Falcons 27, Seahawks 23
PETE CARROLL: Really disappointed that we weren't able to finish that game. A good football game that went back and forth. There was a lot of good things that happened in this game. Unfortunately, we didn't finish our last drive. In the league it's right there. That's how it works, the last drive, all so often.
We played hard and tough the whole time. They played hard and tough the whole time. It was a good football game.
There's things that we have to do better. We can't give up the rushing yards we're giving up. It's too much. I have a lot of respect for their run game because I have a lot of respect for the way they do it and 84. He was, I think, the difference today for them.
Offensive side, we had a lot of plays. We converted on third down. We took care of the ball all the way to the last play. QB was on it. Geno had a really solid football game. Did a great job for us.
Receivers came through and did their thing. We ran the ball a little bit like we like to. We like to do it better. There was just a lot of positive things that came out. The last drive wins, and we didn't get it.
I didn't see the holding penalty on the big play. We were down on the 9 yard line, whatever. Just everything is going just like it's supposed to, and they saw something on us.
But, I think we saw some real bright spots. I thought you saw us get better today, but it wasn't good enough for winning. That's what really counts.
The only guy that got banged up was Travis Homer. He has some bruised ribs. It looks like something like that. Not broken, but some complications with he got hit pretty good.
Q. What was your take on the defense today? Seemed like there were a lot of long distance moments where they gave it up. What was happening?
PETE CARROLL: The third and 19 rolled that way and everything, and we just have got to get our guys to understand the D-and-D. We would have rolled that way, and they're not supposed to be able to throw the corner in behind us, and we played it like it was third and five instead of playing third and 20. We don't sink and take away that deeper ball. Made just an error.
That was one for sure, but there was a couple over the middle too. We contested, but they won on the third downs that we should win.
We have to get off the field. We have to go sit down. I think we had a penalty on another one again. Anyway, those were pretty easy to plain is.
Q. What changed your mind on the fourth down at the goal line?
PETE CARROLL: I don't really want to talk all about it because I don't want to tell anybody what I'm thinking there, but we were going for it, and that was the mentality, and then we got a little screwed up, and we needed time to talk about it.
I was hoping we would not be in fourth and whoever that was, two and a half or whatever. I thought we were going to be in a better situation going for it. I was thinking about going for it possibly. Guys on the field weren't ready, so we had to call time-out.
Q. Play call got screwed up?
PETE CARROLL: No. They were a little out of whack on the field because of what happened on the play before. I'll leave it at that.
Q. These first three games, teams have had a lot of success running off tackle, and we found that again today. What do you see that is going on consistently preventing your team from setting the edge?
PETE CARROLL: We have to fit things up more accurately, more consistently. We just have to clean up the way it's happening there. The edge is part of outside stuff and everything up off tackle as well, and we're not hitting it like we have planned to. We have to clean that stuff up.
It's the guys up front. It's the linebackers and the DBs all fitting together. We can't give up the space that we're giving up. It looks like it's too easy for them.
It's something that we've been focusing on, but we haven't changed it yet. We need to get that done.
Q. Some of their big passing plays, especially in the first half, what did you feel like were the issues there?
PETE CARROLL: Well, they made a couple of plays. Pitt made the play on the sideline, and Josh is all over him. He took the ball off the top, and that was a nice one.
Mariota made a couple of good throws for them. The big one was the third down and 19 that we gave it to them. That was a gimme, and so there's a couple of things in there that we can clean up, and sometimes they're going to make a play on you.
Q. Did you feel like some of the issues you've had on defense so far, not just in this game, but so far, are a product of installing a new scheme?
PETE CARROLL: Some of it is. I said that to you last week. It's newness. We have to clean things up and progress faster. There's no time. We have to get better now.
We just have to just make sure that we're more accurate and more precise about the fits and the running game and then continue to work into the pressure situations. We rushed the passer. We had our sacks today, and we did it with some different calls, and those worked really well for us.
We need to continue to get a rush going as well. That's part of it. It's really all aspects. There were some throws that they caught. There was some pass rush stuff we could have used and for sure the running game needs to improve. We just need to get better.
We can see it. We know the answers. We can give them answers to the test, but we have to execute better.
Q. You talked about all week --
PETE CARROLL: I'm not just putting that on the players. The coaches, we all have to do it. Me too. We all have to do a better job and contribute to clean this thing up.
Q. You talked about the trust you have in Geno. The first half, was that what you have been seeing in practice?
PETE CARROLL: I thought he played really, really well. That's exactly what he has been looking like. That's exactly what I'm telling you. You can see him. He can do things right. He understands what's going on. He is in command of it. He has the arm to throw all of the throws that we're asking him to do. He is really poised about it. That's a heck of a football game today he threw. He is doing his part.
There's a couple of plays in there too, like there always is. There's a couple of plays. It was that close of a game today.
Q. Seemed like the offensive line gave you a really good effort in the pass protection game today up until the last couple of drives. What did you see from them and how they've handled --
PETE CARROLL: I thought they played really well. It was solid. We had the running game early on that got us started. The play passes were there. Everything was fitting up nice. We had a lot of plays today. We converted really well on third down. We were able to run the ball in the short yardage as well.
So, we did a lot of really positive things that those guys are doing. Late we got sacked a couple of times. Geno was just trying to make something happen, and he had to hang on to it a little bit. All in all, those guys did a really good job against these guys.
Q. Back to the running game. Kenneth Walker looked like you were getting him outside. Can you talk about that? And, also, what DeeJay Dallas did to replace when Travis Homer was injured?
PETE CARROLL: Well, first off, we've got to break Kenny in. He is still trying to get comfortable. He was a little jittery today because he is so excited and he is so competitive. He just needs the time out there. He just hasn't played very much.
We're just going to keep forcing him to get really relaxed and comfortable out there. He is going to make a lot of things happen. He showed plenty of good stuff today. We could all see that.
But, he went the wrong way on a play, and he had some other things he could be cleaner on. It's just getting him over the hump. He is going to be a big factor.
Rashaad ran really well today, really hard and tough. Did a really good job for us. Those two guys, you can see it.
About DeeJay coming in, he and Homer share that job on third down, so it's not any switch for us to go to him. They're a little bit different in style, but yet, they both know how to execute, and DeeJay did a nice job for us again in coming in.
Q. Was this the deeper down the field passing game you needed to stretch defenses?
PETE CARROLL: I think we saw that there's all kinds of stuff happening. We did all kinds of things today in the passing game. I thought it was really, really well-orchestrated. We threw for over 300; big completion percentage and a really good conversion rate.
That was a really good look at us on third down today and coming through. Geno had to run one as well and all that, but he did his stuff, and the receivers came through. That's something we can really continue to build on.
Q. You talked about how much you like the tight end group. Was it good to see all three of them get involved?
PETE CARROLL: Everybody did something today. Dis had a nice play late on in the game. We saw a lot of good stuff from Colby today and Noah. That's it. Let's keep rolling those guys through and doing the things that they do well and keep counting on them.
Q. DK had to make a really good tough catches today. The touchdown being one of them. Just your thoughts on --
PETE CARROLL: He is just doing DK. That was a great touchdown catch and good hard catches and tough stuff. The ball he didn't catch that got away from him got tipped, we think. So, that's always makes it really hard to overcome that, but he has been really solid.
Q. What happened to Tyler when he went out for a little while?
PETE CARROLL: Got a little shoulder stinger kind of thing, something like that. He felt that he needed to just take a break. He was fine. He played great, again. He was everywhere. He did a great job for us.
Q. Nwosu and Brooks, they're okay?
PETE CARROLL: As far as I know, they're not on the injury list.
Q. What was your message to them after the game?
PETE CARROLL: How tough the league is. How tough it is every week and every game. They're so hard, and everything comes down to the end, and you have to finish it up. We just have to keep battling. These games are there for us. We know we're good enough to win these games, so we just have to play to the moment.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports