Here’s some of the issues Seahawks coach Pete Carroll addressed the morning after Seattle’s 27-24 overtime loss at Cincinnati on his Mondy morning radio show on 710 AM:
– Carroll was naturally asked about the fourth quarter, in which the Seahawks surrendered a 17-point lead. The idea of finishing is one of Carroll’s tenets, but that hasn’t been an area of strength for Seattle this season as the Seahawks gave up fourth-quarter leads in all three of their losses. Carroll placed the responsibility for this week’s fourth-quarter collapse “across the board.” He talked about needing to “outlast” the opponent with regards to doing things right, but that the Bengals were the team that was able to maintain their level of play through the finish better Sunday. He then took personal responsibility for the loss.
– Seattle wasn’t able to get anything going offensively after going ahead 24-7 late in the third quarter. Carroll insisted that the team wasn’t sitting on the ball, that the team was still trying to run its normal offense. The Seahawks didn’t convert a single third down in their final six drives, and Carroll mentioned that quarterback Russell Wilson missed seeing open receivers on a couple of those. He added that the team was good on third downs prior to the fourth quarter.
– Carroll said he’s moving forward trying to take away the positives that came from the game, saying, “I was on the verge of telling you it was the best game we played in a long time.” He said that up until the final 12 minutes the Seahawks made major strides in several ways, highlighting the play of the run game. He had praise for running back Thomas Rawls, he said the offensive line played much better than it did the previous week, and he said the receivers did a good job helping the run game.
– Asked about Wilson’s confidence level, Carroll responded that Wilson “isn’t wavering one bit,” and that Wilson still has complete focus and complete confidence in his teammates.
– As for the defense, Carroll mentioned how the team just missed on a couple critical plays, and that one play could have made all the difference in the result considering the Bengals tied it on the last play of regulation. He talked about how switching cornerback Richard Sherman onto A.J. Green full-time was something they’ve done in the past and will do again if the situation calls for it. He said defensive end Michael Bennett played a great game, but that his personal-foul penalty for roughing up Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton following his interception was a bad one.
– He concluded by saying that the Seahawks have been here before, and that this team enjoys the challenge of adversity.
– As for injury updates, he said defensive tackle Jordan Hill, who left in the first half because of a quadriceps strain, could be a little bit. He didn’t know where things stood with linebacker Bobby Wagner, who missed two plays because of a pectoral injury. He was optimistic running back Marshawn Lynch will be back up to speed this week and return for next Sunday’s home game against another undefeated opponent, Carolina.
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