Report: Luke Joeckel to play vs Rams, have surgery during bye week

Seattle Seahawks left guard Luke Joeckel hurt his knee against the Indianapolis Colts last week; not enough to keep him out of Sunday’s game against the LA Rams ... but apparently enough to require surgery. Yes, that’s really how that works sometimes.

Joeckel is apparently ready to gut it out for a day, as the Seahawks desperately need to be as healthy as possible along the offensive line as they attempt to slow down Aaron Donald, Michael Brockers, Robert Quinn, and the rest of the Rams front-seven. He’s potentially Seattle’s second-best lineman after Justin Britt, and trying to shuffle around left guard, while realizing that the left tackle, right tackle, and right guard spots have been exceptionally weak this season, could be a nightmare. Not that it would be a choice if Joeckel was simply too hurt to play, but this seems to be a moment when he could get a break if the Seahawks were in a position to give him a break, but they are not.

Instead it seems that he will have surgery after the game in the hopes that he’ll be able to return as soon as possible, knowing that Seattle does get 13 days off before playing the Giants in New York. This is not an uncommon practice: