By Bob Condotta

The Seattle Times

The good news is that Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is not ruling out that middle linebacker Bobby Wagner will be able to play in Sunday’s pivotal game against the Los Angeles Rams.

That, at least, indicates that the hamstring injury that forced Wagner to leave Sunday’s 30-24 loss to Jacksonville in the third quarter apparently isn’t overly serious.

The bad news is that Carroll also isn’t saying that Wagner will be able to play Sunday in what looms as Seattle’s biggest game of the season. A win will put Seattle in the driver’s seat for taking the NFC West while a loss might make it difficult to even get to the playoffs.

Wagner left Sunday’s game after the second play of the third quarter, motioning to come out after he took a block from Jacksonville center Brandon Linder and was knocked back awkwardly. Wagner was visibly upset on the sidelines and left the field shortly after and did not return.

Wagner has dealt with a hamstring issue for a few weeks and has done little in practice but had not missed any game snaps until Sunday.

“We are going to have to wait through the week,” Carroll said of Wagner. “It will go all the way through Saturday to see how he does. Saturday, Sunday…all the way to game day.”

Without Wagner the Seahawks used Michael Wilhoite at middle linebacker and he would likely get the call against the Rams.

The Jaguars scored a touchdown three plays after Wagner departed, the first of three TDs on three straight offensive plays Jacksonville scored in the third quarter to take a 24-10 lead.

Seattle’s linebacking issues were exacerbated later in the quarter when K.J. Wright left with a concussion.

That forced Seattle to use D.J. Alexander at Wright’s weakside linebacker spot and Terence Garvin at strongside linebacker the rest of the game with Wilhoite in the middle.

Carroll, though, seemed more optimistic about Wright playing Sunday against the Rams while saying that nothing is yet definitive.

“K.J. had a good day today, though,” Carroll said. “He made a good turn. That is a positive.”

Alexander, Wilhoite and Garvin are the only other linebackers on Seattle’s active roster and the team could have to make a move to add one. Former WSU standout Kache Palacio is on the practice squad as is Paul Dawson, who was the 99th overall pick of the 2015 draft out of TCU by the Bengals and played in 13 games in the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

But Carroll and the Seahawks know there’s no way to really replace the value of Wagner, who has been touted as a defensive MVP candidate.

Carroll said not having Wagner was noticeable on a few key plays, including Jacksonville’s final first down, a 13-yard run by Leonard Fournette on a third-and-11 play in which it appeared Alexander got out of position to leave an opening.

“Well, there’s a few plays that we didn’t fit right, and it was a combination,” Carroll sad. “It wasn’t just where Bobby plays; we missed some fits on the last run to stop them to get the ball back, and we just missed a fit and missed a couple of other ones that made a difference. He’s an incredible player; his impact, it couldn’t be more obvious, and we’re going to have to really shore it up if he can’t go, and Michael Wilhoite is a good guy to do this. He knows the position well; he just hasn’t played there a lot because he’s been the (strongside) backer spot. Hopefully, he’ll improve as we move forward depending on what the mix is. I don’t know what is going to happen at this point, but those guys have to step up and be ready to go.”

Carroll hopeful Davis will play: The only other significant injury in the game was suffered by tailback Mike Davis, who hurt his ribs in the third quarter and did not return.

But Carroll seemed to indicate there’s a chance Davis will be okay.

“He was moving around pretty good today, felt okay,” Carroll said. “So we will have to wait and see how it goes and how he can handle and how the week shows what he’s got and so we will see what happens. ”

Jordan to practice this week

The Seahawks did not get a sack Sunday and only had one quarterback hit on Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles, which Carroll called “disappointing.”

Seattle may get some help in that regard this week as Carroll said end Dion Jordan — who has missed the last three games with a neck/stinger issue — is expected to return to practice on Wednesday.

Seattle’s lack of a pass rush was especially noticeable in the second half when Bortles threw both of his touchdowns, including a 75-yarder that gave the Jaguars the lead for good.

“We really thought we would rush them better,” Carroll said. “We thought we would be able to get to them, but it just didn’t happen for us.”