RENTON, Wash. -- Wide receiver Sidney Rice has yet to see the field this season because of a shoulder injury. And now guard Robert Gallery, the Seattle Seahawks' other marquee free-agent signee, is headed to the sideline for at least the next month with a groin injury that will require surgery.
Not the news the struggling Seahawks needed, especially coming off a 24-0 loss at Pittsburgh that dropped them to 0-2.
"There's a challenge to everybody on this team right now, myself included, that we have to find ways to improve our performance, and we all have to work at it really hard," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Monday. "We all have to fight to find ways to make us better and compete like crazy to do that."
It's the second significant injury for Gallery in the last few weeks, but this one will put him out for the next four to six weeks, according to Carroll. Gallery sprained his right knee during the preseason finale against the Oakland Raiders, his former team, and he missed Seattle's opener at San Francisco.
This latest injury for Gallery came early in the first quarter Sunday and was an aggravation of a problem that dates to training camp, Carroll said. Gallery played the entire game, and the team only learned of the injury afterward.
It's not expected that Gallery would need to be placed on season-ending injured reserve, but his earliest likely return wouldn't be until after the Seahawks' bye in Week 7.
Injuries are nothing new for Gallery, who has missed 14 games the previous two seasons.
With Gallery out, Carroll said the Seahawks would first go with Paul McQuistan at guard instead of moving rookie right tackle James Carpenter. When Gallery wasn't able to play at San Francisco, Seattle went with Carpenter at left guard and inserted Breno Giacomini at right tackle.
Carroll did hedge, saying that keeping Carpenter at right tackle was the plan as of Monday.
Rice's return is still undetermined, but Carroll is optimistic that the receiver will be able to play this Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
