Seahawks in big trouble if Bradley McDougald can’t play versus Cardinals

The Seahawks escaped their terrible loss to the Saints in week three without too many injuries. But Bradley McDougald was one of them and that’s bad.

Look into my virtual eyes, 12s. Repeat after me, “I will forget what I saw from the Seahawks in week three.” Now again. “I will forget what I saw from the Seahawks in week three.” Likely the locker room in Seattle has already licked their wounds from an ugly loss to New Orleans and started looking ahead to the Cardinals in week four. Fans should do the same.

One player, though, whi might not yet be able to turn his entire attention to facing Kyler Murray and Larry Fitzgerald is safety Bradley McDougald. McDougald tweaked his ankle against the Saints. As coach Pete Carroll said, “We won’t know for a couple more days, but it’s a slight sprained ankle.”

Ankle injuries, of course, are always a bit tricky. But for someone who needs to be able to cut quickly in pursuit and coverage, ankle injuries can keep you out of a game and rightfully so. Seattle’s ability to blow teams out is not existent at this point and having all their best players available is key.

If McDougald isn’t practicing by Friday, it is likely that the Seahawks starting safety tandem will be Lano Hill and Marquise Blair. That is a bit scary if you are a 12. It isn’t like Hill and Blair don’t have talent, they do. But we don’t know how much ability they have because they haven’t been great so far. The worst part is that McDougald is the communicator in the secondary and without his experience, Seattle could see some breakdowns deep down field. That is how a team gets beat.

Another key player for Seattle, left tackle Duane Brown, also got banged up against New Orleans. Brown hurt his bicep. Carroll appears to think Brown will be good to play Sunday, though. Not having McDougald against the Cardinals is one thing. But I can’t even stomach the thought of not having Brown against anybody.