Pete Carroll breaks down Seahawks’ ‘complete win’ over Giants

The Seahawks continued their hot play with a 27-13 win over the New York Giants on Sunday, giving Seattle a 5-3 record on the year and keeping the team in first place in the NFC West.

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The Seahawks now have won three games in a row, and this most recent one was against a Giants team that, like the Hawks, is a surprise contender in the NFC as they are not 6-2 after Sunday’s loss in Seattle.

As he does every day after the Seahawks play, head coach Pete Carroll joined Brock and Salk for The Pete Carroll Show on Seattle Sports 710 AM to discuss his team’s most recent game. As you might imagine, Carroll was in a very good mood after this win.

So what was his initial thought on the Week 8 victory?

“A complete game. It’s the game we were hoping we’d have against these guys, kind of picturing how could go, that it could be tight and the score stays down and all that kind of stuff,” Carroll said.

Seattle’s defense shined for the third week in a row after a very rough start to the year, but the offense was able to put up 27 points, which Carroll pointed out was the most points the Giants have allowed thus season.

“They haven’t given up anything in any of these games,” Carroll said.

The defense’s performance against a New York rushing attack that was second in the league entering Sunday really stood out.

“So it was kind of going the way I had hoped it would in the sense we were in it and we were slowing down the run, but our guys up front just kept stopping them and stopping them and stopping them and it was so consistent and so well done that we felt like that didn’t put (the Giants) in their their strong spot,” Carroll said.

The Giants have been a very run-heavy team with both star running back Saquon Barkley as well as quarterback Daniel Jones. But because the Seahawks were able to get ahead and slow down the run game, that put the Giants in an uncomfortable spot needing to rely on the passing game to try and get back in the game.

“That’s not the way that they have been playing,” Carroll said of New York.

And once the Giants leaned on the passing attack, the Seahawks’ pass rush thrived.

“And then the pass rush was there as we finished the game again,” Carroll said. ” … It just fit together great. And special teams was just on fire. We had some big hits to force those (two) fumbles. There’s some other big hits too, though. There were two or three other just knockout shots that was just obvious. So guys were really humming and it was a great, great day.”

The defense has not just been more lockdown of late, but it’s also been more physical. Why are we seeing that more with the Seahawks?

“It’s confidence. They understand what’s going on, they’re more sure of themselves, and they’re more committed in their opportunities,” Carroll said. “And we really are staying very consistent — the last few weeks, we played almost the same football throughout — to keep them in the same mode. It just builds on them. It’s getting them in the players’ mind of I’m freed up and flying around and hitting and having fun playing the game. And that’s I think what you’re seeing.”

When asked what he was most proud of with the win, Carroll pointed to two things.

“The (main) thing overall (is) that we played to that opponent, (which was) maybe the best team we’ve have faced to date as far as their wins and losses and all that, and we played our best football,” he said. “To come out and play your best in the most difficult and the most challenging situation, that’s always the goal.”

The second thing? Receiver Tyler Lockett.

Lockett was questionable to play due to a rib injury he suffered in practice last week, but he suited up and played well overall. But he had a rare drop on a would-be touchdown and had a fumble that led to the Giants’ lone touchdown of the day.

Lockett was down on himself after the dropped pass, and it was shown on TV that Carroll went and talked to his star receiver. Later in the game, Lockett got another opportunity and came through, catching the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter,

“I was really proud of Tyler hanging in there,” Carroll said. “Of course he’s gonna catch the next ball, but that he got the opportunity, you get to the plate one last time and you hit a freaking home run. It’s like, OK, that’s over with. I was glad for him and proud of him for that because he’s been such a focal point guy, and that was great.”

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

Seahawks surging, put clamps down in dominant win over Giants

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