BRADY HENDERSON

Seahawks’ defense not satisfied in win over Jaguars

Sep 22, 2013, 11:25 PM | Updated: Sep 23, 2013, 6:13 pm

By Brady Henderson

Only a defense with as expectations as great as Seattle’s would be disappointed after allowing 17 points in a winning effort.

But that described the feelings among some Seahawks following Sunday’s 45-17 win over Jacksonville, a game in which Seattle allowed 265 yards of offense and forced three turnovers.

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A fourth-quarter interception by Kam Chancellor (31) was one of three turnovers forced by the Seahawks. (AP)

“It should have been zero points,” middle linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “It was a decent performance, but we felt like we should have held them to no points, and we didn’t do that.”

They did for a half, at least, as the Seahawks allowed no points, four first downs and only 52 yards of total offense through the first two quarters before Jacksonville managed to do some damage in the second half, when some of Seattle’s starters had given way to their backups.

That wasn’t much of a consolation for some Seahawks defenders, though.

“Right now, I still don’t feel the happiest right now,” said safety Kam Chancellor, who had one of Seattle’s two interceptions. “I still think it’s too many yards. We hold ourselves to a high standard and you can ask anybody that, they would tell you the same thing, ‘That’s too many yards.’ “

Seattle entered Sunday having allowed a league-low 10 points over its first two games and was facing an offense that had scored just one touchdown, and for the first half it looked like as big a mismatch as those numbers would suggest. Seattle forced three-and-outs on Jacksonville’s first four possessions as the Jaguars finished the first quarter with minus-9 yards of offense and didn’t gain a first down until the 9:03 mark of the second. A diving interception on a tipped pass by Wagner thwarted Jacksonville’s only real scoring threat of the first half.

“Defensively we had the game controlled pretty early. We could feel it,” coach Pete Carroll said. “We had a shot at these guys to hold the score way down. Unfortunately for us, they made some plays on us and got some stuff going.”

Seattle recovered a fumble on the opening drive of the second half. Maurice Jones-Drew scored from 2 yards out on the Jaguars’ next possession to end the shutout, but only after a Russell Wilson interception deep in Seattle territory put Jacksonville on the doorstep of the end zone.

The Seahawks finished the game with four sacks – including one and a half apiece by Michael Bennett and Clinton McDonald – seven tackles for loss, two interceptions and a recovered fumble. It all added up to a defensive performance that was solid but not all that satisfying.

“We just need to go back to the drawing board and see what we did wrong and correct them,” safety Earl Thomas said.

Follow Brady Henderson on Twitter @BradyHenderson.

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