Justin Britt played a surprisingly good first game at center in Kansas City, earning the praise of Pete Carroll for how he handled Chiefs Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dontari Poe.

It may have been Britt’s coming-of-age moment. And one of the keys apparently was the departure of J.R. Sweezy.

While Carroll didn’t exactly say it that way, he told 710 ESPN that Britt has improved his technique and is no longer trying to be a brawler like Sweezy.

“(Britt) came off the J.R. Sweezy school of ‘Go knock the hell out of everything that’s moving,'” Carroll told 710 ESPN. “He wanted to be like J.R.”

But, with Sweezy gone to Tampa Bay (and on PUP with a back problem), Britt apparently has bought into the technique he is being taught by Tom Cable — something Sweezy never quite did, Carroll said.

“(Britt has) made a technical jump in his control of his body and his pad level — to the point where it looks like he should have been playing center all along,” Carroll said. “He just looks so natural at it. But I think it would have applied no matter where he’s playing.

“We’ve really gotten him to sit down and get his leverage in the right spot. For a big guy (6 feet 6, 315), he’s playing very low and very square. He did it in the running game; he did it in the passing game (in Kansas City). It’s an enormous accomplishment for him in such a short time.”

Britt’s conversion to center — his third position in his three NFL seasons — is a major key to the performance of the offensive line, which features new starters at all interior spots.

While Carroll appreciates the power of that group, he said it is “more important that they are targeting the right people. We need to be accurate and be positioned properly.”

That all comes down to technique, which Britt apparently has mastered now that Sweezy is gone.