Even though both played to the end of the 16-10 win over the Rams Sunday, DE Michael Bennett and LG Luke Joeckel are most happy to see the bye week. Bennett injured the plantar fascia in his right foot in the game, and Joeckel will have arthroscopic surgery Thursday to help with pain in his repaired right knee.
Bennett “was really sore today,” Carroll said at his Monday presser at the VMAC. “He was able to finish the game and did a fantastic job to help us down the stretch.
“He is going to need these couple weeks here.”
Asked how Bennett managed to stay in the game, Carroll said, “He just did. They treated him, and he was able to come back out there and just kind of hang in there. He wanted to finish badly, and he did it.”
The Seahawks are off this week and won’t practice until Monday for the Oct. 22 game against the Giants in New York. Since the Giants are 0-5 and lost four wide receivers to injury Sunday, including Odell Beckham Jr. (broken ankle), the optimistic might suggest it’s like a two-week bye.
Joeckel has played every snap this season after signing a deal worth up to $8 million in free agency. But he sat out numerous practices as the knee recovers from the year-old fix to tears on all three major ligaments — anterior, posterior and medial.
“They are going to try and clean him up and see how fast we can get him back,” Carroll said. “There was something that was kind of hanging in there, it was bothering or irritating him for some time. We tried to wait it out and see what it was, and we have waited as long as we can wait.”
Carroll indicated Joeckel was unlikely to make the trip to New York. If he can’t go, the Seahawks could shift Mark Glowinski, now backing up at right guard, or try rookie second-round draft choice Ethan Pocic.
On defense, the Seahawks were operating Sunday with a key man down, DE Cliff Avril (neck/spine). But Carroll gushed about his replacement, Frank Clark.
“He was tearing it up with the running game,” he said. “Really defended the perimeter running game and chased the ball down well. Put some good pressure on (Rams tackle Andrew Whitworth), who has been unbeatable so far. Frank moved for a big sack and forced fumble.
“We keep putting him out there and he does things that kind of blow you away. It is exciting to have him on the field.”
The Seahawks also found productivity from DL Branden Jackson, promoted from the practice squad last week when Avril’s roster replacement, Quinton Jefferson, broke his hand. Jackson played 21 snaps.
“We wanted to make sure and rotate our guys well in this game, more so then we did back in the Tennessee game that was a little bit of a heat game,” Carroll said. “He got shots. He was in there early and just kind of rolled through and really was very effective. That was just fortunate.”
Perhaps the player under the most pressure Sunday was LT Rees Odhiambo, who was coming off a chest bruise and had to cope with the Rams’ feared tandem of DLs Aaron Donald and Robert Quinn.
“He did quite well,” Carroll said. “When you think about who he is going against, he blocked him a bunch of times, and Quinn won a few times. He did a nice job, knowing also that he came off a very uncomfortable week and was not 100 percent.
“He is very sore today, but he did make it through the game. The break will really help him. It was a very admirable effort by him.”
