Vallos takes over for injured Spencer

Steve Vallos has been called on to hold together an injury-plagued offensive line once before, and he's ready to do it again.

Vallos filled in last season when starting center Chris Spencer went down with a back injury. Now with Spencer sidelined again with a slightly torn quadriceps muscle, Vallos will again be called on to hold together a depleted offensive line.

"It's gonna be for a few weeks here," Vallos said. "(I'm) going to get two preseason games to work on it and we'll see how it goes from there."

Spencer was injured on Saturday night while blocking down field on a screen pass. Vallos took over and finished the drive, which resulted in a touchdown for the Seahawks.

The Seahawks are already missing left tackle Walter Jones, who had arthroscopic knee surgery last week as a clean up procedure to offseason microfracture knee surgery, and guard Mike Wahle, who retired before training camp after his offseason shoulder surgery never healed properly.

The loss of Spencer has cut into their depth even more. He will miss four to six weeks and the start of the regular season.

Vallos started five games for Seattle last year, his first coming on Thanksgiving Day against the Dallas Cowboys.

"A ton," Vallos said of how much last year's experience will help him. "Just working at the center position really helped me against starting defenses. (I) played against a lot of good nose tackles and that's going to help."

Head coach Jim Mora said on Monday that the team was leaning toward starting Vallos over rookie Max Unger.

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GREYED OUT: The Seahawks quietly claimed guard Brian De La Puente off waivers from the Kansas City Chiefs.

To make room on the roster, the Seahawks waived guard Grey Ruegamer just hours after he participated in his first practice in weeks after battling an elbow injury.

De La Puente was put on waivers by the Chiefs on Monday.

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QUICK HITS: Several Seahawks returned to the practice field on Tuesday. RB Julius Jones (right thigh bruise), LB Aaron Curry (groin), WR Nate Burleson (knee) and DE Lawrence Jackson (leg strain) were all practicing after sitting out the team's preseason game Saturday night against the Denver Broncos. Burleson and DT Craig Terrill (back contusion) were limited. Still sitting out for Seattle were T Walter Jones (knee), C Chris Spencer (quad), CB Marcus Trufant (back), CB Travis Fisher (unspecified) and LB David Hawthorne (unspecified).