Ken Walker, DeeJay Dallas, Travis Homer hurting in Seahawks’ backfield. But no shopping

The Seahawks’ situation at running back looks and sounds worse than it may be.

That’s what Pete Carroll indicated Monday. He said his team is not in the market to sign a runner from outside the team.

That’s in the wake of what’s become as annual as Seattle’s rain and darkness late in Seahawks seasons: multiple injuries to multiple running backs at the same time.

Rookie starter Kenneth Walker has an uncommon strain in a small area of his ankle that is not a longer-term issue such as a high-ankle sprain. The coach said that a day after Walker left Seattle’s win at the Los Angeles Rams in the second quarter and did not return. Walker ran for 30 yards on the Seahawks’ first offensive play, then only two other times for 6 yards before he got hurt.

Walker has been starting since Rashaad Penny broke his fibula in mid-October.

“He has an area of his ankle that is sore, that he jammed,” Carroll said. “There is some strained tissue in there, but it’s not an ankle sprain. It’s not a high-ankle sprain. It’s not a lateral sprain like we normally report on. It’s different than that.”

Walker’s backup DeeJay Dallas got what Carroll said may be more of a ligament, high-ankle issue carrying the ball on the final play of the first half Sunday against the Rams. The Seahawks are awaiting more test on Dallas, who had a key blitz pickup in the first quarter Sunday that allowed Geno Smith the time to throw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett for Seattle’s first score in L.A.

Travis Homer missed the Rams game with a knee injury plus illness. Carroll said the team has to evaluate more of Homer’s condition this week.

That’s three running backs iffy entering the preparation for the Seahawks (7-5) playing the Carolina Panthers (4-8) Sunday at Lumen Field.

No help needed (yet)

About this time the last several seasons, the Seahawks have lost multiple running backs to injury at the sport’s most attrited position. In a similar situation the team signed back Marshawn Lynch on Christmas Eve 2019.

Yet for now, the Seahawks aren’t calling Lynch. Or any other veteran running back. Carroll says the team is not in the market to sign a free-agent rusher.

“We have a couple of guys that are on the practice squad that are available to us, so we will figure it out with what we have at this point,” the coach said.

Darwin Thompson is the first option on the practice squad for the Seahawks to promote to play against Carolina. The third-year veteran signed with Seattle in February after two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tony Jones, a midseason waiver acquisition from New Orleans, replaced Dallas against the Rams. He got knocked hard in the head on a hit by a defensive back trying to catch a pass in the third quarter — not hit hard enough to sustain a concussion, but to knock out one of Jones’ contact lenses. He then went to the blue observation behind the Seahawks’ bench to take out his other contact. He didn’t have spares on hand.

So Jones played the rest of the game with impaired vision; he said he cannot drive legally without his lenses. He said he could make out the Rams’ blue jerseys from Seattle’s whites.

In the fourth quarter with the Seahawks clinging to a 17-16 lead, the largely blind Jones was surrounded by Rams in the backfield on a second-and-1 hand-off from quarterback Geno Smith. Yet Jones could see enemy blue jerseys, and fuzzy space to avoid them. He did, on a gritty run for a first down. That first down set up Jason Myers for his second field goal of the game, and Seattle up its lead to 20-16.

“I had to improvise. I had to go into that Little League mode,” Jones said, laughing.

Penny was on the sidelines at the Seahawks win Sunday in Inglewood, California. He’s from Norwalk, a short drive east from SoFi Stadium. He’s been in southern California rehabilitating his broke fibula he got Oct. 9 in Seattle’s loss at New Orleans.

Penny told Ian Furness of Fox 13 television and KJR radio at Sunday’s game he hoped to be back playing before the end of the season or the playoffs.

Monday, Carroll downplayed that as a possibility.

“You have to love his optimism,” Carroll said.

“He hasn’t run yet. ...He’s still a ways from getting back. He felt really good about the process that he is in right now, and that’s a good sign.”

A ‘special’ finish

The Seahawks could use a return to health of Walker and his running-back crew for the final five games of the regular season.

Seattle holds the seventh and final place in the NFC playoff race. The Seahawks are a game behind San Francisco for the NFC West lead. The 49ers come to Seattle Dec. 15 for a Thursday night game that could be the Seahawks’ chance to reclaim the division lead they had from October into November, before their two-game losing streak that ended Sunday with rally win over the Rams.

Carroll said on his Monday morning radio show with Seattle’s KIRO AM “we have a shot. We have a great shot to do something special.”

Asked later Monday what gives him that belief, Carroll said: “We have some of the elements that you need, that we are fortunate. Leadership. We’ve got quarterback play. We’ve got a style about us. We’ve got the kicking game.”

Now, as Carroll said, that doesn’t mean anything if the Seahawks don’t win.

“It’s a bunch of gibberish unless we win some games,” Carroll said.

“We have to try to win out. Win one at a time, and see what happens.”