By Tim Booth
Associated Press
SEATTLE — In recent seasons, Pete Carroll found himself in production meetings with John Lynch as the television commentator for those games sharing information about the opponent that week and the foundations of his football philosophy.
Carroll certainly didn’t expect that sharing those kinds of details could come back to have an adverse effect someday — except when Lynch took the job as the general manager of Seattle’s division rival, the San Francisco 49ers.
“I don’t think there’s any question, the way he went about finding his information and getting answers to things. He was in-depth beyond where most guys go. He wanted to know why and what were you thinking. Those kinds of things,” Carroll said of those production meetings.
“I didn’t really put it together. I thought he’d be doing ‘Monday Night Football’ or something. … He was adding up his background and reservoir of information at the time. It makes sense it came out to get him a GM job.”
Lynch may someday be able to use some of Carroll’s wisdom in reconstructing the 49ers. For now, San Francisco is in another rebuild as it heads north to face Carroll’s Seahawks on Sunday.
Eventually Lynch may succeed in making San Francisco a contender again, but the opener showed just how far the 49ers have to go in a 23-3 loss to Carolina. And they will be trying to show improvement against one of the best defenses in the league.
“I don’t think I can complement them enough,” San Francisco QB Brian Hoyer said. “I think it’s a great combination of scheme and players.”
Seattle does have its issues to solve that were highlighted in the opening loss at Green Bay. The offensive line continues to be the biggest concern, as it was overwhelmed by Green Bay’s defensive front, leaving quarterback Russell Wilson to scramble for safety and disrupting the Seahawks offense.
Take away Wilson’s 40 yards rushing on two scrambles and a 30-yard run from rookie Chris Carson, and the Seahawks rushed for just 20 yards on 15 carries.
For a team that continues to say its offense is predicated by the run, those numbers aren’t acceptable.
“Everyone has to be on the same page on offense for every play to work. Most of the time it was just one guy, one block and that’s what kind of killed the play,” Seattle guard Luke Joeckel said.
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