Seahawks notes: Spencer likely headed for injured reserve

The Seattle Seahawks are likely to place center Chris Spencer on injured reserve this week, ending his season because of a back injury that has bothered him since training camp.

Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said the team will give Spencer a few more days, but the Seahawks are probably going to have to sign a free agent to back up Steve Vallos, who started in Thursday's loss to Dallas.

"I won't know that for a couple days, but his back is still pretty banged up," said Holmgren, who indicated Spencer has a disk problem.

Meanwhile, left guard Mike Wahle may also be placed on injured reserve because his injured right shoulder, which has caused him to miss the past two games, is not healing the way the team had hoped.

"If we got him back for this game (against New England), then that's good," Holmgren said. "If he couldn't come back for this game, there's a chance he goes the way of Spencer."

Holmgren said that although left tackle Walter Jones is suffering from a leg injury that will prevent him from practicing this week, he is likely to play in Sunday's game against the Patriots, which has been changed to a 1:05 p.m. start because flex scheduling allowed NBC to choose the Washington-Baltimore game for the Sunday night slot.

The injuries to the offensive line do not bode well for quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who was battered and bruised after getting sacked seven times in the Seahawks' 34-9 loss to the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.

"It's definitely a dangerous situation," Hasselbeck said. "I don't think anybody on our team is 100 percent (healthy) right now. It is just one of those situations where you rehab as much as you can and then give the team everything you've got and just hope that it is enough."

Hasselbeck said that even though the Seahawks (2-10) have little motivation and he risks further injury, he will continue to play in the remaining four games.

"The fact that we are out of it playoff-wise, to me, doesn't affect anything," Hasselbeck said. "If someone decides to play it a little differently at the end, that is their call. As a player you really have to have tunnel vision; give your teammates, your coaches and the fans everything you've got."

Holmgren reiterated Monday that he was not going to make a move toward allowing reserve players to get more playing time.

"I told the team today that we're going to play every game to win," Holmgren said. "Whatever that means as far as the roster, that's what we're going to have to do."

The Seahawks are likely to bring in a group of free agents today for tryouts to back up Vallos. Mansfield Wrotto, who played guard in college, was the backup in training camp, but he had trouble with the quarterback exchange then, and he had trouble with it in practice last week, as well.

Spencer had offseason surgeries on his shoulder and his wrist, but on the first day of training camp he threw out his back while hitting a blocking sled. That injury kept him from playing in three of the four exhibition games.

Missing those repetitions hindered his development at a time when the coaching staff was hoping he would use training camp to better learn his line calls, as well as form some cohesion with Wahle, in his first year with Seattle, and right guard Rob Sims.

That didn't begin to happen until the regular season, which started with Buffalo's Marcus Stroud dominating the line of scrimmage with two sacks, seven tackles and two passes defensed.

"My expectation for Chris Spencer is high," Holmgren said. "I believe he is a good football player, but he's been very, very unlucky and a little bit injury-prone so far in his career. And offensive linemen, the great offensive linemen, they play. They play all the time."

Before the Dallas game, Vallos had played only on special teams and at right guard this season. The Dallas game was his first at center. He was beaten for a sack on one play by Tank Johnson.

"It was a tough go," Holmgren said. "The (Cowboys) have a good defensive line and we kind of threw him in there. He battled — but it was difficult for him."

• ANSWERING CRITICISM: Holmgren addressed several defensive players' criticism of coordinator John Marshall's schemes during the loss to Dallas.

Safety Deon Grant and linebacker Julian Peterson were upset that the defense did not gamble to pressure Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo until after Dallas held a 24-3 lead.

"After you lose a game — an emotional game — sometimes players say things that they believe, but it's not necessarily true all the time," Holmgren said. "In their mind, if they think a way is better, I think you have to listen to them a little bit.

"I think we'll do some of that (blitzing) probably … on defense. But you know how it is … things get said. How much of it is real? I think after they see the film, which they now have seen, they might look at it a little differently."