remains unknown as well -- the backup tight end suffered an ankle injury during the game this week but it's on the same ankle that Willson was able to return from pretty quickly previously, so the Seahawks have high hopes for that. Either way, newly signed former-Chief Tony Moeaki should be ready to go after spending last week getting up to speed in the offense.

Defensive back Marcus Burley went in to this week's game with a sore hamstring, and came out of it with a sore hamstring. He's still looking to get healthy, but the good news is that Jeremy Lane got through this week just fine.

Byron Maxwell did well also in his return from a calf injury, and while he will go back to starting eventually, said Pete Carroll, he may still mix him in with Tharold Simon until his conditioning is where it needs to be.

So, the Seahawks remain very banged up, but at least look to be getting a few guys back to balance out the loss of Mebane this week.