Seahawks' Walter Jones will miss rest of season

RENTON — The curtain fell on Walter Jones' season on a fall morning that felt more like winter.

Two surgeries couldn't erase the pain in Jones' left knee, and two months of patience weren't enough time for Seattle's Pro Bowl tackle to get back on the field for a game. Coach Jim Mora began his news conference Wednesday morning by announcing Jones would be placed on injured reserve.

In football vernacular, Jones will take a knee this season, a very uncustomary position for a nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle who went 10 years without missing a game because of injury.

"It's a tough situation because I've always been there," Jones said. "I've always been that guy when it was time to play football, I've always been there."

Until now.

Jones will spend the final two months of the season working toward a comeback for 2010.

"My next step is to keep working and try to get back," Jones said. "I still want to play this game. I still have the love."

Jones missed four games because of injury as a rookie in 1997. He did not miss another one until the injury to his left knee that kept him out the final four games of 2008. He underwent microfracture surgery in December of last year. Ten months and one subsequent surgery later, the 35-year-old Jones is still trying to recover.

Explaining the mechanics of Wednesday's transaction is easier than its ramifications. Jones went on injured reserve, thereby ending his season. Damion McIntosh moves into the starting lineup at left tackle until Sean Locklear is ready to return, which is unlikely to happen in time for Sunday's game at Dallas.

Running back Louis Rankin filled Jones' spot on the 53-man roster. Seattle still must clear a roster spot for cornerback Marcus Trufant by Saturday, since he is expected to play his first game of the season on Sunday. It's possible Trufant could replace linebacker Lofa Tatupu, who was in Alabama Wednesday having his torn pectoral muscle evaluated. He still may require season-ending surgery.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck did not practice Wednesday because of sore ribs, but is expected to be OK for Sunday's game.

The loss of Jones for 2009 was hardly unexpected. He made it through only two practices in training camp before undergoing arthroscopic surgery to clean up scar tissue in August, and he had not practiced in four weeks in hopes that rest would ease the pain he was feeling. The difficulty of his recovery has been compounded by the fact that a kidney condition limits the type and strength of medication he can take.

Jones' season ended with a roster move Wednesday. He answered questions during a 9-minute news conference late in the afternoon, which was among his longest interviews since the Seahawks chose him in the first round of the 1997 draft with the No. 6 pick. Jones isn't the kind of guy who tosses words around carelessly.

"He's so quiet," Mora said. "You rarely hear a peep out of him."

So when Jones spoke up at the end of September to say his left knee was ailing after two weeks of practice, it was clear something was wrong.

"I was just being quiet about a lot of the pain," Jones said. "Because the No. 1 focus is trying to get back on the football field."

But Jones learned last year what happens when even one of the best left tackles of his generation tries to play with a compromised knee. That's exactly what Jones did on Thanksgiving in Dallas. He walked off the field in warmups in obvious pain, came back to play after receiving treatment and was beaten twice by Dallas' DeMarcus Ware for sacks.

"That was a tough situation for me," Jones said, referencing that game. "I never did want to go out there feeling uncomfortable about something. So I said, 'I'm not going to step on that football field until I feel comfortable about this knee.' "

That never happened this year.

"The pain never did subside," Jones said.

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