Notebook | Maurice Morris to miss time with sprained knee

RENTON — No sooner had the Seahawks found the footing in their rushing offense on Sunday than Maurice Morris left with a knee injury that will force him to miss time.

"I got hit low," Morris said. "I don't know if my foot got stuck in the turf or what."

Morris suffered a sprained knee. Coach Mike Holmgren provided no timeline for Morris' recovery, but he did say Morris will miss time. Morris said it would be "a couple of weeks."

The Seahawks gained 11 yards on 10 carries in the first half at Buffalo, but they got going in the second half. Morris gained 17 yards on his first carry of the third quarter, 13 on the second carry and then left with the injury.

Seattle finished the game with 85 rushing yards on 21 carries; Matt Hasselbeck attempted 41 passes. That ratio of one rushing play for every two passes will be something Holmgren said he doesn't intend to repeat.

"I have to make sure I maintain a better balance than I did in the game," Holmgren said.

Julius Jones will start while Morris is out, with T.J. Duckett as the backup. Holmgren said he won't divvy time between Jones and Duckett as he did with Jones and Morris, but Duckett will get some carries.

Special-teams precautions

The Seahawks were scrambling before the Bills snapped the ball on the fake field goal that resulted in a touchdown pass to a wide-open Buffalo player. That's because Marcus Trufant ran onto the field just before the snap. He was replacing Josh Wilson, who is usually part of the field-goal block unit but was injured.

"The awareness factor got focused to having 10 men on the field," Holmgren said. "We just missed that guy [Ryan Denney]. He's 6-6, 270. It's hard to imagine how you can miss him, but we did."

Holmgren indicated he doesn't expect another mistake like that.

"I can almost guarantee you, however, that will never happen again to us," Holmgren said. "I'll have not one guy, two guys, I'll have 11 guys scanning. We'll be yelling, everyone on the sidelines."

The fake field goal was one of several miscues for Seattle's special teams. The Seahawks gave up a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown and fumbled away a kickoff that was followed immediately by a TD pass.

"It's a wake-up for us," said Lance Laury, one of the captains on special teams. "We'll bounce back as a team, as a special-teams unit, and we'll get it together."

Notes

• Five sacks and a false start were enough to make Holmgren lukewarm about the performance of his offensive line in Buffalo.

"They were OK," he said.

Ray Willis started at right tackle in place of Sean Locklear, and played well, Holmgren said. The five sacks matched the most Seattle allowed in any game last season and the difficulties in pass protection were accentuated once Seattle fell behind by double digits in the second quarter.

• QB Matt Hasselbeck said his back doesn't bother him "one bit," despite reports of a bulging disk. He addressed the rumor and clarified that he had received an injection for back pain during training camp, but it wasn't necessary. "It was more a 'Let's be sure that he's ready to go in Buffalo,' " Hasselbeck said, "and looking back, I kind of wish I wasn't ready to go for Buffalo."

• DT Rocky Bernard and DB Jordan Babineaux can be reinstated to the active roster today after serving their league-imposed one-game suspensions last week. Bernard is expected to start Sunday.

• Holmgren said there's a chance Locklear could be back this week, and LB Lofa Tatupu will have his injured thumb wrapped in a soft cast.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com

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