The Seahawks apparently will have to continue to make do without reigning NFL MVP Shaun Alexander. The Seattle Times reported Monday on its Web site that the star running back likely will miss the Seahawks' game against the Raiders next Monday night.

John Abraham, defensive end for the Falcons, underwent surgery Tuesday for an abdominal injury and is expected to be sidelined until mid-November. Abraham was initially hurt during the club's season-opener against Carolina and missed the next three games. He returned after the team's bye week for the October 15 game against the New York Giants, but sat out this past Sunday's contest against Pittsburgh. "After rehabbing and working with our medical staff, it was our hope that John would be ready to play [this Sunday] against Cincinnati," said Falcons head coach Jim Mora. "Unfortunately, a second opinion conducted Monday afternoon confirmed that John will need minor surgery to help him get back to 100 percent. We look forward to him helping us during the home stretch."

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren confirmed on Monday that quarterback Matt Hasselbeck will miss two to four weeks with a strained ligament in his right knee. "There are three levels (of seriousness)," Holmgren said. "So he's right in the middle. "He's on crutches for a few days ... I guess it's kind of good news for me. It could have been worse."

E.J. Henderson rolled into Matt Hasselbeck 's right leg early in the second half of a tie game, sending the quarterback to the locker room for the remainder of Sunday with a sprained knee. "I'm not going to say anything about what it is. He's getting pictures taken tomorrow," Holmgren said.

Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said that test results showed a virus and Graves' disease caused Bobby Engram's hyperactive thyroid and, subsequently, an accelerated heartbeat and fatigue. Engram has lost about eight pounds while staying at home for the last two weeks. Friday, the team's leading receiver in 2005 rode an exercise bike and then appeared at practice for the first time since he got sick. Engram exchanged hugs on the sidelines with fellow receivers Deion Branch and Darrell Jackson. He appeared in good spirits -- and thinner. When asked whether Engram had missed so much time that he may need a couple of weeks of conditioning before he can play, Holmgren said, "I hope it's not a couple of weeks. I'm going to stick him in there as soon as I think he's ready to go."

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said Wednesday that receiver Bobby Engram will miss his second consecutive game with a thyroid condition. The team still does not know whether the cause was a virus or Grave's Disease, a treatable autoimmune condition.

The broken bone in Shaun Alexander's foot will require at least two more week of recovery time, Mike Holmgren said on Monday. Holmgren says Alexander is walking around without pain, but that it needs more time to heal.

Seahawks receiver Bobby Engram will be out indefinitely with a thyroid condition that's causing an accelerated heart rate and fatigue. "He feels like he's going a million miles an hour," coach Mike Holmgren said. "He's taking it easy this week. He's on medicine, getting his strength back. He's feeling better, but I don't even want him coming into the (team) building."

Shaun Alexander will not play Sunday in Seattle's NFC West showdown at St. Louis despite recent tests that show the crack in his foot has diminished. Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren declared Alexander out. Holmgren called him "iffy" on Monday after a new round of pictures of the left foot Alexander cracked Sept. 24 during a win over the New York Giants showed some healing. Now the Seahawks will hope to have last season's NFL rushing leader return for their Oct. 22 home game against Minnesota. Maurice Morris will make his second consecutive start for Alexander against the Rams. Starting receiver Bobby Engram is questionable for Sunday with an illness that has left him listless and resting at home, yet another challenge for Seattle's recently struggling offense.

Immediately after his team got humbled, make that humiliated, by 31 points at Chicago, Mike Holmgren gave the Seahawks their entire bye week off. Holmgren is seeking to recapture a more pleasant perspective, the one from Seattle's glorious 2005 season. Last October, Holmgren gave his players the bye week as a six-day vacation after the Seahawks beat Dallas to improve to 5-2. He said then that the only other time he had given his team the entire bye week off was in 1996, in Green Bay. Both those times worked out OK.