Kerney’s season comes to an end

Defensive end placed on injured reserve due to shoulder

BY FRANK HUGHES | THE NEWS TRIBUNE • Published November 20, 2008

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RENTON - The Seattle Seahawks on Wednesday placed Pro Bowl defensive end Patrick Kerney on injured reserve, ending his season after he suffered a shoulder injury against the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 26.

To replace Kerney, the Seahawks claimed defensive end Brandon Miller off waivers from the Atlanta Falcons.

The Seahawks were hoping that Kerney, second in the NFL last season in sacks, would be able to return to play again this season.

But after getting a magnetic resonance imaging scan on Tuesday, team doctors determined that Kerney’s left shoulder, which already has been surgically repaired to fix his labrum, was not healing as quickly as they would like.

“It showed things that they thought would require more time,” Kerney said. “You can get angry about it, you can get sad about it, but it’s not going to heal your shoulder any faster. You take it for what it’s worth. Now my job is to get better and get stronger for next season.”

Kerney ends the season with five sacks, which still leads the team even though he has played only seven games.

His absence has left the Seahawks with virtually no pass rush unless they blitz their linebackers.

Kerney injured the shoulder on one of the final plays of the Seahawks’ 34-13 victory over the Niners. He said he was trying to reach out and grab quarterback Shaun Hill and had his arm bent back awkwardly.

Ironically, Kerney’s injury came in the same game in which he had a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble return for 50 yards that set up one of Seattle’s early scores.

“Every time you start to put your head up, somebody knocks it back down in the hole,” Kerney said. “From an injury standpoint, it’s as bad as I’ve seen in my 10 years. Hopefully, I’ll be the last one.”

Miller signed with Atlanta as an undrafted rookie free agent in the offseason. He played linebacker at Georgia, but converted to defensive end.

He spent the first 10 weeks of the season on the practice squad before being signed to the active roster.

He did not play in last week’s loss to Denver and was released on Tuesday.

HOLMGREN NO STATS HORSE: Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren on Wednesday said that part of the reason the Seahawks have been burned by so many big plays this season is that the pass rush, minus Kerney, has not been very effective.

It was pointed out to Holmgren that the Seahawks, while not as productive as last season, still are tied for ninth in the NFL with 24 sacks. Through 10 games last season, they had 31 sacks.

“Statistics by themselves ... don’t tell the story,” Holmgren said. “Lack of numbers do sometimes, but to be in the top third in sacks, that’s great. That’s great. Maybe we should be number one in sacks if you study the film and then maybe those 10 or 12 sacks that we should’ve had that would’ve put us there, maybe they’ve cost us four games.

“Believe me, that’s why the stats, I don’t do it so much anymore. Because you can play with those and kind of make a case for most things.”

Holmgren also said the big plays being relinquished are a result of the stature of cornerbacks Josh Wilson (5-9), Kelly Jennings (5-11) and Marcus Trufant (5-11).

HASSELBECK SITS: Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck sat out Wednesday’s practice to recover from some of the hits he took in Sunday’s game against Arizona. He is expected to practice today and will play on Sunday.