Pete Carroll Show: Seahawks, Wilson ‘missed an opportunity’ vs Packers

There was a lot of buzz surrounding the Seahawks as they entered a Week 10 clash with the Green bay Packers.

Seahawks HC Pete Carroll explains ‘gripes’ about some calls vs Packers

Yes, the Seahawks entered Week 10 at 3-5, but they also were coming off a bye week and, more importantly, were getting star quarterback Russell Wilson back for the first time since Week 5 as he was playing for the first time since he underwent surgery on his right middle finger.

With Wilson back, the Seahawks were looking for a statement win to get them to 4-5 as they looked to get hot and snag a playoff berth. That’s not at all what happened.

For the first time since 2011, Seattle was shutout. The Packers won 17-0 as the Seahawks failed to find the end zone or kick a field goal.

During his weekly visit with Mike Salk on 710 ESPN Seattle, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll discussed what went wrong during Seattle’s latest loss.

“We missed an opportunity yesterday, Mike. We were ready to go,” Carroll told Salk during Monday morning’s Pete Carroll Show. “… We went out there ready to freaking play and it was just as tight a game as you can get. They were moving it a little bit better than we were, but we were stopping them and they were stopping us. And it was going to be a great defensive ballgame and we were ready for it and I was really fired up by the way we were playing and all. And I’ll be darned, Mike, there was just a situation and another one and another one and another one that just slipped through our fingers with opportunities … and it was it’s really, really disheartening, because that opportunity was there, and our guys were ready to go and we weren’t able to get it done and they were.”

Russell’s return

In his first game in over a month, Wilson was rusty and missed some throws he normally makes. He finished the day completing just 20 of 40 passing attempts for 161 yards and two interceptions.

Because of Wilson missing some easier throws and also underthrowing receivers on deep passes, the question, naturally, is whether Wilson was healthy enough to play, or if he should have sat out another week.

“He was confident. He felt good,” Carroll said. “You could tell in practice that he had to get warmed up and once he did, he was fine. He was plenty warm going in the game and all that.”

But Wilson didn’t do enough to get the Seahawks the win or even points.

“He wasn’t as sharp as we wish he would have been,” Carroll said of Wilson. “But neither was the other guy (Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who had missed Green Bay’s previous game). Everybody missed passes and stuff. So there was some conditions and stuff that does play into that.”

Carroll wanted to make it clear that Wilson was healthy enough to play and gave the Seahawks the best chance to win.

“I know everybody wants to go ahead and chase this whole thing about Russell wasn’t ready to play,” Carroll said. “He was ready to go. He did everything he needed to to get that done and it didn’t come out as clean as we needed to in a lot of areas of football, not just him.”

DK’s blowup

At the end of the game with the Seahawks down 17-0 with just minutes remaining, star receiver DK Metcalf was ejected after grabbing an opponent’s facemask after a play. Carroll was asked about what happened.

“Just frustration. He responded to them jawing at him and they got a penalty on them, too,” Carroll said. “There’s plenty of instances where guys were yapping more than they should and he got involved in it and didn’t pull out of that situation quick enough and gain control of it., so he gets tossed from the game, and he should have. That was the right call. (The officials) did the right thing.”

Waldron’s performance to date

The Seahawks have a first-year offensive coordinator in Shane Waldron and he’s been under a lot of pressure because of expectations he’d spice up the offense due to his background with the Los Angeles Rams.

After getting shutout and falling to 3-6, though, Salk asked Carroll about how Waldron is doing in his first year as a play-caller.

“He’s right in the midst of all of it. Whether it’s the game planning part of it, the process of the week, the teaching and the planning and the prep that takes place and then the actual calling it the game, that means he’s right in the middle of all of it,” Carroll said. “He’s really good at what he’s doing. He’s really sharp and smart and on it and he’s quick to take responsibility. He has no problem with that at all.”

The offense’s inconsistency, Carroll said, just hasn’t been there for a variety of reasons.

“There just hasn’t been the consistency that we need to make this all come together and we’re just we’re still working at it,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of games left and that’s why it was such a hard one yesterday because this was a chance to start the big turn. We were ready to do it, and that’s why it’s frustrating.”

D puts together its best showing

The Seahawks have played much better defensively in recent weeks after mightily struggling to start the year.

Those performances were against poor teams, offenses and quarterbacks, though, so it was unclear how legitimate the turnaround was.

Well, it appears that group has really turned a corner after allowing just 17 points against Green Bay’s potent offense, all while being on the field for nearly 40 minutes.

“I love the way they played. There were so tough and turned them away and turned them away,” Carroll said.

One big thing the defense did? Minimized the impact that star receiver Davante Adams had.

Adams finished the game with seven catches for 78 yards, but he didn’t score and many of those catches were quick routes to try and get Adams the ball and allow him to make a play.

“All in all, he wasn’t the factor in the game,” Carroll said. “I thought the guys did a really nice job scheme-wise and also carrying out the plan.”

Part of the reason for Seattle’s better performances on defense has to do with its cornerbacks. The Seahawks have settled on the tandem of D.J. Reed and rookie Tre Brown. Each played every defensive snap on Sunday, which marked the fourth game in a row where Brown’s snap percentage increased.

“He’s making his plays down the field too,” Carroll said of Brown. “… He’s been in position a number of times already. There’s a consistency about him and a toughness about him. And you’re right, you can see it, he’s feisty. He’s got that real attitude that we love to add to the group. So he’s doing a good job.”

“There’s a little bit of a killer aspect to those little guys that play tough like that where they’ll take the shots, they’ll go for it,” Carroll said of Reed and Brown. “They’ve got a kind of a brashness about them that allows them to go for it. And both those guys are playing like that.”

Listen to the full Pete Carroll Show at this link or in the player below.

3 things that stand out after Seahawks loss to Packers

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