Seahawks veteran wide receiver Doug Baldwin has been battling injuries all season. The latest to his hip kept him out of Seattle's 21-7 win over the Vikings, but it won't keep him off the field when the team travels to San Francisco — or so he hopes.
But, he's already missed three games, the other two because of a knee injury he suffered in Week 1 — which comes as no surprise to the seventh-year Seahawk, who was picked up as an undrafted free agent following the end of the 2011 NFL lockout.
"It's 100 percent injury rate in this league, and I was talking to some friends the other day about it in the league," Baldwin said Friday, via ESPN. "It feels like every player who's fortunate enough to play a long time in the NFL has a year like this where they just, they cannot knock the injury bug. It's just part of the game, part of the lifestyle."
The two-time Pro Bowl player also missed a month of training camp due to a patellar injury in one knee. He then injured his MCL in the first game of the season against the Broncos. The injury took him out of the second half in Denver, and then kept him off the field for contests against the Bears and Cowboys.
The injuries snapped a streak of 89 consecutive games played.
"Oh, I am on the downside," Baldwin added. "I'm 30 years old. I would not be able to play at the caliber I'm now at 38, so I'm definitely on the downside."
Baldwin has also been playing with a hurt elbow since Week 6, and recently sustained a groin injury that almost sidelined him for a Week 12 matchup in Carolina. The injury to his groin came on the same day head coach Pete Carroll said Baldwin was the healthiest he has been all season.
The hip injury, Baldwin said, occurred before the team's first meeting with the 49ers two weeks ago.
“Doug did really well,” Carroll said of Baldwin's progress, via the team's website. “He practiced, made it through it today. He did fine. It looks like he’s playing.”
The Seahawks enter Week 15 as the fifth seed in the NFC playoff standings. Seattle will then close out its season hosting Kansas City and Arizona. The Seahawks could clinch a playoff berth with a win at Levi's Stadium on Sunday.