Seahawks vs Panthers: Marshawn Lynch not among inactives

The Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers are both close to full strength for their battle in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

Seahawks Inactives

He’s back! Marshawn Lynch is active. He’ll start. He’ll play. He’ll go Beast Mode. There will be much rejoicing.

Lynch hasn’t played in nine weeks after surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle. Christine Michael moves back to the backup role, but will still likely see 5-ish carries today.

The Seahawks are clearly confident in Lynch’s ability to play the entire game. They’ve left Bryce Brown inactive.

Also back this week is tight end Luke Willson. He’s missed the last two weeks after suffering a concussion against the Rams. He was sorely missed last week.

Will Tukuafu is out with a hamstring injury. He’s the only player inactive due to injury this week. Derrick Coleman will pick up the slack as Marshawn’s lead blocker.

Eric Pinkins was active last week over Kevin Pierre-Lewis. That’s been returned to normal this week.

The rest of the inactive list contains no surprises. These are a players who were inactive all year.

Panthers Inactives

The big news here is the Ted Ginn is active and will play. He’s been dealing with knee pain all week and there was concern that he wouldn’t be able to play.

Fuzzy Whittaker is out. He’s a key kick returner and backup running back, but not irreplaceable. Other than that, the Panthers are healthy.

Former Seahawk Kevin Norwood won’t play. Seattle traded him to Carolina in the middle of training camp. He’s played in just one game this season.