Marshawn Lynch practices, but is there word about his playing status?

Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch was a full participant in practice on Wednesday but coach Pete Carroll cautioned that was no indication whether he would play in the NFC divisional playoff game at Carolina on Sunday.

Carroll said during his news conference that Lynch would be evaluated daily going forward to determine his availability for Sunday's game. Carroll said he can feel that Lynch is "encouraged" to go for it this week.

After practice concluded, Seattle offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said Lynch looked a little quicker than he did last week.

"He had a little bit more pace, a little bit more tempo to him even than he did at the end of last week," Bevell said.

Seattle was expecting Lynch to play last week against Minnesota before he made the late decision not to travel with the team to Minneapolis. Carroll said Lynch did not have a setback and just believed he wasn't ready to go. Lynch has not played since Week 10 against Arizona, missing the past eight games.

"I can tell he's encouraged to go forward again and see if we can get it done," Carroll said.

Seattle also got tight end Luke Willson back at practice Wednesday. Willson suffered a concussion in Week 16 against St. Louis, missing the regular-season finale at Arizona, and suffered a setback last week when he attempted to return to practice. Willson was a full participant and would be an important addition with the success Seattle's tight ends have had against Carolina the past two seasons.