RENTON, Wash. -- Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Monday that's it's likely left guard James Carpenter will return for the Thanksgiving night game against the San Francisco 49ers, but rookie outside linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis will not be back this week and could be done for the season.

Pierre-Louis suffered a shoulder injury in the Kansas City game and did not play Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. It's possible the Seahawks could place Pierre-Louis on injured reserve, which would end his season.

"Kevin is banged up pretty good and there's more news to come," Carroll said. "We're working on it."

The good news is Carpenter's likely return to the starting lineup after missing the last three games with a sprained ankle. Carpenter was having his best season before the injury. Carroll said they almost activated Carpenter for the game against the Cardinals.

"We labored over whether to go with him," Carroll said. "He was really politicking to get out there and play. But we thought with the short week coming up it was better to just hold him out and give him the best chance to be ready for this game."

It appears unlikely that tight end Cooper Helfet will play Thursday night after spraining his ankle Sunday. Helfet scored the game's only touchdown Sunday with a 20-yard catch-and-run when he dove into the end zone.

Running back Marshawn Lynch will need to recuperate sooner this week than he has the last few weeks. He hasn't practiced on Wednesday or Thursday the last three weeks because of nagging issues with his back, along with a calf and rib injury.

"We'll just go through the process and see how he does," Carroll said. "We'll take good care of him and he's real smart about how he handles it. We expect he'll be ready to go and I know he won't want to miss this thing."