Richard Sherman faces elbow surgery

PHOENIX -- Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said safeties Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas may need medical procedures to repair their injuries, and Carroll confirmed Monday that cornerback Richard Sherman will need to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left elbow.

"From what I understand, that is accurate," Carroll said of Sherman. "His will to play through this never wavered."

The surgery to repair the injury was named after former Major League Baseball pitcher Tommy John, one of the first athletes to have the procedure. Normal recovery time for a pitcher is nine to 12 months, but Carroll doesn't see that happening for Sherman.

"I really don't think so as long as Sherm doesn't want to become a late-inning reliever," Carroll said. "There's plenty of time to work all that out, and I don't think there's any concern."

Carroll also said Chancellor's knee injury may be more serious than first thought. Chancellor injured his left knee in a practice two days before the Super Bowl, but played the entire game wearing a brace. Thomas also played the entire game Sunday, two weeks after suffering a separated shoulder in the NFC Championship Game.

"For Kam Chancellor to play [in the Super Bowl], it's superhuman stuff," Carroll said. "He shouldn't have been able to go. He may have had an earlier injury from years past, and maybe some of the damage was from before. He got really banged hard on it.

"All three of those guys [Sherman, Thomas and Chancellor] might end up getting fixed up here, but they wanted to play for their teammates. It was courageous. It was an extraordinary effort from guys who played through unbelievable issues."

Carroll also confirmed that nickelback Jeremy Lanebroke his left arm Sunday.

"He's going to have surgery," Carroll said of Lane. "He had a real difficult break. They have to wait a couple of days to make sure it's all prepared properly and all of that. He'll be OK, but it's going to be a significant surgery."

Carroll also said defensive end Cliff Avril suffered a concussion in the Super Bowl.