There's nothing scarier than the injury report. A team often thinks it can do nothing about it, that they're falling victim to bad luck, curses, karma, or worse. In the salary-cap era, there's little more important than making sure that the limited money that can be spent ends up on the field rather than on the IR. In baseball, we've got years of data. Football doesn't have the same data base, but it's easier to deal in weeks and base salaries than in baseball system of days and dollars. There and likely in football, the decision to reduce injuries is a simple one of commitment and resources. No team wants more injuries, but too few are actually doing something about it.
Let's get to the injuries:
Monday always was going to be the big test for Shaun Alexander. Unfortunately for the Seahawks, next Monday's going to be big as well. Alexander had more scans and images done on his broken foot and the healing wasn't complete, forcing him to miss one more week. The good news is that his running didn't exacerbate the problem or slow the healing, meaning that "one more week" is a solid timetable. With that said, Alexander still hasn't made cuts or taken contact, so there's plenty of room for a setback. The Seahawks tend to be conservative, so don't read too much into this, but Matt Hasselbeck is now on target to miss four games rather than two, delaying his return from a moderate MCL sprain. Mike Holmgren says that he's targeting Hasselbeck to return for the Nov. 19 game in Week 11, a far cry from the three weeks forecast after the injury. There doesn't appear to be any change and there hasn't been time for a setback, so it appears that it's simply a function of the organization's longstanding conservative approach to rehab. Keep an eye on this one so you're not surprised if the QB comes back more quickly than expected.