SEATTLE _ Earl Thomas had hoped his stay on the sideline would be short-lived.
Instead, in his first game back after missing his first game since high school last week, Seattle's perennial All-Pro free safety suffered what was reported to be a broken bone in his left leg after colliding with teammate Kam Chancellor early in the second quarter.
Thomas tweeted before the second quarter was over what sounded like an acknowledgement that the injury was potentially season-ending.
"This game has been so good to me no regrets," Thomas' tweet read. "A lot is running through my mind including retirement thanks for all the prayers."
Thomas then followed up with a tweet reading "Kam you owe me a steak. Haha"
On the play, which came with 10:40 to go in the second quarter, Newton tried to hit tight end Greg Olsen down the right seam. Thomas broke on the ball from the middle of the field and collided with Chancellor, who was covering Olsen.
Chancellor's left leg smashed into Thomas' lower left leg as the two crossed in front of Olsen.
Thomas initially had his hands on the ball but couldn't control it as he fell to the ground.
Thomas at first tried to walk off and then fell back down to the field.
After his leg was examined on the field, he was then carried off without putting weight on either leg.
After initially being examined on the bench, Thomas was then taken by a cart into the locker room.
Thomas missed the Tampa Bay game last Sunday due to a hamstring injury, which broke a streak of 106 straight regular season starts that was the second-longest in team history (the record is 121 by offensive lineman Chris Gray).
Thomas was again replaced by Steven Terrell, who had played all of the Tampa Bay game last Sunday.
The Panthers went right after the Thomas-less middle of the Seattle offense on the first play as Newton threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn Jr. Ginn broke open past Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner and behind the rest of the secondary to make the score 10-7.
The 27-year-old Thomas said earlier this week he had not missed a game since high school before having to sit out last week against Tampa Bay.
