Are the Seattle Seahawks getting more injured than other teams this season?
On Friday, the Seahawks announced that six players would definitely be out on Sunday vs the New Orleans Saints due to injuries, including a surprise diagnosis of defensive end Michael Bennett that sounds kinda bad, plus an uncomfortably early nix on safety Kam Chancellor. This news, plus previous concerns regarding Russell Wilson, the linebackers, the defensive tackles, the running backs, and many of the rookie class, have many fans wondering of Seattle is especially unlucky when it comes to injuries this season.
The answer is: Hell no. The explanation as to why that is the answer, begins here:
First of all, let’s take a closer look at Russell Wilson’s injuries and how they compare to some other top quarterbacks and teams around the NFL. Wilson has not missed a practice and has not been in doubt for any games, but the purveying feeling seems to be that the Seahawks are extremely unlucky with Wilson’s ailments this season. Again: Wilson hasn’t even missed a full practice.
Let’s compare:
The New England Patriots had to replace Tom Brady for four games because of suspension and then Jimmy Garoppolo got hurt. Then his backup Jacoby Brissett got hurt and went on IR.
Ben Roethlisberger missed the last game with a sprained MCL and could miss several more. Roethlisberger has missed eight games since Wilson came into the league. The Dallas Cowboys lost Tony Romo before the season and he hasn’t returned after being out for six games. The Minnesota Vikings lost Teddy Bridgewater for a year, at least. The Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals had to play without Cam Newton and Carson Palmer for one game each.
The Denver Broncos were without Trevor Siemian for a game. The New York Jets finally benched Ryan Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith almost immediately tore his ACL. The Cleveland Browns have played six quarterbacks this season because of injuries. The Chicago Bears are down to Matt Barkley.
Not only has Wilson been able to play each week, but he’s thrown just one interception and has been sacked 11 times — compared to being sacked 26 times after six games a year ago. Plus, Seattle was 2-4 after six games in 2015, not 4-1-1.
What about other key players missing games due to injury?
Well, there’s Thomas Rawls, the 2015 leader in DYAR among all running backs, who has missed basically all of the season and the Seahawks are 31st in yards per carry. Does any other good team have to deal with missing a star running back?
Yes.
The Patriots and Dion Lewis, the Steelers and Le’Veon Bell, the Vikings and Adrian Peterson, the Broncos and CJ Anderson, the Raiders and Latavius Murray, the Bills and LeSean McCoy, the Chiefs and Jamaal Charles, the Packers and Eddie Lacy, the Chargers and Danny Woodhead/Branden Oliver, the Bucs and Doug Martin, the Lions and Ameer Abdullah, the Falcons and Tevin Coleman, the Panthers and Jonathan Stewart, the Cardinals and Chris Johnson. Sorry, which team is healthy at running back? Arian Foster just retired for goodness sake.
But Seattle has already had to deal with Kam Chancellor being out for two games and at least one more coming up, while Michael Bennett is going to miss a game and could require surgery. It’s very sad news and not promising, but do any other teams have to deal with playing lighter on defense than they expected?
Kinda.
Houston and J.J. Watt/Kevin Johnson/Brian Cushing, Kansas City and Justin Houston, New England and Rob Ninkovich/Dont’a Hightower/Jamie Collins, Buffalo and Reggie Ragland/Aaron Williams/Marcell Dareus/Shaq Lawson/Ronald Darby, Pittsburgh and Cam Heyward/Ryan Shazier, Cincinnati and Vontaze Burfict, Baltimore and Elvis Dumervil/Terrell Suggs/CJ Mosley, Denver and Demarcus Ware, San Diego and Manti Te’o/Jason Verrett/Brandon Flowers/Waiting for Joey Bosa, Dallas and Morris Claiborne, Minnesota and Sharrif Floyd/Xavier Rhodes, Green Bay and Sam Shield/Damarious Randall/Letroy Guion/Datone Jones/Clay Matthews, the Falcons and Deion Jones/Sean Weatherspoon/Keanu Neal, the Panthers and Vernon Butler...
But Seattle has dealt with injuries to Germain Ifedi and now Bradley Sowell on the offensive line, missing a total of three starts out of a possible (6x5) 30 among all offensive linemen on the team. A fourth could be coming this weekend with Sowell listed as questionable. Does any other team have to put up with this crap?
The Pats placed Sebastian Vollmer on IR, the Bills have played some without franchise tag player Cordy Glenn and have several offensive linemen questionable this week including Richie Incognito, the Ravens are playing without top pick Ronnie Stanley and top guard Marshal Yanda, the Texans were again without tackle Duane Brown for several games plus second round center Nick Martin is on IR, the Raiders are having some health issues with Austin Howard and Menelik Watson, the Cowboys put La’El Collins on IR and Tyron Smith has missed time with a back injury, the Vikings put Matt Kalil and Andre Smith and Mike Harris on IR, the Packers have center Corey Linsley on PUP, the Cardinals are now without Evan Mathis
Any other stars on competing teams out or missed valuable time?
Sammy Watkins, Tyler Eifert, Steve Smith, Keenan Allen, Jason Verrett, Dez Bryant, Zach Ertz, Stefon Diggs, and more but I am tired of typing.
Injuries aren’t just part of the game, they’re a common staple among teams that make the playoffs too. Honestly, if you made me put Seattle in the category of “lucky” or “unlucky” in regards to injuries this season, I would have to say they’ve been lucky. After seven weeks, the only starter on IR is Mike Morgan, who was a fringe starter that won the job days before Week 1 and then barely played. We actually can’t prove that the Seahawks aren’t playing better without him. (No offense, Mike, get well soon.) And not only that: Morgan is expected to return!
The team has placed 12 players on IR and most of them, you wouldn’t have even remembered from training camp: Joe Sommers, Tyler Slavin, Tavaris Barnes, Brandon Cottom, Ronnie Shields, Stanley Jean-Baptiste, Tre Madden, Mohammed Seisay, plus Jordan Hill (since released), Quinton Jefferson, Garrison Smith, and Morgan.
How would you feel if your team had to place Keenan Allen, Danny Woodhead, Sean Lissemore, Jason Verrett, Manti Te’o, and Stevie Johnson on IR?
Or Adrian Peterson, Teddy Bridgewater, Matt Kalil, and Andre Smith?
If Bennett has to have surgery that forces him out for several weeks, if not the whole season, then that would be a really tough pill to swallow. But it would still only be one key player out for the year out of literally a couple dozen great players on Seattle’s roster; not only have the Seahawks escaped many serious injuries this season, but they have more to lose.
Last year, Seattle dealt with tough injuries to Marshawn Lynch, Jimmy Graham, Chancellor, Jordan Hill, Jeremy Lane, Ricardo Lockette, Rawls, Paul Richardson, and Tharold Simon. And that team went to the divisional round of the playoffs.
This team has definitely dealt with injuries, especially to the rookie class, and certainly stars like Wilson and Tyler Lockett have been slowed down, but it’s hardly among the worst situations in the NFL. In fact, the Seahawks have escaped relatively healthy and if anything, Friday’s injury report is perhaps a regression to the mean; a buildup after a tough 75-minute game and optimistic injury diagnoses that kept certain players in games that they shouldn’t have been in.
That type of cynicism I’ll buy. Believing that Seattle is being more screwed over by injuries than other teams this year though, I simply cannot.