Tag Archives: Pete Carroll

Carroll on trading Michael: ‘We just thought it was time’

September 7, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Pete Carroll said the team thought it was time to give up on Christine Michael, the former second-rounder who was sent to Dallas for a conditional seventh-round pick.

“We spent a lot of time with him. We gave him plenty of opportunities. He’s a good, hard-working kid. … We just thought it was time.”

Carroll said Jackson offers much more experience and in the passing game, catching and blocking. “On this team at this time, it was just the way to go.”

Carroll said Jackson is a “good pass pro” guy and “he’s a terrific catcher. So that part is going to fit in really well.”

“We like Marshawn on third down, but he needs a break now and then,” Carroll said. “I like to have a real steady guy going in. Without Turbo available to us, he was the steady guy to go in. Christine wasn’t that guy to take that spot, and we didn’t want to put that on Thomas (Rawls) at this point.

“We think that’s going to be a good, solid move and get a real classy guy to add to the locker room.”

Preseason, State of the team

Lockett, Clark finish preseason like they started it: Bang!

September 4, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Tyler Lockett and Frank Clark finished the preseason the way they started it — with a bang (or two or three).

And B.J. Daniels surely locked up a roster spot with his display of diversity in Seattle’s 31-21 win over Oakland on Thursday.

Lockett’s 63-yard touchdown catch off a perfect pass from Russell Wilson was the rookie’s third touchdown of the preseason — he returned a kick for a score in the first game and also had a punt return for a TD.

Clark dominated the line of scrimmage vs. the Raiders, notching a tackle for loss and causing a fumble for a TD on a sack in the end zone.

Pete Carroll was impressed with all three players.

“Obviously B.J. had a great night tonight,” he said, referencing Daniels’ great running (75 yards on seven rushes) and saying the receiver/quarterback managed the team well.

As for Lockett and Clark, Carroll said, “They’ve made great strides throughout (the preseason). Their going to definitely help us.”

Continue reading Lockett, Clark finish preseason like they started it: Bang! →

Preseason, The roster

10-11 spots up for grabs

September 3, 2015 cc Leave a comment

As the Seahawks get ready for their final preseason game, at least 22 of them are playing their final game for Seattle.

NFL teams — currently at 75 players — have to get down to 53 by 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Seahawks have about 10-11 spots up for grabs, with almost half of those being hotly contested in the secondary.

Among the DBs, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Cary Williams and DeShawn Shead seem like locks, with Dion Bailey very likely to make it, too.

That leaves — realistically — seven players battling for four or five secondary spots: corners Will Blackmon, Tye Smith, Tharold Simon, Marcus Burley and Mohammed Seisay and safeties Steven Terrell and Ronald “Buck” Martin.

Many assume Blackmon is a lock for the nickel role, but that’s not necessarily true. Burley and Smith can play the role as well, and they are cheaper and under club control for longer than Blackmon.

Pete Carroll said he looks forward to all of the DBs showing what they can do vs. Oakland.

“Guys are going to get significant playing time where they really can get out there on the field,” he said. “It’s going to be a big game for Tharold Simon to show where he is; he had a very good first game. This will be a very big game for Mohammed Seisay to get a chance to play finally; he’s been banged up. Will Blackmon will play a good deal of minutes.

“These guys are going to get some really significant playing time — of course, the safeties, too — so this is a very important game.”

Continue reading 10-11 spots up for grabs →

Injury report, State of the team

Jackson a possible fill-in for injured Turbin

September 1, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The reason for Fred Jackson’s visit became clear when Pete Carroll talked to media Tuesday: Robert Turbin suffered a “significant” high ankle sprain in San Diego.

Carroll said he did not know how long Turbin will be out, but it obviously will be a while (short-term IR?).

Carroll said Jackson is in just for a meeting and physical and the team had not yet decided whether to sign him.

“This is a visit for us,” Carroll said. “This isn’t a signing. This is a visit for us. We have tremendous respect for this player. He’s got obviously a wealth of background. He’s tough, he’s smart. He’s sharp. So we need to see where he is right now at 34 years old and see what he looks like. He’s got a big physical coming up today and we’ll talk to him later. But … we have not made that decision at all at this point. We love that he’s here and we are trying to get our ducks in a row for what may be necessary later on.”

Continue reading Jackson a possible fill-in for injured Turbin →

Preseason, State of the team

Expect offensive issues to continue for a while

August 30, 2015 cc 1 Comment

It’s no surprise the Seattle offense looks like two
turtles in a three-legged race — slower than usual,
confused, clumsy and very green. And we expect it to
remain that way for the first few games of the season.

A year ago, the Seahawks returned four starters on the offensive line — their offense was clicking in the preseason and kept on rolling in the season opener against the Packers.

This clearly is not 2014, though. Oft-injured Max Unger and James Carpenter are gone and the Hawks are working in new starters at three line positions. Meanwhile, Russell Wilson has not looked sharp in his preseason action. He has underthrown and overthrown and failed to find receivers when he has had time.

The No. 1 offense has not scored all preseason. And, for the second straight week, Wilson correctly took blame for the offense not moving as well as it should: “Ultimately we have to finish drives. That’s on me.” But he also said he is not concerned it will carry over into the season.

We disagree. And Pete Carroll is getting a bit anxious, too.

Continue reading Expect offensive issues to continue for a while →

Preseason, State of the team, The roster

Preseason status report & projections: offense

August 29, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks loved B.J. Daniels so much last year that they paid him 150 percent of the standard rate to keep him on the practice squad.

They called him up at the end of the season as a reward for his hard work on the squad, and now they are giving him every chance to make the team for real this year — as a wide receiver instead of a quarterback.

“The thought was we love him as a football player (so) let’s see if we can find a place where he can make the team and play,” Pete Carroll said. “He wants to get on the 53, so lengthy discussion back and forth really allowed us to get to that thinking: Let’s give it a shot. So he went for it in the offseason, which he needed all of that time just to kind of get acclimated, and we’ve continued on with him. He’s doing a good job and playing well in the games.”

Seattle values versatility as much as any team in the NFL, and Daniels scores points there with his ability to play wide receiver, kick returner and quarterback.

“Yeah, it’s the more you can do,” Carroll said. “That’s a real motto in the league, and he’s an example of it. I love that he covers kickoffs so aggressively too.

“He’s shown a lot of good things, got a lot of natural ability. He’s a very, very competitive kid. We like the heck out of him, and the fact that he can play quarterback is huge. Who else can do that? It’s rare to have a guy like that.”

The Seahawks have to cut the roster from 90 to 75 by Tuesday and then to 53 four days later.

Here’s a look at the offense heading into today’s game in San Diego:

Continue reading Preseason status report & projections: offense →

CHAWK LINES

August 28, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Marshawn Lynch won’t have to pay his $75,000 fine for not talking after the NFC title game — provided he talks to the media going forward. So, be prepared for more variations of “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.”

Recovery Watergate is still overflowing with overreaction, with some people taking Russell Wilson’s comments far too seriously. Have a Recovery Glass of Wine and chill out, folks.

K.J. Wright said he felt like he gave up too many touchdowns last year — he is right — and he explained how he is going to fix it.

Tharold Simon thinks he’s going to compete for a starting gig. He also admits he was not prepared in the Super Bowl. Tell us something we don’t know, Simon. And, yeah, good luck with that starting job.

Continue reading →

Contracts, Free agency

Broncos will pay Mathis up to $4 million

August 25, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Despite Evan Mathis’ visit this week, the Seahawks seemingly had little chance of signing the free-agent Pro Bowl guard. And it turns out they couldn’t, as he signed with the Denver Broncos instead on Tuesday.

The deal is worth up to $4 million, per Adam Caplan. The Hawks couldn’t really go past $3.5 million — and even that would have required them to shuffle a contract or two.

Pete Carroll had basically referenced the difficulty Monday when he said, “He would obviously bring us experience and all that, but there’s a lot of (financial) issues here that we have to take care of to get that in order. We got the information that we needed.”

The Hawks moved on to Samson Satele, who is still on the market despite starting 16 games for Miami last season. It remains to be seen whether they work something out with him or just stick with their youthful crew.

“We’re going to keep competing to figure out who else is there and available as we try to make our choices,” Carroll said Monday, “and really we’re going one step at a time. … We’re continuing to look at who’s available.”

Preseason

Mixed results from offense, secondary as front seven dominates

August 21, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks entered their second preseason game with a lot of questions on the offensive line and secondary and came out with some mixed answers in a 14-13 loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City.

They also showed what Jimmy Graham will do for them, saw more from Tyler Lockett and got another great game from their No. 1 front seven on defense.

With Justin Britt moving from right tackle to left guard and Garry Gilliam stepping in at right tackle, the offensive line performed much better than it had in the opener vs. Denver, which got seven sacks.

Wilson was not sacked as he completed 9 of 15 passes for 78 yards. But the first offense really struggled again to run the ball and could not get into the end zone. Robert Turbin ran for a mere four yards on six carries, and Christine Michael ran for 27 on 10 attempts (and also busted a running play by going the wrong way). It wasn’t any better than the first game, when the Seahawks totaled just 89 yards on 24 attempts.

Pete Carroll said he liked the pass protection but added, “We’re not running the ball as well as we would like at this time. … That might change once No. 24 (Marshawn Lynch) gets in there.”

He said the offensive line “did not get the movement we need.” He also confirmed that free-agent guard Evan Mathis is coming to Seattle for a physical Saturday.

Continue reading Mixed results from offense, secondary as front seven dominates →

Contracts, State of the team

Are OL moves desperation or just due diligence?

August 21, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks played half of their games in 2013 with rookie tackles and used four centers in 2014, and they still overcame those “offensive” lines to get to the Super Bowl.

So, they can’t possibly be panicking about their left guard position after just one bad preseason game, can they?

Even though Pete Carroll says he is not concerned because he expected the young linemen to take time to develop, the team’s moves this week sure make it sound like alarm bells are going off at VMAC.

First, the Hawks moved Justin Britt from right tackle to left guard and inserted Garry Gilliam at right tackle, and now they reportedly are going to bring in former Pro Bowl guard Evan Mathis for a visit Saturday.

Is it desperation or just prudence?

Continue reading Are OL moves desperation or just due diligence? →