Seahawks’ Carroll: Geno needs more chances, to not be held back
Sep 19, 2022, 11:14 AM | Updated: Sep 20, 2022, 9:58 am
Geno Smith of the Seattle Seahawks looks to pass the ball against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on September 18, 2022. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
(Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
It’s been six quarters without a touchdown for the Seahawks’ offense, which was shut down by San Francisco on Sunday as Seattle’s lone score in its 27-7 loss came on special teams.
Rost: Seahawks a far cry from what they want to be in Week 2 loss
How concerned is head coach Pete Carroll about his offense through the first two weeks of the season?
“I’m concerned that it hasn’t been easy for us. We haven’t had many easy drives – and the ones we did, we scored on,” he said Monday morning on Seattle Sports 710 AM’s Pete Carroll Show. “But we should make more drives easy by converting some bigger plays, changing the field position. The double pass thing was a perfect play by DK making an incredible catch down there, and that changes the field position . We’re there and we need to take advantage of that.”
The Seahawks used some trickery on a deep shot to star receiver DK Metcalf, but rookie right tackle Abraham Lucas was tagged for being too downfield, a call that Carroll said officials told him pregame the league is trying to emphasize this year.
Additionally, Carroll said that the Seahawks missed some “alert calls” on offense, and a route was run incorrectly on an interception.
“It was hard. It was a really hard day,” he said. “It was a tough day, and we’ve got to get back into action here.”
Through two games, Smith is completing 81% of his passes and has two touchdowns, but he has thrown for just 392 yards. Carroll said the offense needs to open things up.
“We don’t need to hold him back at all. I think Geno’s got his game ready to go,” he said of his quarterback. “We need to trust him and we need to maybe give him a few more opportunities and stuff. We’ve been pretty solidly conservative, counting on running the football, and when we didn’t run the football then OK, we didn’t have much of a mix that we needed. We can do better with that. And whether that’s right or wrong, that’s not the point. The point is that we need to keep expanding. We have too many explosive avenues to go to and we’ve got to make sure that these guys show up.”
So what exactly does that mean for the Seahawks’ offense?
“Just got to make sure that the ball is going to DK down the field. We gave him a shot and he makes a great play. We’ve got to make sure that the tight ends are involved and getting the ball more. We know that they can play and we love the heck out of them, we’ve just got to make sure that that’s more of the attack,” Carroll said. “We have it, it just hasn’t really shown up.”
Most importantly, Carroll said, the team needs to do better with the chances it’s given.
“It always comes back to when you don’t convert, you don’t get that drive, you don’t get your extra chances. We had 40 freaking plays (on offense) in the game. Last week, we had three drives in the second half. That’s not enough plays and opportunities,” he said. “And that does go hand in hand with how you play on the other side of the ball too in getting off the field. So we have to just do a better job and complement (both sides) and then make sure that we’re as wide open as we’re capable of being.”
Smith is “handling everything” and has been accurate, Carroll said, and he’s shown “good chemistry” with wide receiver Tyler Lockett, who had 107 yards on nine receptions Sunday. But the Seahawks need to utilize their playmakers.
“We need to make sure that we’re using all of the speed that we have. Marquise (Goodwin) is going to be a factor for us. We’ve got to get him involved in the game to threaten the entire field,” Carroll said. “There’s just things that we can do. We’ve got to come at it and get after it better than we did, and that’s just the way we do it.”
Listen to the Pete Carroll Show at this link or in the player below.
