SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Branden Jackson was “knocked out” and taken off the field on a backboard as a precaution after being injured during the team’s scrimmage on Saturday.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll said Jackson had movement in all his extremities. The injury happened just before halftime of the scrimmage at CenturyLink Field. Carroll ended the scrimmage after a lengthy break while Jackson was being treated.
Jackson was eventually loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital as a precaution.
“It was at a time just before halftime, so we called off the rest of the day just to honor our love for him,” Carroll said. “He’s one of our all-time guys, favorite guys and everybody wanted to make sure we could send him as much as we possibly could to help make sure he’s OK.”
Jackson, a fifth-year defensive end, appeared to collide helmets with offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi and seemed to be unconscious before he landed on the turf. Athletic trainers came out to assess Jackson and called for the backboard.
“The way I understand it, I didn’t see the replay, but he hit heads (with) I think Cedric and it might have caught him in the chin and it was like a knockout punch,” Carroll said. “So we took all the precautions, took care of him. He had movement and all that kind of stuff.”
While he was being treated, Carroll told his players to go to the locker room, but 30 or so remained on the field, including captains Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner, until the ambulance pulled away.
“The camaraderie that we have as a team is really special. So if anybody goes through something on a play, in a moment, in life, we all kind of feel it,” Wilson said. “So I believe that he’ll be OK it sounds like, hopefully, so we’re praying for healing and all that.”
Jackson has spent the past three seasons with Seattle. Last year he appeared in 15 games with three starts and had a career-high 20 tackles and two sacks.
Carroll said he felt the team had already done enough to mimic the gameday process that he felt it was the right move to end the scrimmage early.
“I didn’t think it was right to try and get everybody cranked back up again and go back out,” Carroll said. “We didn’t need to do that. We got enough done. We’ll take the plays that we got and what we learned from it. We accomplished the things that we needed to accomplish.”
NOTES: DE/LB Bruce Irvin (hip flexor) and DT Poona Ford (calf) did not participate in Saturday's scrimmage. Carroll expects Ford to return to practice next week and called Irvin's injury “slight.” ... RB Chris Carson has been away from the team for a couple of days because of a death in his family.
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