Ricky Watters said he expects to play in Sunday's AFC wild-card game.

Watters had his sixth career 1,000-yard rushing season for the AFC West champion Seahawks, but was ineffective in their regular season finale on the road against the New York Jets last Sunday. He had 30 yards on nine carries in a 19-9 defeat in which Seattle couldn't score a touchdown.

The Seahawks play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday in the Kingdome.

Wearing a brace, Watters looked impressive and appeared to be his old self in Thursday's practice after being held out of Wednesday's workout.

"I feel a lot better and I've still got some days to go," Watters said. "It was very encouraging. Actually, I wasn't supposed to do as much as I did. They just wanted me to run around a little bit and see how it felt."

Watters said he wanted to discard the brace or use a smaller, less restrictive one, but team doctors told him he would have to wear it.

"It was all vetoed," he said with a smile. "Every doctor said, 'No,' 'No,' 'No.' 'Next question. You have to wear the brace. OK?"'

Coach Mike Holmgren said Wednesday that Watters would start against Miami, but Holmgren didn't think Watters would be 100 percent for his 11th career playoff game and his first since 1996.

"I'm definitely going to be ready," Watters said. "I felt good today, but I'm even going to be feeling better because it's going to be getting stronger and stronger. If I get out there, I'm going to go fast and go hard."

Wide receiver Joey Galloway, who missed the first half of the Seahawks season because of a contract holdout, missed Thursday's practice because of the flu, team spokesman Dave Pearson said. He also did not practice Wednesday.