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Brady HendersonESPN
RENTON, Wash. — Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll says pass-rusher Darrell Taylor expects to play Monday night against the visiting New Orleans Saints, having escaped serious injury after a scary-looking incident last week in Pittsburgh.
All that Taylor is dealing with after being stretchered off Heinz Field, according to Carroll, is a stiff neck.
The coach said Seattle’s leader in sacks (4.0) wasn’t doing much in Thursday’s practice but “feels really good.”
“He’s got a stiff neck is what he came out with,” Carroll said. “So after all of that that we went through to protect him and all, it’s like he slept bad on his neck and he’s got a stiff neck. So he really feels like he’s playing. He doesn’t have any doubt that he can play, so we’ll hold out hope that that’s the case.”
Running back Alex Collins was also practicing Thursday, per Carroll. Collins started against the Steelers with Chris Carson (neck) on injured reserve. He ran for 101 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, but he didn’t finish the overtime loss because of a pair of hard hits he took to a hip and glute.
Carson has to miss at least two more games on IR. Rashaad Penny is returning from IR this week, rejoining a backfield that has Collins, DeeJay Dallas and Travis Homer.
Carroll called it a good sign that Collins was practicing Thursday.
“He went through walk-through today, looked OK,” Carroll said. “Really, a number of guys that got banged a little bit in the game were able to go through walk-through today. We’ll see what we can get in limited fashion from them in practice today. But really encouraging in that regard.”
That group also included left guard Damien Lewis (shoulder) and cornerback Sidney Jones (chest), who didn’t finish the Steelers game.