Chancellor’s availability for Sunday at Arizona remains iffy, Bennett will play

Kam Chancellor’s availability for the Seahawks’ latest divisional test remains in doubt.

The guy whose passes Chancellor and the Seahawks are going to be trying to stop Sunday night in the desert also missed practice on Wednesday because of injury.

Carson Palmer did not participate in practice Wednesday in Arizona, where the Cardinals (3-3) are preparing to host the NFC West-leading Seahawks (4-1) Sunday night. Palmer left Arizona’s home win over the Jets Monday night late with what the team described as a strained hamstring, though Palmer said after the game he merely had a cramp from dehydration.

The Cardinals still listed Palmer with a hamstring injury.

Arizona coach Bruce Arians on Wednesday morning brushed off a question about Palmer’s health on a conference call with Seattle-area media.

“He’ll be fine,” Arians said of the 36-year-old QB, who missed one game plus the end of Arizona’s home loss to the Rams on Oct. 2 with a concussion.

Back up here, Chancellor did some running tests in the morning before practice, then was standing and watching drills in the afternoon.

Chancellor at strong safety is the key to communication in the back of the Seahawks’ defense — as we all saw during last weekend’s game against Atlanta when he was out and the Seahawks blew two coverages for Falcons touchdowns.

Will he play Sunday night in Arizona?

“Day to day. I can’t tell you,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen for the weekend. As a matter of fact, he’s running right now, in between walk through and practice today to see how he does. So I don’t know.”

Chancellor’s availability is likely to remain a question all the way up to game time Sunday.

Carroll was very optimistic on Luke Willson’s prognosis, one day after the No. 2 tight end had arthroscopic surgery on his knee he injured last weekend when Christine Michael fell onto the back of his legs in the end zone while Michael was running for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Carroll said the surgeon found less damage in the cartilage and ligaments than the Seahawks first believed was in the knee.

“Luke had surgery (Tuesday) and I think he’s going to make a miraculous return,” Carroll said. “I think he’s as upbeat as you can imagine. Very minimal stuff they had to do to him. Everybody is pleased about that. We’re really kind of expecting him to break records coming back. We’ll see what that means, but he’s going to respond very well.

“Yeah, we’re hoping within weeks.”

Until then, rookie third-round pick Nick Vannett is picking a great time to be fully recovered — finally — from the high-ankle sprain the tight end from Ohio State got in the second preseason game in mid-August. Vannett is going to get far more playing time in Arizona than the five snaps he got in his NFL debut last week, and offensive line coach Tom Cable said he and fellow backup tight end Brandon Williams will assume the fullback/H-back blocking duties Willson was doing some of before he got hurt.

Michael Bennett practiced fully on Wednesday and said everything was fine with his right knee he injured when Atlanta offensive tackle Jake Matthews cut blocked him in the third quarter last weekend. Bennett and Carroll said the Pro Bowl defensive end will play against the Cardinals.

Defensive end Frank Clark also practiced and will play at Arizona. He missed last week’s game with a strained hamstring.

Carroll explained why the team put Garrison Smith on injured reserve Tuesday two days after he played 19 snaps against Atlanta. The Seahawks re-signed Sealver Siliga to replace Smith.

“He came out of the game. We didn’t realize it, but he had something wrong,” Carroll said of Smith. “He had a cartilage issue and he had to get operated on. It kind of sprung up late Monday and he was feeling really uncomfortable, got some tests and sure enough he needed some work done. We had to take care of business.”

SILIGA’S THIRD SEAHAWKS CHANCE

The Seahawks signed Siliga after becoming convinced he was fully healthy from a training-camp calf injury.

Last March, Siliga signed a one-year, $1.4 million free agent contract with the Seahawks.

But after missing most of training camp with a calf injury, he was placed on injured reserve Aug. 29.

A week later, he was waived with an injury settlement. Siliga said he was paid by the team “for a couple of weeks” while he recovered.

Since Siliga’s fiancée is from Renton, the couple stayed there since his release. He has been working out in Kirkland.

“I have been training to get back to where I was at before,” Siliga said. “I am 100 percent healthy now.”

The 6-foot-2, 345-pound Siliga spent the past three seasons in New England. He played in 25 games with the Patriots, including a start in Super Bowl XLIX against the Seahawks.

Seattle had acquired Siliga once before — in a 2013 trade with Denver for offensive lineman John Moffitt.

EXTRA POINTS

Carroll keeps joking about rookie backup center Joey Hunt’s one-play cameo as a blocking back last weekend against Atlanta. He was the fullback Christine Michael followed into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run that cut the Falcons’ lead to 24-23 in the fourth quarter. “Joey is one for one. One play, one touchdown,” Carroll said. “We’re really going to be judicious in when we put him in and make sure we keep his streak alive, if it’s at all possible.” Truth be told, Hunt was looking for defenders to block that weren’t there and ran into right tackle and teammate Garry Gilliam instead as Michael ran past him. ... Wide receiver Doug Baldwin on what he thought when he first joined the Seahawks in 2011 and saw who intense teammate and safety Earl Thomas was: “I thought something was wrong with him.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2016 at 10:12 PM with the headline "Chancellor’s availability for Sunday at Arizona remains iffy, Bennett will play."