Despite Tarvaris Jackson's struggles throughout the preseason, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll stood by his decision to name Jackson the team's starting quarterback.
Carroll told the *Tacoma News-Tribune* on Monday that Jackson gave the Seahawks the best chance to be competitive in Week 1.
"Our commitment to Tarvaris is really a commitment to the execution of a really good plan, and to put a team together in very short order," Carroll said. "And because of the coaching shifts there are things that made that come to the surface."
Carroll named Jackson the starter at the opening of training camp, eliminating a quarterback competition with Charlie Whitehurst. In four preseason games, Jackson completed 32 of 55 passes for 269 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Whitehurst threw for 405 yards on 42-of-62 passing and one touchdown.
"I think it's the best competitive thing we can do for our club to make [Jackson] the quarterback right now, and not worry about an open competition and dividing reps and stuff," Carroll said. "There's just no time."
Meanwhile, the Seahawks open the season Sept. 11 against the San Francisco 49ers, and two of the team's biggest offseason acquisitions aren't even certain to be ready.
Offensive lineman Robert Gallery and wide receiver Sidney Rice are hobbling just days before Carroll's second season in charge of the Seahawks begins.
The larger question looms around Gallery, who sprained a knee Friday night in the preseason finale against Oakland. Gallery was hurt late in the first quarter and his availability for the 49ers is in question.
"He's had a couple of good days here. He has a sprained knee and we're just going to have to see how it goes day to day," Carroll said of his big offensive lineman. "We'll watch him carefully and he's hopeful he can make it back by the weekend. We'll have to wait and see."
The uncertainty around Gallery is forcing Seattle's struggling offensive line to examine some new combinations.
"You have to develop all the flexibility that you can," Carroll said. "We'll be in the game with seven or eight linemen and guys have to play multiple spots."
One of the options could be rookie first-round pick James Carpenter, who has struggled at right tackle during the preseason. It's not a completely awkward place for Carpenter, who was a left tackle in college at Alabama. He shifted inside and played guard at the Senior Bowl to show NFL scouts he could play the position.
"It's not foreign to me because I've been playing on the left side for five years before I got over here. That's not the problem," Carpenter said. "I'm more comfortable on the left, but I'm going to do my job to help my team win."
If Gallery can't go on Sunday, other options would include veteran Paul McQuistan or backup guard/center Lemuel Jeanpierre.
The good news for Seattle is that left tackle Russell Okung, the team's first-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, will be back. In fact it sounds like he could have played in Friday's game.
"He looks good, he's ready to go," Carroll said, according to The Herald. ". . . He practiced enough last week to let us know that he would be ready this week. He worked really hard in pregame the other night, he was dying to play, but we wouldn't put him in, we wanted a few more days."
The injury concerns don't end there for Seattle.
While running back Marshawn Lynch (ankle) and linebacker David Hawthorne (knee) are both expected to return to practice on Wednesday, there's still a looming question about Rice and a sore shoulder that kept him out of the final preseason game.
Rice sat out the Seahawks first preseason game against San Diego, but played against Minnesota and Denver. He was pulled from practice last Tuesday with a sore shoulder and hasn't participated since.
"Sidney is a bit slower than that. We'll wait until later in the week to know what's going on with him," Carroll said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
