Seahawks 20, Titans 18: postgame quotes

With deadlines being what they are for a game that kicks off at 7 p.m., I wasn't able to spend a whole lot of time in the locker room talking to players about the game, but here are a few highlights from head coach Pete Carroll and some players.

Take what you will from the Seahawks' 20-18 preseason win, but there were certainly some positives for a team trying to bounce back from a pretty bad two years. Things didn't start off well, but backup QB Charlie Whitehurst had a solid debut, the defense looked solid after allowing a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, and perhaps most significantly for a team that ranked 26th in the league in sacks last season, we actually saw opposing quarterbacks getting knocked over a few times.

PETE CARROLL
"There were a lot of good things that happened tonight."

(On the start of the game) "That first drive, we looked shaky. You dream about that first drive, playing great defense, knocking them back, getting off the field. Well that dream didn’t come true tonight. . . But the defense really played very well for the whole night and came back and did a lot of good things."

(On his decision to go for it on fourth down) "I’ve been doing that for a long time."

(On Whitehurst's debut) "I know people will say that it wasn’t a real game and all of that, but it’s still football and he’s still out there throwing and making the plays, so you get a good comparison with other guys."

(On the injury to Titans RB Stafon Johnson, who played for Carroll at USC before a freak weight-room injury ended his college career) "I was just so sorry to see Stafon get hurt. . . If anybody can get back, he can. He’s an absolute warrior."

WR MIKE WILLIAMS
(On his 51-yard touchdown) "That play, really hat’s off to Charlie. He recognized that they brought more guys down, put more guys in the box. . . I was just the end result of it. Really Charlie did a good job of knowing how they were going to blitz us and putting us in position to make a play."

QB MATT HASSELBECK
(On Whitehurst's audible call that led to the 51-yard TD) It’s one thing to sit in a meeting room and know what the audible needs to be, it’s another thing to get the other 10 guys to do it. I thought he showed definite command of the situation and had a great audible, and Mike Williams, we’ve kind of been talking about him since he got here, just how impressive he’s been, and he got a chance to do it in a game, and I think everyone was really happy for him. It’s been a long time for him, and it was just a perfectly executed play.

QB CHARLIE WHITEHURST
It’s nice to go out there and play well, but again it’s the first preseason game. We’ve got three more preseason games, we’ve got a long season. Yeah, you like to go out there and play well every time, and it was nice that it was the first one, but it doesn’t mean all the much. We’ve got a bunch more this season and we’ve got to come every week and execute.