Russell Wilson injury update: Seahawks quarterback sidelined with sprained finger

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was forced to miss the fourth quarter Thursday night against the Rams after sustaining an injury to the middle finger of his throwing hand.

Seattle coach Pete Carroll said after the game that the finger was “badly sprained” and there was no timetable for Wilson to return.

Wilson appeared to be injured while pitching in the third quarter; his hand made contact with Los Angeles lineman Aaron Donald’s wrist or forearm on a follow-up. The repetitions showed that the tip of the middle finger was bent at an odd angle.

The veteran signal-caller played a series after the injury, but then Seattle coach Pete Carroll replaced him with backup Geno Smith early in the quarter.

“He couldn’t hold the ball the way he needed to throw it, because we were going to throw the ball and we had to throw it all over the place,” Carroll said. “We didn’t know what he would be able to do … If he could have (come back), he would have done it.” Carroll added that the finger was “quite sore.”

Smith led Seattle in a touchdown series to cut the team’s deficit to 16-14. Los Angeles responded with a touchdown to bring their lead to 23-14. Smith then led another series of touchdowns, this time with a field goal, to make it 23-17 with just over 2 1/2 minutes remaining.

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Smith recovered the ball less than a minute later but threw an interception on the first play. Los Angeles responded with a field goal that left the final margin 26-17. Smith finished with 10 of 17 passes, 131 yards, a touchdown, and an INT.

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The 32-year-old Wilson has never missed an NFL game in his career. In 2020, he recorded his ninth consecutive season of 16 stars. He started the first five Seahawks games this year.

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Smith, 31, has been Wilson’s backup since 2019 but had attempted only five passes, all in 2020, before Thursday. He has early experience with the Jets, who drafted him in the second round from West Virginia in 2013. He started 29 games for New York in his first two seasons before being replaced by Ryan Fitzpatrick.

He started one more game for the Jets in 2016 and then started once for the Giants in 2017 when the team ended Eli Manning’s streak of consecutive regular-season starts at 210.