Injury Update: Hill Gone Through Bye Week

Written by Chris Sullivan

Wednesday, 16 September 2009 10:23

Danny O'Neil reports that Leroy Hill's groin injury appears much more serious than initially suggested by Mora. Mora said in comments this morning that Leroy Hill is not expected back until at least after the Bye week. His groin injury appears to be a "slight tear or some type of pull off the bone of one fo the tendons." Will Herring will replace Hill, and I imagine we'll see D.D. Lewis come in to spell Herring from time to time. Having Herring on the field is actually a boon to the team, as he is undoubtedly the best cover linebacker on the squad after playing safety for three years at Auburn.

In other Injury news - Walter Jones is expected to practice with the team today, but his status for Sunday is still in doubt. Chris Spencer will practice tomorrow for the first time since tearing his left quadriceps muscle, but I would doubt strongly that he'd be ready for the game on Sunday. Deion Branch is not expected to practice Wednesday and will probably be listed as doubtful on the injury report again. Big whoop. Tatupu will not practice today, but is expected to be ready for Sunday's game.

Sidenote on Chris Spencer: Do you want him to come in and start when healthy? Or should we build consistency with Steve Vallos out there until Vallos does something to warrant a benching? If there is time later in the day, I will take a look at how the line might look with the health of Spence and Walt improving, would love to incorporate some of your comments into it.

Comments (27) Add Comment

Vallos or Spencer?
written by IdahoSeahawksFan, September 16, 2009

That is a great question. My only thing would be to watch Vallos play against the 49ers DL. If he does better or as good as Spencer than as a coach I may tend to leave him in there because the OL that is there right now has report with each other and they seem to be clicking with each other. You don't want to mess that up. If Vallos struggles slightly against the 40 whiners then I would probably test out Spencer then. Spencer has been a dissapointment for the Seahawks and the fans and when a player comes in and does better than the veteran, they win!

Why change a good thing?
written by Lee Croft, September 16, 2009

The line did exactly what they were supposed to do. Open holes for the runners and keep Matt off his back. I also like the fact that when Jones scored his 62 yard run Vallos and Unger where some of the first Seahawks to congratulated him in the endzone.

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written by cameltoes, September 16, 2009

I agree leave well enough alone for now until Spencers heals completely. Too bad Hill wont be back for the Cards. Off topic - My son and I are going to the 49ers game. Are the 49ers fans generally decent to visitors?

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written by mattj, September 16, 2009

I say keep vallos in there until he can't handle it. If he does, this isn't going to hurt our depth chart at all....as far as Walt, I saw split time with Locklear and don't change anything else on the line. That might just keep big Walt fresh all season long. If we are up in the 4th quarter, bench Walt and have Locklear finish the game out....little things like that.

Branch can just go away. I think we have studs with houch, burly, carlson, butler, oba... I just don't see a need for branch anymore....even for depth. He is a good player when healthy, but I'd rather have recievers out there that Matt has built a rapport with.

I'm not the least bit concerned about losing Hill. He is great, but our backups for LB are studs and have something to prove....I fully expect them to come up big.

Spencer can stay on the sideline
written by TheRustafarian, September 16, 2009

Chris Spencer has done nothing to show that he deserves a starting role when he comes back from injury. I like Vallos right now and I'll be interested to see what he does against SF.
When it comes to Leroy Hill, we are going to miss him no question. But it is good to know we have good enough backups in D.D. and Herring that we will be able to keep our linebackng core strong until he comes back.

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written by Cess, September 16, 2009

Boooo! We should have let Leroy walk & drafted Malaluga in the second round! I have been saying this since before the draft, I would have cost less on the salary cap & look at the beast that Cinci got! Leroy is alright but now that he got that big contract he's hurt? Another Deion Branch if u ask me.

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written by texashawk, September 16, 2009

Cess, you realize that we would not have unger then who has been doing great and is starting as a rookie. I think most would agree that our O line needs unger more then our LB's need malaluga besides we have Curry starting and having 2 rookie LB's starting at the same time would not be ideal. I would not trade Malaluga for Curry so don't suggest it!!!

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written by EverettHawkFan, September 16, 2009

Cameltoes...Ive been to candlestick 3 times for Seahawk games.And the Niner fans are generally preety good with Seahawks fans.There is always a few a$$holes!But for the most part they are fine.It wont be like goin to a Raider game in Oalkand I can guarantee you that.Have fun.There is always a HUGE FOLLOWING of Hawk fans there.Blew me away the last time I went how many Hawk fans there was.Gettin in and out of there is a FRICKIN NIGHTMARE..Awful traffic.Just a heads up

Hill is....
written by durteehawk, September 16, 2009

The defensive version of Deion Branch...

Has this guy ever played all 16 games?

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written by durteehawk, September 16, 2009

Hill has not played in every regular season game since being drafted in 05...here's the breakdown of games played in what years.

YR-GP
05-15
06-15
07-14
08-12
09-01

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written by z, September 16, 2009

Sit all of them this week. There is just no reason not to right now. Sure this is a semi important game being a divisional game, but risking any sort of longer term injury doesn't help us down the stretch. I would rather have our guys get healthy so that when we inevitably lose a different WR or O linemen we can just plug Branch/Jones/Spencer back in and hit the ground running the following week.

Spencer can stay on the sideline
written by TheRustafarian, September 16, 2009

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written by SurfHawk, September 16, 2009

Why all the hate for Spencer? I agree he has been frustrating but I think he is coming around. I think this is his last year before becoming an FA so they probably need to see if he can be good in the regular season. Vallos did well last week but if Spencer is 100% then throw him in and see what happens.

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written by FerndaleEaglesLoveHawks, September 16, 2009

I really like Vallos, strong and mean but smart...no one will be coming in over the top of him like they have with Spencer who I would play at guard if anywhere ...but I would not start him before Unger. I agree about Will, he is fast and good on coverage so he might be a big surprise for us plus Reed might be a DE/LB cross over against the run...he can tackle. SF will be a great test to see how tough we are...the eastern teams are tough and we need to get tougher in how we play.

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written by nightwulf, September 16, 2009

No hate on Spencer, just props for Vallos...he's handling the job at the moment as well as Spencer ever dis, so let him stay...If things start to go south, put Spence in there and see if that helps...Keep Walt out at least another week, then ease him back in gradually...The Hill thing is no surprise, he plays like a kamikaze, and pays the price with injuries....Fortunately, we've got some excellent back ups

I think Branch should sit for another week also...we're looking pretty good so far, let's let 'em all heal up more...

Herring's earned a shot
written by Scotia Seahawk, September 16, 2009

Played really well in preseason and on sunday. I'll be rooting for him this weekend.

Vallos for Victory
written by luvchikn, September 16, 2009

Yup! No hate on Spencer, but Steve has the job in my book. Let Chris work on the 2nd team and maybe he will come out with some hunger.

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written by omarlittle, September 16, 2009

I still think Spence is too talented to ride pine, to me the only disappointment has been his injurys. He has the talent, but he falls in with Hill and Branch in the "what if" category. If for whatever reason Mora feels Vallos gets the start I think Spence deserves a shot at Sims spot.

I like Sims, he is an excellent pass blocker, but he is another injury prone guy and I'm sure Spence is just as good in protection and better in run blocking.

I just hope it goes to the most talented player, not the "hot hand" or the one we have a financial commitment to. May the best man win.

???
written by think, September 16, 2009

I would leave Vallos in for now. Line continuity is important. Its better that Spencer heals up right in my mind, and let him know he has competition. I would probably not let big Walt play much either if he is able, maybe 1 or 2 quarters in the second half when our zone blocking is supposed to kick into gear, that way you have him out there when the big runs are more likley to happen. As far as missing Hill, we wont probably notice a drop off. Curry is the one to keep an eye on, by week 5 he is going to have made a name for himself big time and we will be know as a more tough and pysical defense, the D will feed off eachother, and cause some pain. When Hill comes back then hell be itchin for a hittin and make it even better.

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written by DougH, September 16, 2009

I heard TJ is hurt with back spasms.

Anybody know anything about that?

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written by seatowntp, September 16, 2009

Houshhhhh sitting out practice with back spasms? Not a good sign. Injury bug stay away from our receivers, O-line, LBs!

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written by Military Seahawk Fan, September 17, 2009

I don't know about you all, but I am really starting to wonder on how these guys are preparing or stretching before practice and games... It seems like the majority of all the injuries could be stopped if they stretched the way they are supposed to. i.e. hamstrings, groin pulls, muscle strains. Is this a trainer issue??? Just curious

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written by Seahawker 53, September 17, 2009

I think Vallos should stay be given the chance to show he is the center of now and in the future. Spencer's contact I believe is up after this year and he is always injured. smilies/grin.gif

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written by omarlittle, September 17, 2009

When has Spence ever had a bad game? When has he ever been flagged for penalties? I can't think of a single bad game and he is one of the least penalized players we have. I can find games where Vallos has played poorly. I'm sure we remember that cowboys game last season. That cowboys nose tackle had a clear shot at Hasselbeck and Julius Jones on so many plays. How do you not block a nose tackle? he went thru the line untouched.

Its not like Vallos is better than Spence, and its not his job to be in the starting lineup. I fully expect to see Spencer back in his place once he heals up.

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written by BillT, September 17, 2009

Mora made it clear in his press conference Monday that he doesn't subscribe to the idea that if you're injured, you automatically get your job back when you're healed. He said that the team plans to play the best players every Sunday. He plans to leave Vallos in there at center and Spencer will have to win his job back. If Spencer is truly the better player, according to what Mora said, he'll be back in the lineup starting at center but he has to win that job back from Vallos, it isn't just given back to him because he was the starter before being injured. That should clear up what's going to happen at center.

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written by BillT, September 17, 2009

By the way, I removed northbendfans racially slured post.

Hey dude, get smart and don't bring that crap in here anymore. You're actually the lowest form of life on the dung pile with your racially motivated comments.

Anytime I see them, they will be gone fast and I read almost every comment made here on SA. I'm sure that I speak for all Seahawk Addicts when I say we don't want that sort of material to be posted on the blog. Keep it clean or keep it off the blog.