The Seattle Seahawks were one of a few teams through Week 9 to start the same five along the offensive line all season. Cohesion matters with the group, of course, as knowing what the man next to you is going to do and understanding he knows who he is going to block is key.
Unfortunately, in Week 10, center Jalen Sundell hurt his knee and was replaced on injured reserve ahead of Week 11. He will miss at least four games. In his place, Seattle had three-year veteran Olu Oluwatimi, who hadn't been awful when he had gotten limited snaps the last couple of seasons.
Seattle might have taken a bigger hit in Week 11. Rookie left guard Grey Zabel hurt his knee near the end of the game and was helped off the field. He had an obvious limp, and the worst could have been assumed.
Injury news better than expected for Seattle Seahawks rookie Grey Zabel
Plus, his replacement was Christian Haynes, who had been on injured reserve for much of the season. He was also terrible in his rookie year last season, so there was no guarantee of success at the position without Zabel.
On Monday, Seattle Seahawks fans and the team got some potentially very positive news. The team had done some imaging on Zabel's knee, and it wasn't as bad as the injury was not as bad as it first appeared.
During a press conference on Monday afternoon, Mike Macdonald said Zabel "avoided a significant injury," and that what he heard in terms of the rookie's status is that Zabel is day-to-day. Macdonald did leave open the chance that the rookie might not return for a week or more, too, however.
Through the first 11 games, Zabel has been quite good in terms of pass protection, not allowing a quarterback pressure in most games. He was still a bit of a work in progress in terms of run-blocking, but had been improving as the season wore on.
The other positive part is that if Zabel needs to miss Week 12, that might be OK. The Seattle Seahawks take on the Tennessee Titans, who are rather horrible both offensively and defensively. Seattle can probably survive at least one game with Zabel.
In Week 13, Seattle has to take on the Minnesota Vikings, who have a much better defense and lead the NFL in pressure rate at 29.7 percent.