Notes, quotes and injury updates from the Seahawks’ 30-24 victory over Oakland

Published 7:00 pm Sunday, November 2, 2014

While you might have been frustrated with what you saw out of the Seahawks, the always-optimistic Pete Carroll had a different take after watching his team squeak out a six-point victory at home over a winless team.

“This was a really interesting game,” Carroll. “We accomplished something kind of unique today with so many guys playing spots they were called on to play. We had a very rough week getting a couple of guys banged up, Russell Okung and Kam Chancellor came late in the week even. We went right up to game time, but they couldn’t got. It was really a great accomplishment. We played so well in the first half and it really felt like the style we love seeing. Our guys were all over the football, the ball was coming out, just ball-hawking, and taking care of the football on our side and just a lot of really good stuff. It was great to see that, and then we ran into some problems. A bunch of three-and-outs, we got a punt blocked, some things that are uncharacteristic of what we normally do. We were scrambling with our young guys playing, so to get the win, get it done and keep moving forward, and feel really good about how hard we played, we accomplished something good today.”

First and foremost among Seattle’s injury issues was its beat up offensive line, which was missing left tackle Russell Okung and both starting center Max Unger, as well as his backup, Stephen Schilling. Then James Carpenter hurt his ankle in the third quarter, meaning 3/5 of the line was backups.

“Well, I think there was a time when Alvin (Bailey) and Garry Gilliam and Patrick Lewis were in there next to Sweezy, and we had a rookie (Justin Britt) playing next to him,” Carroll said. “So that’s about as hard as it can get. Tom Cable said this was the most challenging game he’s every coached, but everybody came through and played hard and did well enough to give us a chance to win.”

Carroll said Carpenter has a “sprained ankle of some sort,” but that he didn’t yet know the severity of the injury.

Asked if Russell Okung (calf) or Kam Chancellor are in danger of missing a significant amount of time after both suffered injuries in practice last week, Carroll said, “No, I think we’re going to be OK. Hopefully we’ll get them back next week, but we don’t know. They weren’t bad pulls or anything, but they did nag them enough that they couldn’t get through the week.”

Carroll would later say that he expects Chancellor and Unger to be back next week. Jeremy Lane, who has been out since Week 1, is also expected back. Carroll said there were no other significant injuries to report out of this game, though he said Doug Baldwin has “a little groin thing” and that Greg Scruggs had a sore knee.

Carroll was most enthused by his defense that intercepted Derek Carr twice and held the Raiders to 37 rushing yards. Carroll had especially high praise for DT Brandon Meban, saying, “I really think Brandon is having his best season. I think he’s having the most impact that he’s had since we’ve been here. He just seems to be on his game and causing problems. He knocked the line of scrimmage back a couple of times for big plays for us. He’s been around here a long time, and sometimes you forget about the nose tackle, but he’s been a big deal for us again.

Yes the Seahawks could have won this game by a lot more than six points, but in a parity-driven league, and with so many players missing on both sides of the ball—the Seahawks had injured players active because they can only deactivate seven players, and had more injuries than that—Carroll was still encouraged about what he saw.

“That’s what it is,” Carroll said. “They’re all like that. Every week is a new challenge and a new set of circumstances as a new opponent comes in… We just have to keep battling and find a way. You guys forget, we had eight games last year that could have gone either way. Everybody forgets that. Three of them we lose, five of them we won; we could have been 8-8 just like that last year, and people forget that. I’ve harped on that more than I should with our team so they realize how tough it is.

“It’s a great win at home, we’re fortunate to get it. We saw a ton of bright spots, a ton of great things. Our team got better today because young guys played and did well, so we’ll be better down the stretch, then here we go against next week. That’s how this is. I know y’all like it easier and smoother and cleaner and all that, but it’s a battle, so suck it up.”