RENTON — A week earlier, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll spent a good portion of his Monday press conference lamenting the penalties and mistakes that helped turn a close game into a double-digit loss for the Seahawks.
A day after his team’s 23-13 loss in Dallas, it was more of the same for Carroll, whose team now sits at 2-6 at the midway point of the season, a far cry from where he hoped the Seahawks would be in their second season under his watch.
“We’ve been struggling through the first half,” he said. “We’ve been working to find continuity and a level of execution that will get us some more wins, and it hasn’t happened like we would have liked.”
Two weeks ago, 11 penalties and special teams breakdowns contributed to a home loss to Cincinnati. Then on Sunday, the Seahawks had 10 more penalties and they turned the ball over three times, allowing the Cowboys to break open a game that was tied at halftime. On one third-quarter play, Dallas converted on third-and-six when the Seahawks had only 10 players on the field. Three plays later, the Cowboys were in the end zone, extending their lead to 13 points.
As young as the Seahawks are, they knew there would be growing pains; Carroll just hoped it wouldn’t be this bad, particularly halfway through the season.
“The things that can hold back a young team are holding us back,” he said. “Making mistakes with our penalty situations has caused us problems, particularly the last three weeks it seems, as always that’s the case when you turn the ball over. We have to clean that up, we have to get rid of the turnovers and we have to get the penalties where it’s a manageable number where it’s not disrupting drives and setting us back. They’ve been factors in games.”
That mistakes late in games are contributing to losses is particularly bothersome to Carroll because he prides himself in building teams that have what it takes to win games in the fourth quarter. During his two seasons in Seattle, Carroll has frequently said, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” so to have a team that is finishing poorly is hard on Carroll.
“It’s killing me,” he said. “Intellectually I know that we’re in position, that we’ve played well enough to have a shot at it, but I’m really discouraged that we haven’t played well down the stretch. That’s something I’ve taken great pride in for years, that guys play like they’re capable of all the way through the finish and you outlast other teams. That has not been significant in our play right now. … When that happens, then we’re going to be pretty tough, and I’d like to see it get going. We need to get going now so we can have some fun with this season.”
There are plenty of examples in the annals of the NFL of good teams overcoming mistakes and winning in spite of penalties, turnovers, or other avoidable errors. These Seahawks, however, are not nearly good enough to beat themselves and their opponents at the same time.
“Our margin has been very, very narrow, and that’s why a couple penalties or a turnover or a kicking game situation can make the difference in a game,” Carroll said.
As the Seahawks prepare for the second half of the season, they do so knowing there is almost no chance of catching first-place San Francisco, which is 7-1 following another victory over the weekend. Carroll says that Seattle’s place in the standings doesn’t change the goals for the next eight weeks.
“We need to gain some momentum,” Carroll said. “We need to feel like the improvements that we’ve made now turn into victories. … We just need to take care of our own business, which would be the exact same words I would tell you regardless if the situations were reversed.”
Jackson not 100 percent
Carroll said Tarvaris Jackson continues to improve from his pectoral strain, but that the quarterback is a ways from being 100 percent.
“He’s OK,” Carroll said. “He’s a little bit better than he was on Monday last week. Really we just kind of go day-to-day on how he responds. He’s still very sore today and all of that. … He’s OK at this point.”
While Jackson didn’t make any excuses for his poor play, Carroll thinks the injury may have contributed to Jackson’s second interception, which was significantly underthrown.
“He doesn’t have the same velocity that he’s had,” Carroll said. “There’s no question about that, but he’s managing very well under the circumstance for the most part.”
Extra points
Linebacker David Vobora suffered a concussion when he was on the receiving end of a dead-ball personal foul Sunday. … Receivers Sidney Rice and Mike Williams may be limited this week, but neither should miss any playing time: “Mike will be a little bit slowed down and Sidney will be a little bit slowed down during the week,” Carroll said “They got banged up a little bit, but were OK.”… Carroll said a decision has not been made on receiver Deon Butler, who is on the Physically Unable to Perform list. Butler has to be added to the active roster, released or placed on injured reserve by today.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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