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Seattle starting LB out for season
Seattle starting LB out for season
KIRKLAND, Wash. - Seattle Seahawks linebacker Anthony Simmons will have season-ending surgery to repair a broken left wrist and won't return this season, coach Mike Holmgren said Wednesday.
Simmons was hurt in last weekend's loss at St. Louis but still had seven solo tackles and forced a fumble. The week before, he returned an interception for his second career touchdown in Seattle's win at San Francisco.
Simmons, scheduled for surgery Thursday, has had many injuries during his seven-year NFL career. He missed two games last month after shoulder surgery to remove a bone spur, but ranks third on the team with 42 tackles _ 30 solo.
Despite missing two games last season with a stiff neck, he led the Seahawks with 100 tackles. In 2002, Simmons missed nine games with a persistent high ankle sprain sustained in the opener.
He was limited to 11 games as a rookie in 1998 because of a preseason knee injury.
``He has been unlucky,'' Holmgren said. ``He's very skilled, very fast, but he's been unlucky.''
The Seahawks (5-4) also won't have backup linebacker Tracy White, out two weeks with a strained right hamstring, for Sunday's game against Miami (1-8). Chad Brown is questionable with a strained left knee.
``We're a little thin at linebacker,'' Holmgren said.
Isaiah Kacyvenski, rookie Niko Koutouvides, four-year veteran Orlando Huff and second-year pro Solomon Bates will step up. Holmgren said the team wasn't yet ready to announce a roster move to replace Simmons.
There was some encouraging injury news for the Seahawks.
Defensive end Grant Wistrom will return after missing four games with a broken bone in his left knee, and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is listed as probable with a bruised right thigh.
Hasselbeck was hurt on Seattle's first play from scrimmage last week when he bumped into running back Shaun Alexander. Hasselbeck probably won't practice until Thursday, but he's expected to start Sunday.
``He's on track,'' Holmgren said. ``You've all had a charley horse, where it's swollen up and it can't bend. That's what he has.''
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