Tag Archives: Pete Carroll

Carroll thinks his team is ready to finish strong

November 4, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Despite missing nearly a dozen key players Sunday and barely beating a winless team because of it, Pete
Carroll thinks his team has turned the corner at the right time and is ready to finish strong in the second half of the season.

You might question the wisdom of saying your team accomplished something by beating the Oakland Raiders, but Carroll’s optimism is understandable considering his team’s situation.

“Under the circumstances of this game, where so many guys played that haven’t played before, I take maybe more out of it because of that,” he said. “Offense played tough, special teams played tough; we just didn’t play well all the time. The kind of effort that we need to be a good football team was there, and so that’s a good sign for us.”

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Week 9: Oakland

Wilson & the Hawks are used to inconsistent OL

November 2, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Wouldn’t it be fun to see what Russell Wilson could do with the passing game behind a reliable offensive line?

He hasn’t had one yet in two and a half seasons as Seattle’s quarterback, and Sunday in their 30-24 win over the Oakland Raiders the Hawks went with their 15th line combination in Wilson’s 40 games.

It was ironic that the five starters from the best line in Seattle history — the 2005 Super Bowl line — happened to be in the house to celebrate Hall of Fame tackle Walter Jones’ induction into the Ring of Honor.

As Jones, Steve Hutchinson, Robbie Tobeck, Chris Gray and Sean Locklear looked on, the Hawks started a third-string center, a second-year utility player at left tackle and a rookie right tackle — and by the end of the game they had another rookie playing left guard.

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Week 9: Oakland

The Seahawks won’t fall for it this time, right?

October 31, 2014 cc Leave a comment

That’s probably what Admiral Ackbar would say about a game that featured the defending Super Bowl champs at home against a winless, rudderless team that already had fired its coach.

But if ever there was a team that should know not to overlook an 0-7 opponent, it’s these Seahawks. As you might recall, they did that last year at exactly this time, falling into a 21-0 hole against the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home in Week 9.

Now, here they are again — facing another 0-7 team in Week 9 as the Oakland Raiders come to Seattle.

But these are not the same Seahawks as that overconfident 7-1 bunch last year that had to rally to beat Tampa in overtime.

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Injury report

Wagner, Miller remain out, but Hawks are getting healthier

October 27, 2014 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks have taken a number of injury hits over the last month, but some of those guys will be returning in the next week or two — with two notable exceptions.

Linebacker Bobby Wagner and tight end Zach Miller “are going to be awhile,” coach Pete Carroll said Monday.

Wagner has missed the past two games with turf toe, and Miller had ankle surgery during the Week 4 bye. Both met doctors on the East Coast while the Hawks were in North Carolina over the weekend, the coach said.

“Both those guys got updated on their progress and where they’re going,” Carroll said. “We were not given a timeline for them. Neither one of those guys are ready to come back this week. So we will have to wait and see what happens with those guys.”

The news is much better for kick returner Bryan Walters, center Max Unger and cornerbacks Byron Maxwell and Jeremy Lane.

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State of the team

Carroll denies reports of rift with Lynch

October 27, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Pete Carroll responded directly Monday to reports of a rift between himself and running back Marshawn Lynch, saying, “I don’t know where that came from,” and scoffed at the idea that the Hawks would consider trading Lynch.

Both ESPN and NFL Network reported Sunday morning that the Seahawks had grown tired of Lynch’s attitude and had already decided to move on from him after this season. The ESPN report indicated that the Hawks might have tried to trade him if Derrick Coleman had not broken his foot last week.

“I have no idea where that came from,” Carroll said. “We have nothing to say about that. At this point I don’t think it behooves us to try and respond to all of these kinds of things in the locker room. Our players have told you how they feel, our coaches have told you how we feel about it and we’re in a really good place right now.”

As for the report that Carroll and Lynch do not communicate, Carroll said he talks to Lynch “whenever I need to.”

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Week 8: At Carolina

Big win, but Hawks still have much to fix

October 27, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Most of the game Sunday looked so similar to their three losses, but the Seahawks finally managed to overcome their own charity and clumsiness to get their first win in three weeks and a measure of feel-good amid swirling reports of bad team chemistry.

The 13-9 win at Carolina was just as ugly as the Seahawks’ wins the past two years — 16-12 in 2012 and 12-7 last season — but it was picture perfect for a team trying to avoid the first three-game losing streak in the Russell Wilson era and trying to prove it has not lost its mojo.

“It means a lot,” wide receiver Doug Baldwin told reporters. “This is a true character win for us, coming off two losses and all the things the media was saying about us. We showed resiliency.”

Some will say it saved Seattle’s season, which is a bit extreme and premature considering the many issues the Hawks still have.

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State of the team, Week 8: At Carolina

Lynch & team bosses reportedly at odds, but it’s not a distraction

October 27, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Amid reports that some teammates are jealous of quarterback Russell Wilson and that the Seahawks are ready to part ways with Marshawn Lynch, coach Pete Carroll and Wilson declared Sunday after they beat Carolina that the team is not distracted.

“The things that have been said have been said on the outside. We have no problem. No problem,” Carroll said. “Whatever the conversation is, that’s the job of the media to try to figure stuff out. That’s not what’s going on here. I have no problem. It was not a distraction at all. Our guys don’t care about what’s being said.”

In the wake of the Percy Harvin trade and Mike Freeman’s incendiary report on Wilson, the latest revelation is that the Hawks’ relationship with Lynch has reached a breaking point, with the team finally tired of the running back’s antics and Lynch apparently so upset with the team that he is talking about quitting again.

Seattle might even have tried to trade Lynch by Tuesday’s deadline if fullback Derrick Coleman had not suffered a broken foot last week, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported. With Coleman out, though, the Hawks have to use No. 2 tailback Robert Turbin as their fullback.

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State of the team, Week 8: At Carolina

Carroll & Schneider learned how fragile their team’s psyche is

October 26, 2014 cc Leave a comment

The Percy Harvin Debacle was a great lesson for Pete Carroll and John Schneider: They learned just how fragile the psyche of their young Super Bowl team still is.

And they probably learned which other malcontents they are going to need to send packing to make sure their team remains a Super Bowl contender.

This was bound to happen. Carroll and Schneider have flirted with this kind of danger ever since they came to Seattle — bringing in bad apples such as Terrell Owens, Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow while courting chuckleheads such as Brandon Marshall and Vincent Jackson.

Adding those kinds of idiots to a young team is always a huge risk — too many impressionable kids on your team. Harvin apparently swung a few of them his way in his 19 months in Seattle.

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Week 8: At Carolina, X's & O's

Hawks adjusting pass-rush scheme to help Bennett and Avril

October 25, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Despite the efforts of Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, the Seahawks’ pass rush just has not gotten the job done well enough so far this season.

Coach Pete Carroll has noticed it, and he and his coaches are finally taking corrective measures.

The Seahawks’ pass defense ranks in the bottom third of the league after being a top-10 unit in 2013. The Hawks ranked first in passer rating (63.4) and interceptions (28) last season, but they are 28th this year (103.9 rating, just two picks). After allowing just 59 percent completions last season, they are giving up 68.3 this year. And they are worse by many other measures as well.

The Hawks have just seven sacks, which ranks 27th, and the rush has suffered in the face of some of the league’s best quarterbacks — Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, Tony Romo.

“We’ve faced the best of the best so far,” Carroll said last week after Romo beat them, “and they’ve been able to hold us off a little bit. We haven’t been quite as effective.”

This week, after yet another game in which the Hawks got little to no pressure on the QB, Carroll said, “The inability to really disrupt the quarterback has been a factor. There are some things that we have to do that will change us a little bit from what we’ve been in the past. So we will make those moves.”

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Schedule, Week 8: At Carolina

1% chance to win Super Bowl? Why the Hawks can buck those odds

October 24, 2014 cc Leave a comment

As disappointing as the last two weeks have been for the Seahawks and their fans — two tough losses, lots of injuries and the shocking trade of Percy Harvin — there’s still plenty of time for the Seahawks to overcome their 3-3 start and turn into the Super Bowl team everyone expected them to be.

History apparently says the Hawks have a 38 percent chance of making the playoffs and just a 1 percent chance of winning the Super Bowl. But nobody makes the playoffs or wins the Super Bowl in October.

Among the reasons to be confident:

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