During the Seattle Seahawks victory over the New York Giants on Sunday, Justin Britt missed a half-dozen snaps after injuring his ankle. While this gave second round pick Ethan Pocic his first regular season snaps at center, it also led to a significant amount of dread among Hawks fans. The left side of the team’s offensive line has already seen tackle George Fant go down for the season with a significant knee injury during the preseason, while guard Luke Joeckel is currently recovering from his own knee surgery and is not expected back until closer to Thanksgiving.
Thus, when the best lineman on the roster went down on Sunday it was cause for concern. Then word came down late Sunday that it was Britt’s ankle that was bothering him, and all of a sudden concerns about Britt potentially missing several games became very real. On Monday, Pete Carroll put those high ankle sprain concerns to rest letting fans know that is not the case.
Pete Carroll: Justin Britt has a sprained ankle, lower, at the joint. Not the more problematic high ankle. #Seahawks
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) October 23, 2017
That is fantastic news for Britt, the team and fans, as high ankle sprains take much, much longer to heal. So, what does the timeframe for Britt look like going forward?
Pete Carroll "We won't know about Justin (Britt) until end of the week" Sore. Won't practice until Friday, likely. #Seahawks vs HOU Sunday
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) October 23, 2017
If Britt is able to practice on Friday, then it would not be a stretch to expect him to be at center on Sunday against the Houston Texans. If he is not able to go by the weekend, then fans may get to see Pocic start at center, with Britt as the emergency center as backup. Alternatively, if the ankle is bad enough that it looks like Britt might be out for longer than anticipated, then we could see Joey Hunt come back from the practice squad to be the backup.
However, before we start jumping to conclusions all over and predicting roster moves, it's probably best to wait until Friday to get an update on Britt and his ankle. And then we can begin the rampant speculation about what moves Carroll and Tom Cable will make regarding the line prior to the game this coming weekend.