Seahawks Notebook: Clark showing improvement

Published 1:30 am Sunday, January 1, 2017

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Frank Clark stormed down the line like a sprinter, not a defensive end.

He threw down yet another quarterback, this time like a bag of dirty laundry.

He got his first career fumble recovery and, if not for a teammate and that QB, Colin Kaepernick, would have scored a touchdown on the return.

And by the end of the game he was about to throw down with a wayward teammate on the sideline.

His best friend on the Seahawks, in fact.

Seattle’s top draft pick in 2015 was everywhere on Sunday in the Seahawks’ 25-23 win over San Francisco that set up a wild-card playoff game Saturday at CenturyLink Field.

His sack of Kaepernick gave him 10 on the season, after four in his rookie year. He was Seattle’s controversial top draft choice last year, controversial because he’d been kicked off his college team at Michigan following an arrest after a domestic-violence incident at an Ohio hotel.

Coach Pete Carroll said last summer he wanted Clark to have more of a role in the Seahawks’ pass rush.

Voila! Despite a more situation role than a starting one most of the year he finished second on the team to Pro Bowl end Cliff Avril’s 11½ sacks. He played outside off the edge and inside in some passing situations as a tackle. His speed was often too much for opposing linemen to catch, let alone block.

“Get double digits. That was my only goal,” Clark said. “I wanted to get that at some point in my career. I did it in my second year, and it’s a blessing.”

Clark listed the reasons behind his increased role, and thus increased production, this season.

“Confidence. And trust — on both sides,” he said. “My coaches let me know in spring ball that, ‘Hey, man, we’ve got a lot of confidence in you. We’ve got a lot of trust in you.’

“Last year I could understand why the trust wouldn’t have been there. You’ve got a rookie coming in who doesn’t know which way was right, you know. You do some things right and some things wrong — or a lot of things wrong. At the end of the day … it’s a humbling experience. The NFL, it’s humbling.

In the fourth quarter Sunday, Reed got thrown out of the game for a post-play personal foul while the Seahawks were preserving their lead.

“He threw a punch,” Carroll said of Reed. “So he deserved to be ejected.”

And taught. Clark went at the rookie defensive tackle on the Seahawks’ sideline, before Reed walked to the team’s locker room.

“We need you!” was the G-rated version of what he told Reed.

“That’s my brother, man,” Clark said. “I spend more time with him than anybody else, on the field and off the field. … We can’t afford a mistake, especially at the time in the game we can’t afford nothing dumb. Me being a second-year player, I’ve been there, done that.”

Life after Lynch

It’s still far from great.

J.D. McKissic was back deep to return the 49ers’ first kickoff. He then began Seattle’s second drive with a 2-yard run. That made last month’s waiver pickup from Atlanta the 18th Seahawk to record a carry in a game this season.

This past week, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell called it a “Rolodex of runners.”

And they have not excelled. Seattle entered the game 22nd in the NFL in rushing offense, at 100.3 yards per game.

The Seahawks ran for 20 yards over their first 11 carries Sunday and finished with 87 yards on 25 carries. Seattle finished the regular season averaging 99.4 yards per game on the ground.

Last season, Seattle averaged 141.8 yards rushing.

Defense loses points title

New England won 35-14 win at Miami — and finished the regular season allowing a league-best 15.6 points per game. So ended the Seahawks’ streak of consecutive years leading the NFL in points allowed at four. Seattle allowed 292 points this season, 18.3 per game.

Ex-Husky Williams returns

Kasen Williams lined up wide right with Seattle deep in its own territory in the third quarter. It was the ex-Washington Husky wide receiver’s season debut on offense. The Seahawks promoted Williams from the practice squad this week after Tyler Lockett broke his leg and went on injured reserve.

It was Williams’ fifth game of his two-year NFL career. He played the last two regular-season games of 2015 plus both of Seattle’s playoff games last January.

Extra Points

Long snapper Nolan Frese’s sprained ankle was the only injury Carroll mentioned. Frese finished the game, limping, and sent a punt snap over Jon Ryan’s head out of the back of the end zone for a safety in the third quarter.