Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was listed as a full participant in Wednesday's practice.
The key now is if he can fully participate again on Thursday. If so, then expect Wilson to play Sunday in New York when the Seahawks take on the Jets.
"Everything went kind of as planned," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said about Wilson in comments to New York media after practice in a regular weekly NFL-mandated teleconference with reporters from the opposing team. "Russell did a nice job working through it. ... He looked good."
Asked if there was any scenario where Wilson wouldn't play, Carroll said the key will now be how Wilson's knee responds from the work. Wilson suffered a sprained left MCL (medial collateral ligament) in the third quarter of Sunday's 37-18 win over the 49ers.
"As long as he makes it through our days here, he'll go," Carroll said. "If he makes it through tomorrow (Thursday), and we always look at the day after and see how comes back. Did he bounce back well? We've watched him for a couple of weeks handle what he's dealing with and he's done a very good job. I don't see any reason to think otherwise."
Carroll had been similarly positive when meeting local reporters before practice saying he would be surprised if Wilson didn't play and that "he's pretty determined to get this done. ... He's upbeat and has worked really, really hard to do everything he can to be right."
Wilson is employing the same strategy of almost round-the-clock rehab he did two weeks ago when he suffered a high ankle sprain in the season opener against Miami. That regiment includes having physical therapist Drew Morcos _ whose office is based in Southern California _ stay with Wilson.
"He's definitely a fighter," Morcos said in an interview Wednesday morning. "He doesn't want to let his team down and so he wants to practice every day and play in every game. So he will do whatever it takes and that's why we have been working all around the clock to make sure he is ready to go. He has that drive in him. He's pushing himself and I'm pushing him and we are kind of on the same mission here to get him back, but being smart about it at the same time."
That the Seahawks have a bye next week has led some to wonder if the Seahawks wouldn't be wise to give Wilson a week off this week, meaning he'd then have until a game on Oct. 16 against Atlanta to get healthy. However, an indication that the Seahawks expect Wilson to be fine is that the team has not added another quarterback to its 53-man roster. Trevone Boykin is Wilson's backup with Jake Heaps on the practice squad. Asked if the team had any plans to bring in a veteran quarterback, Carroll said coyly that the team does not "at this very moment."
Everything, though, points to Wilson playing Sunday, though Morcos said he and Wilson and team trainers would definitely "look at the big picture" before giving approval.
"If it was something that would risk him having further damage, then obviously myself and the medical staff and the doctors and coaches we can all kind of agree on the same thing," Moros said. "But today he is going to move around a little bit more at practice to try to really get a better idea of pain and how much threshold he can withstand."
Carroll's post-practice comments indicated the early prognosis is good for Wilson to continue his streak of not having missed a start since becoming Seattle's QB in 2012 _ he has started 67 straight regular season games and 10 in the post-season.
Morcos what's not in dispute is that the status of Wilson's knee now is better than he thought it was when he watched the injury happen Sunday. Wilson's knee twisted awkwardly when sacked by San Francisco's Eli Harold, a play on which Harold was called for an illegal horse-collar tackle.
"You can call it luck, you can call it a miracle, whatever you want to call it," said Morcos, who has worked with Wilson for two years. "But yeah, he definitely escaped from a very tragic knee injury and ankle injury. Just watching it on TV, I thought it was much worse than when I came out and saw him."
That Wilson was already on a regiment of extensive rehab due to his ankle _ he said two weeks ago he was sleeping only two hours a night as part of the process _ means that this week isn't much different than the past two, other than the area of his leg being worked on.
"It's just a different joint so the joint reacts differently," Norcos said. "The high ankle versus the medial collateral ligament _ it's a different thing. So we just have to manage it a little bit differently. But the overall idea is to still give it stability and strength but in the sense of controlling pain and swelling, a lot of it is pretty similar.
"... With the ankle, the foot, we were playing on the ground, so we were always on our feet. With a knee it's more about stability and movement and cutting and things like that. So it's just a different animal to approach."
