The Seahawks are finally ready to admit that tight end Jimmy Graham's rehab might spill into the regular season.
Coach Pete Carroll had a hazy response to questions about Graham's readiness Wednesday, which seemed to dance around the central point: A ruptured patellar tendon is a rough thing to come back from quickly and there is a lot of work involved in doing so.
"We've had no issues at all in the work he's doing on the field," Carroll said, via ESPN.com. "That will continue to increase throughout the next few weeks. Really we're shooting for: Where is he at the start of the season? And we'll evaluate then on how much longer it may take, or he may be ready. We don't know that yet. But he feels good."
Carroll added: "There's some evaluation to be done going into next week, but I don't have any expectations for that right now. We'll just wait and see. We don't have a timetable for this; that he has to meet any schedule at all. We're just working him back, and he's gaining confidence, and it's really important not to have any setbacks. So we're being careful."
This talk will throw some cold water on the good vibes generated when Graham returned to practice. It sounds like it's no sure thing that he'll be ready to play Week 1.