Carroll says limiting yards after catch will be key against Denver
Sep 19, 2014, 4:37 PM | Updated: 4:42 pm
BY
Former Seattle Sports Lead Editor
The Broncos broke the NFL’s scoring record last season thanks largely to the league’s most prolific passing offense, which despite what you might expect relied more on shorter throws than longer ones.
One of the reasons why that was possible was their ability to rack up yards after the catch, something Seahawks coach Pete Carroll believes his team will have to limit when the two teams meet Sunday in a rematch of last season’s Super Bowl.
“We have to crowd everything and keep everything to minimum gains,” Carroll told KIRO Radio 97.3 FM on Friday. “These guys are catch-and-run guys. They make a lot of short passes that turn into long pays. So that means we’ll have to really corral the football and tackle real well on the stuff underneath.”
The Seahawks certainly did that in the Super Bowl. Denver led the regular season in yards after the catch in 2013, according to ESPN Stats & Information. But Seattle limited the Broncos to 3.6 yards after the catch on passes within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, their lowest total of the season.
It will be an especially important aspect of Sunday’s game given how the Seahawks – by their own admission – have not tackled up to their standards over the first two games of the season.
