The Pete Carroll Show: Seahawks finished again vs. Dallas

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll joined “Brock and Salk” on Monday as he does the morning after every game, in this case a 13-12 win over Dallas. Here’s a separate story with Carroll’s comments on wide receiver Ricardo Lockett’s injury. Below are some highlights from “The Pete Carroll Show” on 710 ESPN Seattle.

Seahawks’ finish. Asked if he was encouraged by Seattle’s win, Carroll said “heck yeah” and noted how it was the Seahawks’ second straight road victory and the second week in a row in which they finished, which was a problem in every one of their four losses this season. “The games earlier in the year that weren’t won that were there to be won needed the plays and the execution that you saw,” he said before pointing to the execution on the 17-play, 79-yard drive that resulted in Seattle’s go-ahead field goal. The Seahawks were 3 of 4 on third down on that drive, and Carroll said their priority on the final third-down play was to keep the clock moving, which meant not throwing an incompletion. Carroll noted that the lone miscue on that drive was Marshawn Lynch running out of bounds once Seattle was well within field-goal range, which stopped the clock.

Graham’s performance. Lost in everything else that happened Sunday was the performance of tight end Jimmy Graham, who led Seattle in catches with seven and in receiving yards with 75. One of Graham’s catches converted a third down on Seattle’s final scoring drive. Carroll pointed to two other plays on which Graham was open but didn’t get much of a chance to make a play. “I think Jimmy played real well, and he almost had a monster game,” Carroll said. “We missed him on the crossing route and he had another shot up the sidelines; we didn’t quite get a chance for him to play the ball. But he’s doing great. He’s doing just what we had hoped.” Carroll said Graham had “some good blocks in this game, too.”

Bailey stepped up. Carroll praised left tackle Alvin Bailey for the job he did against Cowboys pass rusher Greg Hardy while filling in for Russell Okung, who didn’t play because of an ankle injury. Seattle didn’t allow a sack for the first time this season. That was partly a product of an emphasis to get the ball out much quicker, and Wilson was still hit several times, but the Seahawks’ pass protection was better than it has been. Carroll noted that Bailey was beat by Hardy on one play but said Hardy’s jump off the snap was so good that he wouldn’t have been blocked one way or another. “Alvin Bailey played a terrific football game. He’s got Hardy all day long – c’mon,” Carroll said. “Stepping off the bench and doing that, that was a great job by Alvin. I was really fired up for him.”

Richardson, Lane updates. Carroll said wide receiver Paul Richardson could have played Sunday had the Seahawks opted to activate him from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list to their 53-man roster, which they didn’t. He said Richardson is ready to go and will “totally be in the mix” from here on out. Carroll said nickelback Jeremy Lane, who is also on PUP, is on track to begin practicing next week once the Seahawks return from their bye and that “we’ll have to figure out where he’s ready or not from there.” In other words, it’s too soon to say when he might make his season debut. Carroll had previously pointed to the week after the bye as when the Seahawks expected Lane to begin practicing.

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