National Football League

Seattle's stunning win comes with injury costs

Published Oct. 11, 2011 1:26 a.m. ET

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Tarvaris Jackson's injured pectoral muscle won't allow him to throw, Marcus Trufant couldn't bend over to tie his shoes, Marshawn Lynch is hobbling around with a bum ankle and Zach Miller has a sore neck.

The bye week couldn't be coming at a better time for the 2-3 Seattle Seahawks.

Coming off an impressive 36-25 win over the New York Giants, the Seahawks were basking in some unexpected attention on Monday thanks to the performance of unheralded players like wide receiver Doug Baldwin, cornerback Brandon Browner and backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst.

But injury concerns overshadowed much of Seattle's excitement a day after the Seahawks picked up their first victory in the Eastern time zone since 2007.

Jackson's is the most concerning because of an unclear prognosis. He'll rest during the bye week due to a ''high-grade'' pectoral strain with no timetable on when the Seahawks' starting QB might be back in action.

While he made a few poor decisions, Jackson carried over much of the play he showed a week earlier when he threw for a career-high 319 yards and three touchdowns in a loss to Atlanta. Using the hurry-up offense from the start, Jackson was 15 of 22 for 166 yards and a touchdown before leaving with his injury.

''He felt better today than he did yesterday, but we won't know. We're not going to know for a while. We won't have him throw the football for a little bit and see what happens, but it is on his throwing shoulder,'' Carroll said. ''In the event that he can't play, Charlie is ready to go. We got a really good performance from Charlie yesterday. He did the things we needed to do to keep the game moving and then had enough there to finish it off and get the touchdown drive that we needed to win the football game, so we're really pleased about that.''

Carroll didn't know how long Jackson would be out and wouldn't reveal many details about what Jackson's MRI Monday morning showed, other than saying ''there's some stuff there.'' Jackson was hurt on a designed quarterback run in the third quarter that went for 11 yards. Three Giants players landed on him at the end of the play.

''I thought that Tarvaris did well throughout with a couple of throws that he tried to jam in there, and I'm still mad at him for running and getting hit when he could have got down,'' Carroll said.

Jackson was replaced by Whitehurst, who hit Baldwin on a 27-yard TD pass that put Seattle ahead 29-25 with 2:37 remaining. The touchdown capped a day where Baldwin caught eight passes for 136 yards and the go-ahead TD. Whitehurst was 11 of 19 for 149 yards in his limited action and led Seattle to 13 fourth-quarter points.

Carroll was asked Monday if there was a quarterback controversy brewing after the way Whitehurst played.

''There is no controversy brewing here in this building. You guys can have all the one you want,'' Carroll said.

Jackson won't be alone in doing very little during the week before the Seahawks take a four-day break. Trufant and Miller both had MRI's on Monday. Miller suffered a head injury and was suffering from a sore neck after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from Giants safety Kenny Phillips in the first quarter on Sunday.

Lynch will be limited as well this week after suffering a sprained right ankle on the second play of the game Sunday. Lynch caught a short pass and raced 17 yards but was tackled from behind and turned his ankle.

Leroy Hill also suffered a mild hamstring strain against the Giants, while reserve linebacker Jameson Konz suffered a serious knee injury.

Trufant made the trip to New York, but was inactive and Carroll said Trufant's back was so problematic on Sunday morning that he couldn't bend over to tie his shoes. Trufant suffered a bruised sacrum in his lower back in Seattle's loss to Atlanta on Oct. 2, but the injury didn't cause Trufant problems until the middle of last week.

''He was just all cramped up and couldn't move at all,'' Carroll said of Trufant. ''So we don't know how soon that goes away or what that's going to be like.''

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