Tubbs' injury brings new meaning to exhibition

Marcus Tubbs wanted to get up.

He tried to ignore the pain in his right knee and get to his feet and show that his season was not going to end before it even began.

The right knee is his good one, after all. At least it was. So Tubbs tried to get up. He got to one knee, stopped and rolled over on the ground, then tried again.

He got to his feet on his third attempt, and that's when his right knee buckled. For a moment, so did the Seahawks defense.

The Seahawks beat the Raiders 19-14, but the game meant nothing. That first-quarter play meant everything. At least for Tubbs.

He's the biggest player on Seattle's defense and the biggest difference against the run last season. The Seahawks gave up an average of 82 yards on the ground in the five games he played last season, 147.2 in the 11 he didn't.

The big man spent the past nine months recovering from microfracture surgery to his left knee and now his right one gave out on him with 3:58 left in the first quarter. The defensive tackle hung his head and limped toward the Seahawks sideline, a most meaningful injury in an otherwise meaningless game.

"He was more worried about disappointing the team than his own self," teammate Chuck Darby said. "You see that, and your heart goes out to him."

While trainers examined his knee on the sideline, Tubbs held his hands against his forehead. He was driven to the locker room on a cart. The injury was announced as a sprained ligament. He underwent tests after the game, and the team will know more about his status today. The 2004 first-round pick, who has yet to stay healthy for a 16-game season, might not get a chance to start this one.

"Once in a while, it happens," coach Mike Holmgren said, "where you have a very talented player who can't get on the field."

Tubbs' weight was down this season, his spirits up. He began training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list, but he was ready to play by the third exhibition game, right on schedule. That was quite an accomplishment, considering how serious his surgery was last November. Doctors drilled tiny holes in the bones around his knee to get the cartilage to regenerate. It's called microfracture surgery, but it has broken plenty of careers.

"That's something that a lot of people don't come back from," linebacker Lofa Tatupu said, "especially a guy his size."

Tubbs couldn't have been on the field much more than a dozen plays during the exhibition season when his other knee gave out.

"You just feel awful," Tatupu said.

The Seahawks were supposed to coast into the season. That was the plan for this final exhibition game against Oakland. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck got the night off. Shaun Alexander, too, and nine of the Seahawks' 11 scheduled starters on defense suited up but did not play.

The Seahawks drafted defensive tackle Brandon Mebane from California as a run-stuffer, but Tubbs' remained the Seahawks' best big body, a 318-pound cork to plug the gaps at the line of scrimmage while sucking up blockers, two at a time.

The regular season is more than a week away, but the Seahawks may have suffered their first loss. The Seahawks defense must hold its ground this season. That becomes just a little bit harder if the team must play without Tubbs.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com