Big, if true: Chris Carson could be back with Seahawks by December

The Seattle Seahawks have struggled to run the ball effectively with anyone other than rookie Chris Carson this season, so Pete Carroll delivered some big-ass news when he told reporters on Monday that Carson could return by December from a broken ankle.

The Seahawks placed Carson on injured reserve after he broke his ankle in a Week 4 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Teams can bring a player back from IR, but now don’t need to immediately designate who that person will be, so we had no real way of knowing if Carson was going to be a guy that would return. Now Carroll has confirmed that it could be.

Other players on IR include Cliff Avril, George Fant, and Richard Sherman. We know that Fant and Sherman won’t be returning this year, though Avril’s neck injury is shrouded in a lot more mystery.

Carson ran the ball 49 times and gained 208 yards, for a 4.2 YPC average. Thomas Rawls is at a 2.6 clip, whereas Eddie Lacy is at 2.7. Russell Wilson leads the team in rushing with 290 and a score. Carson was also among the NFL leaders in broken/missed tackles, which is absolutely necessary behind the Seattle offensive line.

Speaking of which, Carroll noted that guard Luke Joeckel could be returning this week in time to start against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday.