Seahawks Notebook: Preparing for Philip Rivers, Week 17 schedule set

RENTON, Wash. - It would have been a stunning thought last week, but the Seattle Seahawks are planning as though Philip Rivers will be the starting quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts this week.

"I'm expecting him to play," former teammate Uchenna Nwosu said. "Yeah, I'm expecting him to play. They ain't bring him in there for no reason."

The Colts signed the 44-year-old Rivers to their practice squad last week after Daniel Jones was lost for the season to a torn Achilles last weekend. Rookie Riley Leonard and one-time former Seahawk and Spokane native Brett Rypien are the two quarterbacks on the Colts' active roster.

Officially, head coach Shane Steichen wouldn't commit to any option for the game this week for the Colts.

"We’ll get to the end of the week and make that decision,’’ Steichen said Wednesday, adding, "It depends on how he (Rivers) feels, too."

But as Nwosu noted, you're not bringing in a player that has been out of the league for five years if you didn't feel like it was necessary given the other options at hand.

"Good for him, man," Nwosu said. "That's a guy that loves ball. Sucks it has to be against the Seahawks, but hey, I'm happy he's still doing what he loves to do."

Nwosu played two seasons with Rivers on the Los Angeles Chargers in 2018 and 2019. Rivers left to join the Colts and played his last season in Indianapolis in 2020. He's been out of the league ever since and even signed a one-day contract to "officially" retire as a member of the Chargers this offseason.

Now that's on hold and the Seahawks are planning to see him on the field this Sunday.

"f anybody can pull it off, it's him," head coach Mike Macdonald said. "Guy is probably one of the best competitors in the history of the NFL, and I'm sure he wouldn't do it if he didn't feel like he was ready. We're getting ready for him like he's been playing the whole time.

"We're expecting for him to play. I mean, we got to be ready for Riley and for Brett. But, yeah."

Rivers threw for 4,169 yards with 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his final season with the Colts in 2020. He's been coaching his kids at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama for the last several years. 

Week 17 game against Panthers set for Sunday, December 28

The Seahawks' Week 17 game against the Carolina Panthers was officially scheduled as a 10 a.m. kickoff on Sunday, December 28.

The matchup was one of five games set aside as possible matchups to be played on Saturday the 27th when the schedule was announced in May.

Out of the five games, the NFL chose to have the Houston Texans at Los Angeles Chargers game, and the Baltimore Ravens at Green Bay Packers game remain on Saturday. The Seahawks-Panthers matchup, Arizona Cardinals at Cincinnati Bengals, and New York Giants at Las Vegas Raiders games all moved to Sunday.

The game will air on CBS.

Rashid Shaheed named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week

With his 100-yard kickoff return touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons last week, Rashid Shaheed was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.

"It means everything," Shaheed said of the award. "I'm glad I get to share that with my teammates. Yeah, it's a great accomplishment. I'm glad I finally got in the end zone, and everybody's super excited. That's a moment I'll remember forever."

The return touchdown was the first of the season for Seattle and gave the Seahawks a 13-6 lead over the Falcons. Laviska Shenault Jr. had a 97-yard touchdown return last season against the San Francisco 49ers for their last kick return score.

"We just knew that we were going to have an opportunity coming out of halftime based off the film that we watched," Shaheed said after the game.. "We knew that we were going to have opportunity to score and that's what we did. We had perfect calls and that's a testament to our coaches and how they get us prepared."

Shaheed joins a handful of Seahawks to earn awards this season. Shaheed joins linebackers DeMarcus Lawrence (Week 10) and Ernest Jones IV (Week 13) as players to win a player of the week award, as Lawrence and Jones were NFC Defensive Players of the Week.

Meanwhile, wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba won the NFC Offensive Player of the Month award for October, and kicker Jason Myers was the Special Teams Player of the Month for November.

Jalen Sundell, Eric Saubert return to practice

Center Jalen Sundell and tight end Eric Saubert were both designated to return to practice from the injured reserve list on Wednesday.

Sundell has missed the last four games with a knee injury sustained late in the team's Week 10 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, while Saubert has missed six games with a calf injury that showed up when the team came out of their bye week.

Macdonald said the hope is they'll make it back this week.

"We hope they'll be available," he said. "Each of these guys are coming off extended breaks, so we have a plan for each guy. We'll see how it pans out throughout the week, but we're optimistic for this weekend and see how today goes. Then we'll kind of accelerate throughout the rest of the week and into next week."

Both players were limited in their return to the practice field on Wednesday.

Macdonald didn't disclose whether Sundell would return to the starting lineup he was fully healthy. Olu Oluwatimi has handled the center duties in Sundell's absence.

"We got to see how well practice goes, but we'll just make sure he's fully healthy before we make a declaration," Macdonald said.

RB coach Kennedy Polamalu takes leave of absence

The Seahawks announced on Wednesday that running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu is taking a leave of absence from the team for the rest of the season.

Outside of the team labeling the absence as being for personal reasons, head coach Mike Macdonald did not elaborate on the nature of his departure from the team.

Running game specialist and assistant offensive line coach Justin Outten, and offensive assistant Michael Byrne will take over the running back coaching duties in Polamalu's absence.

"The guys are going to step up and Michael Byrne and Justin Outten will take over this room and do a great job. Excited for the opportunity those guys have." Macdonald said.

Injury Report:

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