Justin Britt dealing with ankle injury; Dwight Freeney to visit Seahawks

Minnesota Vikings v Seattle Seahawks

RENTON -- Center Justin Britt is dealing with a sprained right ankle that could keep him off the practice field until at least Friday.

Whether it will force him to miss next week's game against the Houston Texans remains to be seen.

Britt was injured on a second-and-8 play late in the first quarter when he was engaged with New York Giants rookie defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson. Britt missed five plays before returning and finishing the game for Seattle.

"He has a sore ankle today. He’s sore, we won’t know about Justin until later in the week," head coach Pete Carroll said. "Each day will tell us something, but I wouldn’t think he’d have a chance to practice until Friday or something like that, if he can. We’ll see."

While the Seahawks made a decision to rotate Mark Glowinski and Ethan Pocic at left guard on Sunday, their hand may be forced this week. If Britt can't play against the Houston Texans, Pocic will likely get his first start at center. Glowinski would then take over as the starting left guard against Houston.

Glowinski eventually played 48 snaps while Pocic played 34 snaps as the Seahawks rotated the two players on a series-by-series basis against the Giants. Pocic also played five snaps at center in place of Britt.

Carroll said it's not a high-ankle sprain for Britt.

The Seahawks scored 17 of their 24 points with Glowinski in the game at left guard. Pocic was at left guard for the one-play drive of Russell Wilson connecting with Paul Richardson on a flea flicker for a 38-yard touchdown.

"They both did OK," Carroll said. "Really fired up for Ethan that he played two spots. (He) was forced to jump into center and did well and jumped back at guard and did fine. He did a good job. I'm excited for him. Glow played like he plays and hung in there and did fine. That's good for us. We got a little bit better because we got two guys playing there that hadn't played a lot."

Carroll thought Sunday's performance was the best of the season for Seattle from a pass protection standpoint.

"The only time we got sacked was on a three-man rush when Russ was running around and doing his Fran Tarkenton thing back there," Carroll said. "It was a really good game for our guys and we threw the ball quite a bit and they came after us. We had a lot of plays and a lot of shots. I was really fired up for us."

Dwight Freeney to visit Seahawks:

With Cliff Avril going on injured reserve on Friday, the Seahawks are taking a look at a veteran pass rusher on Tuesday.

According to KJR's Dave "Softy" Mahler, defensive end Dwight Freeney will be in town for a visit with the Seahawks.

Freeney remains a free agent after playing last 15 games last season with the Atlanta Falcons. He was with the team through their run to Super Bowl LI. Freeney has played for the San Diego Chargers, Arizona Cardinals and Falcons over the last four years after spending the first 11 years of his career with the Indianapolis Colts.

Freeney would almost certainly be only a rotational pass rush option if he signs with Seattle. The 37-year old pass rusher isn't capable of producing at a high level on an every down basis anymore. However, he could still provide a spark in limited situatons.

Seattle is carrying an open roster spot after putting Avril on injured reserve. The plantar fascia injury to Michael Bennett could also necessitate another body at defensive end to help in the interim. Frank Clark, Marcus Smith, Quinton Jefferson, Branden Jackson and Sheldon Richardson can all play end as well.

Notes:

--Running back C.J. Prosise played just two snaps against the Giants before aggravating an ankle injury that forced him to miss the previous two games. Carroll thought it possible Prosise would be able to practice this week but was unsusre if he'd be able to play against the Texans.

"On the pass protection he just loaded up and just tweaked it [his ankle] a little bit," Carroll said. "He didn’t sprain his ankle, didn’t re-injure it, but it tweaked and showed it wasn’t as stable as we had hoped, and the work that we had done in practice wasn’t indicative of what he was doing in the game obviously, because it didn’t hold up. 

"We’ll just go through the week and see what happens. It’s one day at a time. I think he’ll be able to practice again, I think he’ll be able to get back out there. We’ll see what it is and we’ll have more insights now to know what he can handle. Maybe he can play this week, maybe he can’t. I don’t know."


Photo Credit: SEATTLE, WA - AUGUST 18: Center Justin Britt #68 of the Seattle Seahawks in action against the Minnesota Vikings at CenturyLink Field on August 18, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)


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