Tag Archives: Pete Carroll

November 20, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Marshawn Lynch wants to play vs. the 49ers but appears to be a game-time decision.

Paul Richardson is out with a hamstring injury, which is too bad considering he showed what he brings with a 40-yard catch vs. Arizona.

Earl Thomas criticized Seattle’s commitment and will to win, saying, “We need to give it up for each other.”

With Bruce Irvin out a couple of weeks with a sprained knee, Frank Clark is expected to get more playing time.

Clark talked to 710 ESPN about his days as a gang member when he was a kid in Los Angeles.

Russell Wilson insists his big contract and high-profile relationship with Ciara have not distracted him.

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State of the team, Week 10: Cardinals

Sorry, Pete, your team will not win the West

November 17, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Wilson safety vs. Cards Pete Carroll thinks the Seahawks can still win the NFC West. What else would you expect from Positive Pete?

Yeah, the Cardinals have a few tough games left — Cincinnati, at St. Louis, Minnesota, Green Bay and Seattle – but they would have to lose at least three of those and the Seahawks would have to win out to win the division.

How can Carroll possibly think the Seahawks are going to win out when they have tough games themselves against Pittsburgh, Minnesota, St. Louis and Arizona the rest of the way?

Carroll said, “To call it now is the biggest mistake you could ever make.” Well, we’re calling the division now. We’ll see who made the mistake in seven weeks.

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Week 10: Cardinals

Hawks & Cards each see the other as the top dog

November 11, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Unless the Rams become more of a factor than we expect them to, the NFC West will be won by Seattle or Arizona.

So, it’s appropriate that they start off the second half of the season together, both coming off byes, and playing what should be a hard-hitting, highly intriguing game on “Sunday Night Football.”

This matchup brings a very interesting dichotomy: Each team sees the other as the top dog.

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Schedule, State of the team, Week 9: Bye

Second half starts and ends with Arizona

November 5, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Way back in April, we said a 4-4 start would be the worst case for the defending NFC champions. Well, unfortunately, here the Seahawks are.

Pete Carroll understatedly called their record “nothing to be shouting about.” Hell, it’s barely anything to whisper about.

“But,” he pointed out, in his oddball way of speaking, “it did put us in a position where we have a second half to really go forward. We have all of the matchups in the games that we need to play in the division to settle issues and go for it and take it as far as we can.”

He has to hope that is farther than the last time the Hawks started 4-4. In 2012, they rallied to finish 11-5 and had to hit the road for the playoffs, where they beat Washington and lost agonizingly in Atlanta (kinda like they have lost some of their games this season).

It’s just how Carroll’s slow-starting team typically does it. Since Russell Wilson became quarterback, the Seahawks have gotten better as the season has progressed. They are 20-12 (.625) in the first half and 20-4 (.833) in the second.

Last year, they rallied from 3-3 to finish 12-4, and Carroll thinks they are in a similar spot this year.

“I don’t think it feels much different than it did last year,” he said. “I think it’s very similar. It’s unfortunate that it takes us a while, but I think this is an opportunity to observe what it’s like to be where we’ve been and to come back.

“If we’re able to put the second half together like we plan on, then we’ll be really proud of that.”

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CHAWK LINES, Week 9: Bye

November 3, 2015 cc Leave a comment

What do the Seahawks think of their situation entering their midseason bye?

The offensive line played pretty well in Dallas, but Pete Carroll is correct when he says, “It’s just one game. It doesn’t mean you’ve made it over the hump.”

Field Gulls broke down the way the Seahawks used the middle of the field.

The Seahawks have been using Jimmy Graham more and more.

As expected, the Hawks made no trades. They really had no room to do so unless they wanted to swap big-salaried players or make a minor deal that probably would not help.

The Seahawks were emotionally rattled by Ricardo Lockette’s neck injury and incorrectly called the hit by Jeff Heath a “dirty play.” (Lockette clearly ran right into him.)

Lockette had neck surgery is expected to spend the week in Dallas.

Jeremy Lane is expected to start practicing next week but not return until perhaps Week 11. Will he reclaim his nickel back spot?

State of the team, Week 8: At Dallas, X's & O's

This is Seattle’s worst offense under Wilson

November 3, 2015 cc 1 Comment

Russell Wilson and the Seattle offense are getting lots of credit for a 17-play drive that yielded the winning field goal in Dallas — the first time in four chances this season Wilson has led a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime.

But let’s not let one very inefficient winning drive confuse the facts: This is the worst offense the Seahawks have had with Wilson at quarterback.

The Seahawks scored just once in the skintight 13-12 win in Dallas — the fourth time in eight games they have tallied one TD on offense. In the four other games, they have scored just two TDs. They have yet to score three touchdowns in a game.

In fact, they are the only offense in the league not to put up a TD trifecta. New England has done it in all seven. Arizona has done it five times. Even Oakland has done it four times and Jacksonville three.

Pete Carroll likes to say “it can’t be pretty and perfect all the time” or some silly copout like that, but does it really have to be so ugly and imperfect every damn game? The answer, Pete, is no. No, it doesn’t. If you knew anything about offense, you would have figured that out by now.

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State of the team, The roster, Week 8: At Dallas

Seahawks trying to build what Cowboys have

October 31, 2015 cc 1 Comment

The Dallas Cowboys have what the Seahawks want, but the only way Seattle could get it is by losing a lot more and using first-round picks.

We’re talking about a great offensive line, of course.

If Russell Okung, who injured his ankle in practice Thursday, misses the game in Dallas on Sunday, the Seahawks will end up starting undrafted players at the tackle spots and center, with a seventh-round conversion at right guard and a second-round reach at left guard.

The Cowboys, meanwhile, have invested three first-round picks in their line over the last five drafts, and they lucked into a potential first-rounder when rookie La’el Collins went undrafted due to a murder case he was peripherally attached to.

The Cowboys won a recruiting war for Collins, adding him to an already stacked line that includes left tackle Tyron Smith, the No. 9 pick in the 2011 draft; center Travis Frederick, the No. 31 pick in 2013; right guard Zack Martin, the No. 16 pick in 2014; and veteran right tackle Doug Free.

“They’ve put their money in it. They’ve got three No. 1s playing there, those guys are all terrific football players,” Pete Carroll said. “Tyron was a guy that we loved coming up; he’s a fantastic athlete at the spot. And Zack’s terrific; it’s just a really good group. I think that they made a commitment to it and they’re benefiting from it. I don’t know if they’re the best one — we won’t see everybody particularly – but they’re as good as we’re going to see all year long.”

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State of the team, Week 8: At Dallas

Bennett says Hawks became complacent, selfish, unfocused

October 29, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks are looking to prove this week that they really have awakened from their early-season doldrums and have returned to Super Bowl contenders.

For the record, Michael Bennett has not experienced any hangover — even though he was unhappy with his contract last offseason and considered holding out, as Kam Chancellor actually did. Instead, Bennett has played as well as ever (a bunch of early offsides penalties notwithstanding) — and is coming off a 3.5-sack effort against San Francisco that earned him recognition as the NFC’s defensive player of the week.

In a couple of recent interviews, the always candid Bennett said he chose not to hold out because he is determined to help lead the Seahawks back to the Super Bowl. And he shed some light on the causes, as he sees them, of Seattle’s ridiculous 2-4 start.

To sum it up, Bennett said the team became complacent, greedy, selfish, unfocused — all while getting younger because it has lost some key veterans over the past two years. He said this incarnation of the Seahawks had to learn how to handle losing and needed to regain the trust, chemistry and confidence that had disappeared since the last Super Bowl. He also hinted that XLIX still lingered in the minds of the Seahawks — proof that Pete Carroll did indeed damage his team’s psyche with his stupid call on the goal line at the end of that game.

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Injury report, Week 8: At Dallas

Hawks are getting healthier, but they can’t get any better at center

October 27, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Paul Richardson’s return to practice is the big news this week, but the Seahawks probably are more concerned with the possible returns of a few other injured players they have missed recently.

Garry Gilliam, Jordan Hill, Derrick Coleman and Marcus Burley are all expected to practice this week and play in Dallas. Gilliam missed stretches of the game vs. the 49ers last week due to an ankle injury. Hill (quadriceps) and Coleman (car accident) have missed the past two games, and Burley (broken thumb) has been out for three.

Pete Carroll also said he expects Demarcus Dobbs, who has missed three of the past four games, to make it back to practice.

“You can see there’s a number of guys that are going to be battling to get back out there,” Carroll said. “It’ll be great to see if we can pull that together, and it’ll make the practice feel much more competitive. We’ll see what that means for game day. I don’t know yet.”

The biggest question probably is at center, where Patrick Lewis didn’t even make it through one start before Drew Nowak had to be reinserted and Lemuel Jeanpierre re-signed. Not that it matters who plays that spot.

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