Carroll on 710 AM: Prosise to practice Tuesday, Reece a question mark for Saturday at Atlanta

C.J. Prosise will practice Tuesday, but the impressive rookie running back’s status for the Seahawks’ divisional playoff game at Atlanta is unknown.

Marcel Reece has been a spark to the offense since signing late in the season, but his status Saturday against the Falcons is also to be determined after the fullback got his foot stepped on “pretty good.”

Defensive tackle Tony McDaniel remains “a question mark” for this week because of a concussion.

Richard Sherman “got backed into a corner with some of the questions” and reacted, but the Seahawks “are in the right place right now” in their locker room.

Defensive tackle Tony McDaniel remains “a question mark” for this week because of a concussion.

Oh, and Earl Thomas apparently got his giant fur hat from Seahawks fans in Russia.

Those were the highlights of Pete Carroll’s weekly radio show on Seattle’s 710 AM on Monday morning.

Seattle’s coach said Prosise will see how healed his broken scapula from November is when he practices on Tuesday for the first time since the third-round draft choice got hurt during the win over Philadelphia Nov. 20.

“He’s going to practice (Tuesday), and we’re going to find out,” Carroll said. “We don’t know how he’ll respond to the practice but he is going to go, and we’ll see how extensive that will be. We’ll just take it one day at a time and see.”

Prosise was bothered by injuries throughout the offseason into the preseason and then a broken wrist in September’s opener. Then the former Notre Dame wide receiver was brilliant with 66 yards rushing on 17 carries for injured Thomas Rawls plus 87 yards on seven catches Nov. 13 in the win at New England. That night was the most impressive performance by the offense in Seattle’s inconsistent regular season.

But shortly after a 72-yard touchdown sprint the following weekend against the Eagles, Prosise broke his shoulder blade. He was wearing a sling for weeks.

His return against the Falcons would give the Seahawks offense, which revived with 177 yards rushing in Saturday’s wild-card playoff win over Detroit, Prosise and Rawls in the same game for only the third time this season. The other two were the opener against Miami and that Philadelphia game. Seattle has yet to have Prosise and Rawls complete an entire game this season.

“We would love to have him back, and we would have no problem fitting him in,” Carroll said of Prosise on 710 AM Monday, when the coach did not have his usual press conference at team headquarters. “We’ll look forward to that. But we can’t get distracted by that, because we don’t know what will happen by Saturday.”

Reece signed last month after Oakland released the former Pro Bowl fullback and University of Washington receiver in September. He has six catches in five games, including one in the win over the Lions, and Carroll said the 31-year old has provided a spark with his lead blocking for Rawls. The Seahawks have gone to more I formation with Reece leading Rawls through the running lane since Reece signed before the Dec. 11 game at Green Bay.

Carroll said the team initially feared Saturday night Reece may have broken his foot.

“Marcel Reece got his foot stepped on, so that’s one question mark there,” Carroll said.

Rawls said following his Seahawks playoff-record 161 yards rushing against Detroit he was feeling every one of his 27 carries.

“Rawls just has to recover from the game and get back,” Carroll said of Saturday at Atlanta.

McDaniel, the veteran run-stopping defensive tackle, missed the Lions game with a concussion he got in Seattle’s regular-season finale at San Francisco on New Year’s Day. Rookie second-round pick Jarran Reed started for the fourth consecutive game and midseason pickup John Jenkins was getting first-quarter snaps at defensive tackle against Detroit with McDaniel out.

“Tony McDaniel is still a question mark. We don’t know about him yet,” Carroll said.

Carroll was asked again by 710-AM host Mike Salk what was behind Sherman challenging colleague host Jim Moore days after the Pro Bowl cornerback yelled at offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and Carroll on the sideline about throwing from the 1-yard line against the Los Angeles Rams Dec. 15. Sherman has since declared he’s done with weekly press conferences and that he won’t talk to local media members.

“I think he got backed into a corner a little bit with some of the questioning and stuff, and he took an edge to it,” Carroll said.

“He’s in great spirits now. He’s in great shape, great relationship with everyone around here. He’s going to handle it and go quietly as he can, because he doesn’t want to be a distraction.”

Of the media’s reporting of Sherman’s eventful December, the coach said from Seahawks headquarters Monday: “They took off with the Richard thing and made it into something that was not going on in here.

“That’s why Richard was miffed. He knew that he was taken, in a number of cases, kind of to the wrong place that didn’t represent what was going on.

“But we are vulnerable to that kind of criticism because we said some things and did some things that put us out there. As long as we are OK here, that’s all that matters.”

To that end, Carroll said: “We’re there. We’re in the right place right now.”

Now about Thomas’ fur hat. It looked like it was straight from Moscow Saturday night when the three-time All-Pro safety, out for the season with a broken tibia, was wearing it on the sideline at the Lions game.

A post from a self-proclaimed group of “Russian 12s” on a Seahawks Reddit page said an online contributor has a brother who is Thomas’ driver.

“We decided to give Earl real Russian gift - a hat with ear flaps! He showed up in our gift on yesterday match!” the post read.

Then it listed what the poster asserted was a letter from those Seahawks fans in Russia to Thomas. You can see that here.

Monday on that weekly radio appearance on 710 AM’s “Brock and Salk” show, Carroll added validity to this story.

“That’s a great story, too. I got the insights on that (Sunday night). It was very good,” Carroll said.

“Yeah, the Russian Seahawks fans, right?” Salk responded.

“Yeah,” Carroll said. “I can’t wait to communicate with them.

“Like the president (elect), you know.”

No word on whether Thomas will be wearing his Russian comrade fur hat at Saturday’s playoff game at Atlanta. That game is, after all, going to be played inside the Georgia Dome.

This story was originally published January 9, 2017 at 11:18 AM with the headline "Carroll on 710 AM: Prosise to practice Tuesday, Reece a question mark for Saturday at Atlanta."