RENTON, Wash. -- Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Monday that Marshawn Lynch did not have a setback last week before he was ruled out of Seattle's wild-card win, and the running back's status for Sunday's contest against the Carolina Panthers could be in question until game time.
"We've got to go one day at a time, see what happens, see how it goes, get him out there practicing and see what that means," Carroll said. "We don't know yet."
Lynch has not played since Nov. 15. He underwent abdomen surgery Nov. 25. He had been rehabbing in San Francisco but returned to the team last week and was a full participant in practice for three straight days. But on Friday, before the Seahawks left for Minneapolis, Lynch told the team he couldn't make it.
"He just didn't feel like he could go and didn't really have the confidence that he would be able to go," Carroll said. "This is his first surgery ever, and it happens to be right in his core. You all that have watched him, you know what kind of runner that he is and all of the lateral things that he does with his body. And they're so abrupt and so sudden. He needs to feel like he could do those things.
"Even though he can run fast and look like he's moving, he didn't have the confidence that he could go out there and react to guys and do that. So there's nothing we can do about that."
Asked if Lynch had any kind of setback, Carroll said, "No."
Christine Michael carried the load for the Seahawks against the Vikings and rushed 21 times for 70 yards (3.3 YPC).
Carroll was asked if Lynch's status could be unknown all the way until kickoff Sunday.
"It really could," he said. "I can't tell you because he doesn't know yet, so we'll have to wait and see."