SEATTLE -- Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said running back Chris Carson is still dealing with effects of the foot injury that sidelined him for four games.
"He's making it to the game is what he's doing it right now," Carroll said. "His foot is still sore but he can play, so you can see, he looked good, but it's just not 100 percent and so we're trying to not overload him."
Carson, Seattle's starter, carried 13 times for 65 yards in the Seahawks' 17-12 upset loss to the New York Giants on Sunday. He caught three of six targets for 45 yards and Seattle's lone touchdown, but also let a Russell Wilson pass go through his hands for an interception.
Carson carried eight times and caught two passes in Seattle's victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, which was his first game in more than a month.
Carson was listed as a limited participant in practice on Wednesday and Thursday because of his foot. He was a full participant on Friday.
"We've got a lot of games left and we're just trying to make sure that he can play and contribute, which is what he's doing," Carroll said. "And I thought they handled that pretty well. But he's not to the point where we can just let him stay out there and keep on going and let's run him 25-30 times and see what happens, so we're still trying to bring him along."
The Seahawks had gotten back to their usual balance on offense the past two weeks after leading the league in dropback rate over the first 10 weeks at 69.2%. The shift back started with Carlos Hyde returning from his four-game absence in Week 11 and continued with Carson's return Monday night. Seattle's dropback rate in those two games was 62.3% (15th) and 57.4% (20th). But it was a season-high 77% Sunday with Carson and Hyde combining for only 15 carries.
The Seahawks leaned more on Hyde against Philadelphia, but he carried only twice Sunday for 1 yard.
"We really went into the game hoping to mix between [Carson] and Carlos because both guys are just barely getting back and feeling right and we weren't going to load up anybody, and really that didn't really come to light until we made it through the whole week and got all the way to the weekend here," Carroll said. "We were hoping the guys would improve but they both played a little sore from ... last week and so that's the way I thought it would turn out, we would mix those two guys, not go too heavy on one guy or the other."
With Travis Homer inactive Sunday, rookie DeeJay Dallas was Seattle's only other available tailback against the Giants. He caught two of three targets for 11 yards and didn't get a carry.