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Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett had surgery Saturday night to repair a broken leg sustained during the second quarter of the team's loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Lockett sustained a compound fracture of both his tibia and fibula in his right leg and will need 4-6 weeks to recover.
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Cardinals cornerback Brandon Williams landed on the back of Lockett's right leg on a 28-yard pass to the 1-yard line. Lockett was immediately placed in an air cast and taken from the stadium on the back of a cart.
"I got close to him and there was blood everywhere near his ankle and stuff," quarterback Russell Wilson said. "So that was an ugly situation."
Lockett will remain in the hospital another day or two before being released.
"The surgery went exceptionally well and he has a real chance to get back going and moving 4-6 weeks from now and from there he'll work his way back in a few months and have a chance to get himself going. He's absolutely, positively optimistic about all of that," coach Pete Carroll said.
There was no damage to ligaments in the ankle so there's optimism that Lockett will be ready in time for training camp next season barring any complications. The bones did rupture the skin so infections are possible.
Lockett had recently been rounding back into form after being slowed for much of the middle portion of the season following a knee injury. He had a season-high 130 yards on seven catches and his first touchdown reception of the year against the Los Angeles Rams a week ago.
Lockett had two catches for 38 yards - including the 28-yard catch on which he was injured - before leaving the game against Arizona.
"It just kind of took the breath out of you to see one of your brothers go down," receiver Jermaine Kearse said.
Paul Richardson played a season-high 49 snaps in Lockett's absence. He caught four passes for 42 yards and a touchdown against the Cardinals. Richardson will be asked to take over the majority of Lockett's workload for the rest of the season.
-- For the first time since Earl Thomas was lost for the season, the Seahawks truly felt his absence on the field.
Steven Terrell - Thomas' replacement at free safety - misplayed an 80-yard touchdown pass to J.J. Nelson and missed a tackle on a 41-yard catch and run by Nelson in the fourth quarter.
"When you give up a post route, you don't play very well," Carroll said. "That's not good enough. That's an 80-yard play or whatever the heck it was. It's pretty fundamental for us."
Nelson got behind Seattle cornerback Jeremy Lane on a deep post route and Terrell was late providing help. The pass was caught 45 yards from the line of scrimmage, but Terrell missed the tackle and tripped Lane in the process as he ran in for the touchdown.
Nelson then caught a quick slant in the fourth quarter and Terrell missed the tackle, allowing Nelson to run for 41 yards to the 1-yard line to set up a David Johnson touchdown run.
"One of them was the read," Carroll said. "It was a clear read that it was a post coming to you and he got caught a little bit. ... And then just a little over the top on the slant and he took over and went and we got kind of into chase mode.
"This is the stuff that Earl did in his first year too as well. He missed the opportunity for a real clear rep about something that you prepared for. You've got to learn the hard way sometimes unfortunately."
Terrell's presence hadn't been a real problem the last two weeks. Green Bay did little to attack him in the middle of the field and the Rams managed to beat him with one deep shot only to have Michael Thomas drop the pass.
"Those are really obvious cleanups," Carroll said. "They're just right in front of you. There's no issue or mystique about this one. We've just got to make our plays and position ourselves a little bit better so it makes the play a little bit easier."
