Bruce Irvin to miss Sunday’s game vs. 49ers, Mike Morgan to start at outside LB

“Unless something miraculous happens,” Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin will miss Sunday’s game against San Francisco because of a knee injury.

That’s what coach Pete Carroll said before practice Wednesday, adding Irvin may be out a couple weeks. He injured his right knee in the fourth quarter of last weekend’s loss to Arizona. So fifth-year veteran backup Mike Morgan will make his second career start and first since 2012, next to middle linebacker Bobby Wagner and opposite K.J. Wright against the 49ers.

Irvin is second on the Seahawks with 4 1/2 sacks and has eight hits on the quarterback this season. He moves down into a rush-end position when the defense goes to five defensive backs on obvious passing downs. Carroll said rookie Frank Clark and second-year end Cassius Marsh will get more time rushing off the edge against San Francisco with Irvin out.

Morgan said he’s been playing more with his hand on the ground in practices this season, “trying to be more versatile.” Morgan, 27, also played for Carroll at USC, so he’s not exactly daunted by getting the start Sunday.

“I’ve been playing this defense for nine years,” he said.

Irvin had a hip injury in 2013 into ‘14 that required surgery. Now the knee is going to cost him a game that is part of his season-long audition for a free-agent contract next spring. His deal as the Seahawks’ first-round draft choice at 15th overall in 2012 ends after this season.

▪ Carroll said wide receiver Paul Richardson had a magnetic resonance imaging exam that showed damage in his hamstring he injured against the Cardinals on his only catch, a 40-yard sprint down the sidelines in his season debut. But Richardson is telling trainers, doctors and coaches he feels fine. The team is giving him Wednesday off and will test him with jogging Thursday.

“He doesn’t sense that he’s hurt,” Carroll said.

Richardson came off the physically-unable-to-perform list on Saturday 9 1/2 months after reconstructive knee surgery.

▪ Carroll said Marshawn Lynch’s sore abdomen felt better Monday, after his eight carries against Arizona, than it did Saturday two days after he first reported pain. Lynch was getting his usual Wednesday off from practice anyway.

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 2:46 PM with the headline "Bruce Irvin to miss Sunday’s game vs. 49ers, Mike Morgan to start at outside LB."