The Seahawks returned to practice Sunday following two days off, and as expected, running back Thomas Rawls was a full participant throughout practice, another positive step in his comeback from last year's season-ending ankle injury.

Rawls did not play in Seattle's first two preseason games, and it's not yet known if he'll play in the preseason at all, but both he and head coach Pete Carroll are optimistic about his progress and about his chances of being ready for the season opener.

"I'm just taking it day-by-day, whenever my number's called," Rawls said. "… I know I'll be ready by the first game."

Rawls said he sometimes still thinks about his injury, but tunes those thoughts out when he's on the field.

"I really try to cancel it out and just play free," he said. "My ankle is strong, a lot of mobility back in it, so when I'm out there, it's full-go, full tilt, so I really don't think about it too much… I can cut, I'm running fast, I've still got my accelerated burst, and I can get better."

Carroll agreed with Rawls self-assessment, saying the second year back, "Looks really good. The signs are very, very positive that he's going to be ready in a couple of weeks to play. Right now we just want to see him come back day after day and keep battling, really digging in like he does, competing like he does just show that he's right. He's doing everything we're asking of him. I'm really happy with him.

"He has better days than others, sometimes he feels a little stiff or something, but he's over it, he's healed. So now it's just dealing with the workload. We're going to work him really hard the next couple of weeks to make sure he is ready, and he will have made up time he wasn't able to get earlier. He's all for it and cranking and ready to go."

While Rawls is ahead of tight end Jimmy Graham in terms of what he is doing in practice, Carroll also remains encouraged by Graham's progress since he too came off of the physically unable to perform list.

"We're just doing more, just increasing the work demands," Carroll said. "He had some tests over the weekend that were very positive. We're just trying to find ways to keep making steps, again being very careful to do the right things. His mentality is good and his attitude is really good about it.