The Seattle Seahawks flattened the San Francisco 49ers in a 41-6 blowout to advance to the NFC Championship Game, but they didn’t come out of this one unscathed.
Running back Zach Charbonnet left the game
in the second quarter after he was tackled short of the marker on 3rd and 2. Charbonnet was slow to get up before walking to the sideline with a left knee injury. In the second half, left tackle Charles Cross, who just came back from a hamstring injury, didn’t return after hurting his foot.
Mike Macdonald’s post-game injury update sounded positive on Charbonnet at the very least.
“Optimistic with Charbs,” Macdonald said. “We’ve got to get an image and stuff, but early indications are hopefully it’s okay structurally. But you never know with these things, but he wasn’t able to come back, obviously.”
Charbonnet was replaced by practice squad elevation Velus Jones Jr, who had the bulk of his carries in garbage time. Kenneth Walker went from sharing carries with Charbonnet like usual to being the unquestioned RB1.
As for Cross, with the Seahawks up big it didn’t make much sense to bring him back in, but it’s not known what’s ailing him or the severity.
“Charles was really out of a caution. We were in a position where we didn’t need him to come back, but still we’re going to have to work through it with his foot. I don’t have an indication of what that’s going to look like.”
Cross was replaced by undrafted rookie Amari Kight, who helped spring Kenneth Walker III on the second of his three touchdowns on the night. It’s still worth paying attention to Cross’ health given his recent injuries and backup Josh Jones not available with a knee injury.
