Lynch faces injury lay-off
SEATTLE: Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch will be sidelined for at least three weeks after having surgery to repair a sports hernia, coach Pete Carroll said on Wednesday.
The five-time Pro Bowl selection had been dealing with an abdominal injury and played through the pain in a 39-32 loss to the Arizona Cardinals two weeks ago but sat out Seattle’s 29-13 win over the San Francisco 49ers last week.
Lynch, dubbed “Beast Mode” for his aggressive running style, travelled to Philadelphia on Monday to see a specialist before undergoing surgery.
“He’s going to stay back east for a number of days until it’s time to come back and we’ll see what happens when he returns,” Carroll said during a news conference.
“The doctor was very optimistic about a quick recovery and that could mean within three or four weeks, something like that. We’ll see how that works out.”
Thomas Rawls, who ran for 209 yards against the 49ers, a record for a Seahawks rookie, will continue in the starting role until Lynch returns.
“The doctor projected that he could get back pretty quickly,” Carroll said of Lynch, who also missed 2½ games earlier this season because of a hamstring injury.
“So they fixed everything that was wrong and the doctor was very optimistic about his return.”
The Seahawks (5-5), second in the NFC West behind the Arizona Cardinals (8-2), will keep Lynch on their active roster in the hope that he will be able to return before the end of the regular season. The play-offs begin on Jan 9.