Mark Glowinski, Chase Coffman among Seahawks’ backups who stepped up vs. Arizona

RENTON – The way the Seahawks closed out the regular season was most impressive because of who their 36-6 victory came against, a 13-win Arizona team that had won nine straight games and was favored by a touchdown.

Not to be overlooked was who it came with, a number of backups who not only played but played well. Rookie guard Mark Glowinski and tight end Chase Coffman were the two that coach Pete Carroll singled out Monday.

“I think a couple of the big takeaways is that Mark Glowinski can play for us. Chase Coffman can play for us,” Carroll said. “We hadn’t seen that in real live football.”

Glowinski, a rookie fourth-round pick, had played all of one offensive snap before starting Sunday at right guard for J.R. Sweezy, who was sidelined due to a concussion. Carroll liked what he saw.

“He was physical, he pass protected very well, he did a really nice job of cutting off, making some blocks, going down inside, knocked some guys down,” Carroll said, also mentioning how Glowinski “showed up also against one of the best field goal block teams that we’ve ever faced with (6-foot-8 defensive lineman Calais Campbell) and those guys they have. He stood his ground really tough and showed how physical he was.

“It was just everything positive about it. We know he’s a tough guy. We just wanted to see if he would be settled down to play, and he had no problem doing that.”

Coffman, making his Seahawks debut after being inactive for all three of the games in which he’d been on Seattle’s roster, caught four passes for 29 yards and a touchdown. Coffman didn’t start but played almost half of Seattle’s offensive snaps as he and Cooper Helfet filled in for Luke Willson, who was also out with a concussion. Helfet had four catches for 42 yards.

The other backups in Seattle’s starting lineup were Alvin Bailey at left tackle, Kelcie McCray at strong safety and Christine Michael, who got the most work of any Seahawks running back and topped 100 yards rushing for the first time in his career.

That the Seahawks were missing so many starters would be a counterpoint to any contention that their victory deserves an asterisk because of how Arizona pulled quarterback Carson Palmer in the second half. The way those backups played was one more reason why Carroll was encouraged by his team’s performance.

“It’s exciting to see that guys could jump up and play for us and come through and do a really nice job in helping us get a really fun win,” Carroll said.

Part of that fun, Carroll explained, was watching Seattle’s defense shut out Arizona in the second half to finish the season with the fewest points allowed for the fourth straight year. Carroll said the team was aware in the fourth quarter that it was protecting that league lead and couldn’t allow another score. The Seahawks had pulled most of their defensive starters for Arizona’a final possession, which ended with an interception by cornerback DeShawn Shead at the goal line.

“That was a good accomplishment,” Carroll said. “You saw the front-line guys, starters, were all rooting for them. It was just a really good event, and we had a lot of fun with it.”