RENTON — Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll exercised restraint when talking about penalties as he addressed the media Monday afternoon at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
“I don’t even know how to answer that question right now,” Carroll responded when asked about specific penalties. “Honestly. I don’t even know how to talk about penalties at this point, I really don’t.”
But it didn’t stop Carroll from acknowledging the role penalties played in Seattle’s 39-32 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday night at CenturyLink Field.
Seattle was whistled for 14 penalties for 131 yards against the Cardinals. Both totals were season highs for the Seahawks.
“I don’t ever remember a game where your first four drives are first-and-20,” Carroll said. “I can’t even remember that ever happening. When that happens we wound up in third-and-10, third-and-15, third-and-12, situations we couldn’t convert on, so we never really found it.”
Seattle had been on unusually good behavior entering Sunday’s game. The Seahawks were the most frequently penalized team in the NFL the past two seasons (7.9 flags per game in 2013, 8.0 in 2014), and were in the bottom half of the league rankings in each of Carroll’s previous five seasons at the helm. However, through nine weeks Seattle had been penalized just 6.4 times for 57.4 yards per contest, ranking tied for eighth and 12th, respectively.
But it was a different story Sunday. The Seahawks’ 14 penalties and 131 yards eclipsed the 10 penalties for 112 yards Seattle was flagged for in its 27-24 overtime loss at Cincinnati, the previous season highs. Sunday’s totals were roughly equivalent to the penalty numbers the Seahawks accrued in their previous three games combined (18 penalties for 138 yards).
The 14 penalties matched the fifth-highest total for any team in the NFL this season, and the 131 yards were the ninth most.
The penalties played a profound role in the outcome on both sides of the ball.
On offense, Seattle five times put itself in first-and-20 or longer because of first-down holding or face-mask penalties — guards Justin Britt and J.R. Sweezy and tight ends Luke Willson and Jimmy Graham were all dinged for holding, while Willson was called for a face mask that was mistakenly attributed to tackle Garry Gilliam. In all five of those instances the Seahawks went three-and-out following the penalties, and Seattle didn’t score a single point in those five drives.
“What I would say is that we’ve got to keep our hands in, and those are all up to interpretation and those guys are calling it the best they can,” Carroll said.
“The penalties really dictated what was going on when they got their first 19 points,” Carroll added. “They executed to get their points, but we made it really easy on them. To play defense on first-and-20 and second-and-16 and then third-and-12 and 15, that’s what you hope for. It’s not hard there. That’s the best you get on defense, so we really made it easy on them and they took advantage of it and held us and got the field position and got their points. It played into a great opportunity for them, really.”
On defense, the Seahawks took three penalties in the secondary on third-and-8 or longer which gave Arizona automatic first downs, with nickel corner Deshawn Shead, cornerback Richard Sherman and linebacker Bobby Wagner drawing the flags. The Cardinals ended up scoring 14 points on those drives. That included the go-ahead touchdown — two plays after Wagner’s penalty for illegal contact — with 8 minutes, 45 seconds remaining on the drive that immediately followed the Seahawks taking their first lead of the game at 29-25.
“The penalties got in the way,” Carroll said. “We got in our own way. I think they had five first downs by penalty in the game and that’s too many. We recognize when we have major penalties on drives we’re a lot easier to score on. It’s been a good factor for us all year, this is the first time it’s really jumped up like this.”
What made the situation all the more frustrating for Seattle is the Seahawks spend their Fridays analyzing the officiating crews scheduled to call their games that weekend.
“We have a full game plan,” Carroll said. “We have a full day on Friday we dedicate to the crew that’s coming in, the tendency of their calls, we show film of calls they’ve made to make them aware. We go into great depth in that way because the crews have their own way somewhat. We take a lot of care there. We think it’s such a big factor in the game that we want to know what we’re dealing with, so we do that.”
Carroll said Sunday’s officiating crew largely called the game the way the Seahawks expected. Unfortunately for the Seattle, that proved to be bad news for the Seahawks.
Extra points
Carroll had no further updates on the two Seattle players who left Sunday’s game because of injuries, linebacker Bruce Irvin (knee) and receiver Paul Richardson (hamstring). He described both injuries as “pending” and “legitimate.” … The Seahawks made one move to their 53-man roster Monday, claiming defensive tackle A.J. Francis off waivers from the Miami Dolphins and releasing defensive tackle David King. Francis, a 6-foot-5, 330-pounder who went undrafted out of Maryland in 2013, appeared in one game with the Dolphins this season. King, signed off the Cincinnati Bengals’ practice squad last December, appeared in four games for the Seahawks this season. King missed Sunday’s game because of a groin injury. … Seattle also made a handful of moves to its practice squad, signing fullback Brandon Cottom and releasing cornerback Kevin Short and tight end Harold Spears. The moves leave one spot open on Seattle’s practice squad.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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