Cardinals 23, Seahawks 13
Q. What's going on with this offense.
PETE CARROLL: It's really surprising now that we're back with Russ and we're having such a hard time scoring and moving the football. The running game was pretty efficient, and it came down 1 for 5 in the first half. The hard part of it, this is kind of -- it's what it's been like, and it hasn't gotten better, and we have to improve. We have to finding our ways.
Q. You are talking about the third down issues for pretty much the entire season, inability to have the possession of the football. How much of that at this point falls in the coaching staff for not being able to --
PETE CARROLL: We have to coach better, and they have to find their ways. Russ has to find his way. We've got to catch the ball when we get our chances. It's everything. It starts with me.
Q. What's Russell not doing that he was before the injury?
PETE CARROLL: I don't have an answer for that. I don't think -- I don't know. We're not getting our chances at making the plays and the opportunities. You saw us. We were trying to run the football to give us some rhythm to play off of it, but you still got to convert. You still got to convert on third down. We didn't get it done.
Q. What happened to Rashaad after the first carry in the first half?
PETE CARROLL: Something in his hammy. He felt it. We spent the rest of the first half trying to keep him warm to see if he pulled his hamstring or felt something. He kind of felt okay and got close to getting back out there, but it wasn't quite right, so I can't tell you what -- I don't know about the injury. I just know what he said and and what he felt, and so we had to look after him.
Q. What about --
PETE CARROLL: Really would have loved to see him play. We were excited to see him play today.
Q. What about Tre Brown? What happened to him?
PETE CARROLL: He has a patellar tendon injury, and those are pretty tough.
Q. Seeing Russell, it seems like he is not seeing the field at times. When you look at your red zone possessions, which particularly the second field goal, Everett is wide open at the goal line. He throws it to the back of the end zone. I'm just curious --
PETE CARROLL: I don't know about the specific read of the play. You're curious, okay. We've been phenomenal in the red zone, you know? Our numbers are great. Unfortunately, the first couple of times down there we didn't get in, and usually it's really -- it's a strength. We think we're scoring every time we get down there.
Q. Do you believe that Brown's patellar tendon injury --
PETE CARROLL: I can't understand.
Q. Is the belief that Brown's injury is season-ending?
PETE CARROLL: There's no Reason to say that.
Q. What was the --
PETE CARROLL: We didn't know until we saw the inactives, and that's when we knew there was speculation and conversation and all that kind of stuff. He had a heck of a game. He had a heck of a game. He ran the ball a little bit, and threw a lot of balls and made a lot of completions. He had a good game.
Q. Did you think Sidney had caught that, or what --
PETE CARROLL: In my mind, no doubt. I don't know how in the world the way that happened the timing of that you could ever -- maybe you saw it better than I did. I didn't see the replays other than on the big board, but he catches the ball. He can't even believe that they took that catch away. "I caught the football."
I think the ball probably touched the ground. Again, you guys would know better than me, but that's a 60-plus yard swing in that moment right there. It was a great play, and I think you had to try really hard to want to turn that over because it was called on the field. You have to have whatever it's called -- indisputable or whatever.
Q. Seemed like they put a lot of stress on your linebackers in particular today. What did you see out of --
PETE CARROLL: I can't understand.
Q. Seemed like they put a lot of stress on your linebackers in particular today with the underneath stuff and getting wide and the screens, again, as usual. What did you see?
PETE CARROLL: The screen game, we had a battle early and played a bunch of them much better, and the perimeter stuff didn't show up as much as they've been doing it. There was a lot of plays. I thought Colt did a really good job to stay alive and find guys, threw the ball pretty well, and caught a ton of them, and it was an inside game. Corners weren't that involved for the most part.
Q. The last two games, Pete, have you seen Wilson's accuracy notably diminished and his timing off?
PETE CARROLL: Two weeks ago, you know, in the --
Q. In the last two.
PETE CARROLL: Two weeks ago in those conditions I thought it was tough. I thought it wasn't quite -- I didn't see that today as much. Again, I've got to go back. There's a couple of he threw away for one reason or another, and had a couple of balls they got in front of a couple on them, but I don't know that yet. I've got to look at the film.
Q. So many things wrong with the offense. Can it even realistically be fixed at this point in the season?
PETE CARROLL: I'm really sorry. Michael, I can't understand you.
Q. There are so many things wrong with the offense. Can it even be fixed at this point?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, it has to be able to be fixed. We've got a long time. We've got a couple of months left. I don't know why it's all -- it became a mystery to us to score points. That's not even -- never been the issue, and we've always been able to move the ball and score and stuff. I don't know why this time frame -- it started when Russ got banged up, and then it hasn't -- we just haven't got productive like we need to be, and we've got to get back on track.
Maybe it's going to be a couple of weeks for taking a month off for Russ to be at his best to help us where we can, but we've got to do stuff around him as well. It isn't a one-guy show, as much as you might want to make it that. That goes back to us, the coaches, and Shane and I and Andy. We have to do a better job and get it done because it seems like there's opportunities for us, and so we need to take advantage of them.
Q. Russ has been so good in clutch situations throughout his career. Right now he is 35% completion percentage on third down. It just seems like that's been such a hard hill for you to get over. Why do you feel like he has struggled your offense has struggled as much as they have this year?
PETE CARROLL: It's just been the same quite throughout the season, and when we were chunking plays and going first down, second downs, and having fast drives and moving the ball quickly, you know, we weren't aware of the issue, but even then when we did have our third down opportunities, remember, we were erratic with our ability to move the football, and it's just been amplified now when we're not hitting the bigger plays, and so we're working on it. We're working really hard at our stuff and practicing well. We've cut things down to make sure that we have chances to get a lot of good repetitions that we need to count on stuff in the game, and we just got to do better. We got to coach better and play better.
Q. When time of possession becomes an issue on your defense on the field as much as it was today, how much do you think that was a factor there at the end when you - --
PETE CARROLL: I won't go there. We played a lot of plays. We couldn't play well at the end. I'm not saying that. We've got to get off the field again. We've got to win on those third downs. There's a couple in there that were big wins for them, and it's so different, you know? It's so different. That's why I challenge the spot on the sneak. Just because it's such a big play. I know that the chances of them overturning that one wasn't very good, but I took a shot at it because they're so significant, and they got 40 minutes. We got 20 minutes. It really comes down to them being able to convert and us not. I'm sorry. It's not a different story. Been the same story in and out of this whole season, and we've got to see if we can turn it. I'm really done. Thank you.
(Coach Carroll exits)
PETE CARROLL: I know that you probably have more questions. I don't know if I have answers, but I'll try. I'm looking and seeing that, you know, we don't turn the ball over. We've got two penalties in the game. What the heck, man? It keeps reminding me that there's things that we're doing that we're doing well enough to be a winning football team. The turnover thing just continues to be there, and it's just really frustrating that we can't get this thing turned, so, anyway, I'm sorry for not being aware that there was more time. I usually defer to Dave, and I didn't do that right there. What do you got?
Q. How close was D.J. Reed to playing, and is that a concern especially for --
PETE CARROLL: He came down in practice I think it was Thursday on his -- going for a ball, and he just jolted his knee a little bit, and he has a little bit of a strain that just couldn't clear up in a couple of day's time. He tried. He tried to get through it, and there's little findings in there, but it was just jammed enough that he couldn't get going, and he has to play on the edge, and you've got to be right. Jamal had a similar situation same day of practice on Thursday, and he was able to make it through. He was not 100%, but he did a great job of getting through and playing the game.
Q. Can you talk about the time in your Seattle tenure where the way forward seems unclear like it is now?
PETE CARROLL: I was thinking since I walked out of here, I had a couple extra minutes that I normally don't have. I go all the way back to the Jets, my one season at the Jets, the last time we were in a situation like this as a head coach.
We were never this far behind in New England, and we had -- I think we lost five games in a row with the Jets at the end of the season, and I can't remember anything about what happened in any of those press conferences or -- I'm just not any good at this. I'm not prepared for this. This is not -- I'm struggling to do a good job of coaching when you are getting your butt kicked week in and week out. It's just new territory, and I'm competing every way I can think of, but I'm just unfamiliar with it, and so if I leave early or if I make a mistake, I'm not on my best game right here, so -- I mean, it's been 20 years since I remember anything past that, and I'm not making any excuse, and I don't want to get good at this. That's the other thing. I don't want to get good at this. What else?
Q. What particular ways do you feel like it's challenging you, the situation you're in? It sounds like it's new.
PETE CARROLL: We've always had a lot of positive stuff to build on the go, and we haven't been this far behind the record right now. We could still turn the thing and win a bunch of games at the end and be fine. We all feel like that's what's going to happen. We're going out every single day and with go to work, and we get in the locker room, and we're coming out at halftime all the way down to we need two scores and we go right down the field and get our score, and we stop them. All the way we're thinking we're winning the football game. We don't think anything different than that. That's the way we operate, but there's seven losses on this schedule right now, and that's a lot of games.
Q. Jamal was just talking about how confident he is that this will turn around and --
PETE CARROLL: I'm disappointed. I don't have any new answers for you in similar situations. That's a real challenge for this staff. We have to find our ways to get our guys to execute better so that we're not in the same situation. It's like the same story, and that can drive you a little batty?
Q. Pete, your frustration is understandable. Why did you feel the need to come back in?
PETE CARROLL: Because we've had a relationship. I have a relationship with the media that I think I respect the heck out of everything you guys do, and I know you've got stories to write. If I short-changed you on the stories, you have a job too, and I felt that way my whole life in coaching, and I did it out of respect to you guys. I know you've got a job to do, and I don't want to make it hard on you. I'm available because it makes sense to me why I should be here right now.
Q. Is this as frustrated as you've been here?
PETE CARROLL: Yes. Not even close.
Q. What gives you hope that this can still turn around right now?
PETE CARROLL: There's so many -- I have so many reasons. It's the guys that we're coaching. It's the way we operate. It's the attitude they've had on a regular basis. It's the coaches that work to keep pushing and attacking the issues and, I mean, everything about it. Everything about it, because I don't feel any different. I feel like we're going to win next week, and we're going to go play a great game on the East Coast and come on back here and get ready for the next one, and I don't have any other thought in my mind. I'm just disappointed I have to keep coming back in here and talk about the same stuff and don't feel I have good answers for you because our answers so far have not turned it, and so that's why I said -- I thought I was really clear about it -- it starts with me. I've got to get this done. I've got to help my guys get it done.
Q. Does any of this question where you think you can take this team from here?
PETE CARROLL: No. It doesn't except for it's just to come back in here again. If it's the same story next week, I'll just be a little bit more frustrated and apt to do something out of character and miss a clarity moment and all that.
Q. Everybody else make it out okay besides Rashaad and Tre?
PETE CARROLL: Jordyn might have a hip thing that's bothering him. B. Shell's shoulder was sore during the game. I think that was it. Was there another one? Yeah.
Q. When you say part of the frustration is that you're saying the same thing over and over each week, and does that mean that you are trying the same things each week, or does it mean that you have changed up --
PETE CARROLL: We're competing, man. You haven't been in with us all this time, but we've been talking about third downs for a long time, and third downs tell so much of the story of the game, and it happens to particularly pertain to us. The defense really turned around the third down thing for, I don't know, five, six weeks. Fifth or sixth in the NFL on third downs until the last two weeks, and so that totally improved.
Offensively we just haven't quite got it going yet. We haven't been successful. Remember, there's three and a half weeks in here when Russ was not playing for us. He has been playing for ten years for us, and then he came back in Green Bay, and that game happened, and this game happened, so we're not quite back to getting the turnaround done, accomplished. He is the best he has been right now. He made it through again. He feels okay. We should only count on all of us getting better. He is in the middle of it all. We've got to help him. He can't block a guy coming off the edge. We missed that -- we missed a pick-up. Bam, he gets hit right off the bat. He can't do that. He can't get the ball out. There's no chance. There's plenty of reason. We just got to make sure that we clean it all up and get as sharp as we can and all that.
Q. How do you approach Russ after a tough --
PETE CARROLL: I'm sorry.
Q. How do you approach Russ after a tough performance like this? What do you envision --
PETE CARROLL: Go right to the truth. We get to the truth. We don't know all that right now. It's too emotional, too impassioned and all that. We've got to get to it, and I haven't had a chance to give -- we have a little sitdown every week before we get out of here. We haven't done that yet, but we get right to the truth. You have to talk your way to the truth and figure out what happened and be really -- and hold each other accountable, hold us all accountable for what we can do better and all of that, try to make sense of it. This is nothing different. This is what you do in ball coaching. I've been doing this forever. I just want to see these results flip.
Q. You huddle after a game win or lose every week, or you and Russ?
PETE CARROLL: Yes.
Q. Was the plan to really take away the -- I know it always is to some degree, but little game to force them into underneath throws on offense --
PETE CARROLL: Yeah. Basically, this has been such -- it's been an explosive offense with a big perimeter play and all kinds of stuff that they've done. That wasn't the -- yeah, that was part of it. We are prepping for Kyler to be play as well. We thought he would come back. We were aware of Colt and what he could do too and had chances really, like I said, a really good opportunity to see him in a game when they trounced the Niners and then they got in all kinds of trouble the next week against the Panthers. We weren't sure what they would be like with him when he came out, but we didn't know what he would do and all that. This offense, you need to make sure that they're not being explosive, and I don't know what explosives came out today, but it seemed like there was some.
Q. I don't know if it's frustration, but is part of the mystery here that guys are practicing well and then in a game the execution is not what --
PETE CARROLL: Yes, that's an issue. That is an issue because we're not coming out of the weeks thinking we're not going to do well. We're coming out of the weeks feeling like everything -- we worked our way through it, we got the repetitions that we needed, we've had the meetings and the walk-throughs and all of the stuff that it takes to get right. We've been doing this for a long time, and that's how you do it. That's how you get through it, and then you count on the coaching and the plan and the players' repetitions to allow you to believe that you're going to get it done, so we keep coming in here, and we're shocked again that we didn't get it done because we think we should be better than that, and we should be.
Q. Have you had to ask Russell to do things in the game that he is not quite ready to do yet?
PETE CARROLL: No. No. We really haven't. The only thing that we could be doing more is putting him under center more. That's all. That's the only other thing we could do more, and we didn't feel like it was an issue, and we're trying to keep that spank of the ball coming up not to be a factor in the game any more than we do, as he is still recovering. This is week six of broken bones, so that's all. None of us feel like that's a factor. We may have to revisit it again, and get us back to a more normal cadence of how we do that, and where we mix the gun stuff and under center stuff.
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