Seahawks notebook: Patrick Lewis starts over Drew Nowak at center

The Drew Nowak Experiment isn’t necessarily over for Seattle, but at the very least it’s on hold.

After starting the first five games of the season, Nowak gave way to Patrick Lewis Sunday as the Seahawks made a switch along their embattled offensive line. Whether it’s a permanent one remains to be seen.

Seahawks lose | Another defensive collapse | Offense shares blame | Photos

“Really, just for the sake of competition, we thought that Patrick deserved a chance to show what he can do,” coach Pete Carroll said after Seattle’s 27-23 loss to Carolina. “He’s played. I think he started four games last year and I think we won them all. So we didn’t have any problem with him playing. I think Drew opened up the door of opportunity for him by continuing to learn and work at his craft.”

Which is a nice way of saying that Nowak struggled over the first five games of the season, his first as a center after moving from guard. Nowak was a college defensive tackle, which made it all the more surprising when he seemingly came out of nowhere to win the three-way competition over the offseason to replace Max Unger as Seattle’s starting center.

Like the rest of the Seahawks offensive line, Nowak had his issues in both pass protection and run-blocking. Even his shotgun snaps were problematic at times.

Lewis, meanwhile, had started four games at center last season, and all four were indeed Seattle victories. Carroll said that offensive-line coach Tom Cable felt it was time to give Lewis his chance, but he indicated that it isn’t necessarily indicative of a permanent switch.

“We’ll look at the film and figure out what that means for next week,” Carroll said.

Lockette makes amends

It was shaping up to be a forgettable afternoon for Ricardo Lockette before he made an exquisite play in the end zone to haul in a 40-yard touchdown pass that gave Seattle a 16-7 lead in the second quarter.

Lockette had been flagged twice in the first quarter, once for unnecessary roughness after he took a swipe at a Carolina player and then for an illegal block in the back on a punt return. He more than made amends for those mistakes when he jumped over the back of a defender to turn what might have been an interception into a Seattle touchdown.

Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell reached into his back of tricks and dialed up a flea-flicker pass. Marshawn Lynch took a handoff then threw back across the line of scrimmage to Russell Wilson, who had Lockette running a step behind safety Kurt Coleman down-field. The pass was slightly underthrown, but Lockette turned his body back to the ball as he jumped over Coleman’s back to make the catch.

“It felt great,” he said. “I’m usually in for a lot of run-blocking plays, so the defense sleeps on that sometimes, so we took advantage of it. It was a great call by Coach Bevell and and the offensive staff.”

Lynch held in check in return

Lynch scored his first rushing touchdown of the season Sunday, but he finished with only 54 yards on 17 carries in what was his first game back after missing the last two with a hamstring injury. Carroll pointed to poor run-blocking being the primary reason why Carolina was able to hold Lynch in check.

“I thought he battled his tail off. He didn’t get a lot of space,” Carroll said. “Every run that he gave, he gave everything he had. I thought he was running with the same kind of ferocity that he always does. He just didn’t get many opportunities to get in the clear.”

Lynch’s rushing touchdown was his 55th as a Seahawk, moving him into a tie with Curt Warner for second-most in franchise history. Shaun Alexander tops the list with 100.

Notes

• Steven Hauschka is now the fourth-most accurate kicker in NFL history as he increased his career field-goal percentage to 86.66 by making all three of his attempts. Mike Vanderjagt was previously fourth at 86.46 percent. Hauschka connected from 30, 50 and 43 yards and is a perfect 14 for 14 this season.

• The Seahawks lost for the third time this season when winning the turnover battle, which had previously been a rarity under Carroll. Seattle finished with a 2-0 edge in takeaways thanks to interceptions from Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. The Seahawks entered the season with a 33-6 record under Carroll when finishing with a plus turnover differential.

• Bruce Irvin recorded two sacks, giving him seven in four career games (including playoffs) against Carolina.

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