Okung has torn pectoral

Published on December 2, 2011 by Seahawks.Com News (Feed)     

Seahawks left tackle Russell Okung has a torn pectoral, the team confirmed late Friday.

He was injured in the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s 31-14 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at CenturyLink Field, and additional tests performed on Friday confirmed the extent of the injury.

The club, however, did not announce whether Okung will need surgery or how long last year’s first-round draft choice will be sidelined.

Coach Pete Carroll held his day-after news conference before the results of Okung’s tests were available, but he said, “He’s got extensive damage to his (pectoral), it looks like.”

Okung was injured when the Eagles’ Trent Cole grabbed Okung under the arm and flung him to the ground.

“He got thrown down after the whistle, really blatantly,” Carroll said. “Stuff like that happens in the game sometimes, but this was most unfortunate because he was damaged by it.”

Asked if he thought it was dirty play, Carroll said, “It was a bad play.”

And the Seahawks lost a good player. “Russell played a fantastic football game,” Carroll said. “He had a very-aggressive big game throughout. He’s so much better than he was at anytime last year.”

Carroll stopped short of discussing what the team would do to replace Okung. But during the game, right guard Paul McQuistan moved to left tackle for Okung, with Lemuel Jeanpierre taking over for McQuistan – who is starting because rookie John Moffitt sustained a season-ending knee injury in the Week 10 win over the Ravens. Breno Giacomini has started the past three games at right tackle for first-round draft choice James Carpenter, who got a season-ending knee in practice.

“I don’t want to put this crassly, but it’s not about the guys that you lose, it’s about who’s coming up and who’s stepping in,” Carroll said. “We’ll expect however we configure it, we’ll step to the front. I think it is a statement about our depth and the development of these guys throughout the ranks – not just the first guys.”

Carroll praised line coach Tom Cable and his assistants, Pat Ruel and Luke Butkus, for developing the depth the Seahawks are leaning on.

“They deserve a lot of credit for developing these guys so that they can step up and we can maintain a good level of performance,” Carroll said. “And we’ll expect to do that again, however we do this thing.”

Despite playing without Carpenter and Moffitt, the Seahawks have rushed for 126, 124 and 174 yards in their past three games – and are on a streak of five triple-digit rushing efforts that is the team’s longest since 2005.

via Okung has torn pectoral.

Tags: Big Game, Breno Giacomini, coach pete carroll, Draft Choice, Extent, Football Game, Fourth Quarter, Game Right, James Carpenter, John Moffitt, Knee Injury, Lemuel, News Conference, Paul Mcquistan, Philadelphia Eagles, Ravens, Seahawks, Three Games, Thursday Night, Whistle