COACH CARROLL: Okay. Let's keep playing football. It's a really great reward for our guys who have been working so hard. You've heard us talk about it, to get this opportunity to keep going. And we're all excited about the fact the way the day turned out yesterday. Just so sunk into being Lions fans. We love the Lions.
Coach Campbell did a great job with his crew. They played a fantastic football game to get the win to give us the chance. We want to try to do something with it.
Unfortunately, we're playing the Niners and they're loaded. And they're loaded and healthy and on a roll and about as hot as you can possibly get. And doing it in really commanding fashion, too, with the young quarterback who is doing so well.
Just kind of bucked the odds that everybody would think you could do that and -- everybody in the media anyway.
So we'll see how we get our guys back for this weekend. It's coming up quick with a Saturday ball game. And we've already started our week and we're underway.
Q. You talked last night about the culture of the team and really liking that. I'm assuming it's a little different year to year with every team. When did you start to get a feel for what this team was like and what you liked about it?
COACH CARROLL: Last year, we thought we had a bunch of guys that were emerging, that could be stepping up. And as we made some significant changes, we realized that leadership was going to be shifting some. And we had a good confident feeling about the guys that we were looking forward, Diggs and Tyler and Al Woods. Those guys that have taken over. Nick doing a similar job he did in the past.
We just felt we had guys who could give us good messaging and all that and whatever else showed up -- and Brooksy and all the guys who have contributed. But we had a sense for it.
Q. How do you view the year you've had in making the playoffs, playing as much rookies as you have as much as you have? The overturn from two stalwarts in Russell and Bobby to turn it over in that regard, to a new quarterback in Geno, just getting to this point after everything you guys have done and --
COACH CARROLL: What was the initial part of the question?
Q. How do you kind of view the season in that regard that you've been able to get to this point?
COACH CARROLL: I think it's been really frustrating. We were close enough to win two or three more games anyway. And it would have been a whole lot different last night if we would have done that. One game would have made a difference.
As much as the outlook from the outside was different than what ours is, we expect to do more. It's good to have a winning record. But "let's go out and have a winning record" -- that's not my goal. That's not what I'm reaching out for.
We're fortunate that we got it done under the circumstances and all that. We'll take it. But we had higher expectations. That's why I couldn't go along with all the talk about rebuilding and all that stuff.
It just doesn't jibe with me. I don't know why you would ever make that concession ever. I don't get it.
Just go for it. And so we did. And fortunately we were able to hang in there did enough good things and had a chance to keep moving.
Q. Is that a message you needed to reinforce to some of the newer guys in the program that we're not rebuilding things, because you lost guys?
COACH CARROLL: I didn't really do that. I just talked the way I talk and just do our thing here. I didn't feel like the newer guys needed -- they just needed to catch up with us.
To find your way to creating a culture, you have to -- you're constantly, constantly on it. And you're forever teaching and directing and pointing out and learning and growing and expanding and all that stuff always.
It doesn't stop. It's not like you give them a message and, okay, here it goes. And you have to tweak along the way to meet up to the style and the makeup of the players and the coaches and all that.
So it's just an ongoing process. Like, there's no, okay, let's give them this speech and we got our act together. We give them the list of the guidelines and rules. It's way more than that. It's way deeper than that to get what it feels like to be here. That's what we're trying to get -- what's it feel like to be here and can you make sense of that.
Q. Do you like that challenge personally, though, of kind of having (indiscernible) Russell and Bobby leave?
COACH CARROLL: You picked up on that. I didn't do it for that reason. I didn't think I needed a kick in the butt to get fired up. But it was a natural challenge. There's a lot more unknown.
That's what the experienced guys give you, more of the known stuff. And as you transition you have to figure it out.
It's enthralling for me to try to find the ways to make sense to put together what you've got to put together and to match it up right and try to minimize the false steps and the miscues that get in the way.
And it's more likely when you're younger that stuff's going to happen. Bud Grant tried to teach me a long time ago, teach us all a long time ago, it's hard to do it with rookies.
So I've been fighting -- one of the things I love trying to prove that you can do, all the way back to USC we were trying to do that -- try to play young guys and make them fit in.
There's some big upside to that. And we saw even last night we saw some of our younger guys make some plays that hadn't had the chances and come through for us. They've been with us and all that. Cade Johnson had a couple good catches. And Dareke had a couple big plays in the game and special teams player of the week because of it.
Some really cool things that continue to show. So I might be fighting this fight all by myself, but I'm going to keep doing it.
Q. Do you care about proving people wrong?
COACH CARROLL: Yes, of course, heck, yeah. I love doing that. I have no problem with that. I don't mind telling you that.
Q. You mentioned this morning that trust was an integral part of the turnaround. Is it hard to instill that, the trust in the younger guys? And at what point this season did you kind of see it turn around or, I'm sorry, is it an ongoing thing in terms of building trust in the culture of your squad?
COACH CARROLL: It's a dynamic. It's not a static thing. It flows and fluctuates and stuff. And how do you handle the disappointments? How do you handle the setbacks and the real blunders and things that come along the way?
And do you overcome those and don't see them as burdens and all that, but you see them as hurdles that you have to get over and away you go? It's all that kind of thinking.
The trust thing, I feel like I have to prove it to them. I'm constantly proving to our guys why they can believe in this and that and why they can believe in themselves and why they can believe on the guy next to them.
I've really been on that bent for a long time of trying to prove that they're capable of whatever we can imagine them to become. And it's part of it to me. It's constant.
Q. One of the things the guys talked about after the game was how gratifying it was to finish that game. What's the biggest benefit for those guys having that feeling?
COACH CARROLL: What I was really dwelling on today with the guys is that is what we did. We didn't just finish the season; we finished the game in like fashion. It's doing really well under all of the stress of the circumstances and the challenges and the hype and the buildup and all of that.
That's one of my favorite things about sports. You have a chance to show who you are when times are tough and hardest. That's probably why I take so much and enjoy the games that are tight and you have to do stuff at the end.
And you guys get all mad at me or the fans do because they want it over with and they don't want the stress of it. But it's learning to deal with that and being normal with that where I think you best have the chance to function in that. So we need that.
Playing the Niners, a team like this that is so freaking loaded in every direction, and they've got everything, I'm sure they have huge vision of where they're going and all that. You have to beat teams like that. You have to. If you want to win you have to beat teams like that. You have to beat championship teams. And so that's the challenge.
Q. Shelby Harris was saying last night he's never been on a team with a winning record.
COACH CARROLL: I was surprised to hear that.
Q. (Indiscernible) this point of time when you have a veteran guy that's never been through it?
COACH CARROLL: Yeah, sure, a guy's never been to the playoffs and stuff like that. I didn't ask the fellas today. I'll get to that. But yes, it's a cool thing for these guys. They've been waiting their whole life to have a chance to do that. It's a big deal to them.
Q. Getting to the playoffs, how much more special does that make Geno's story, coming back, waiting all those years to be a starter, then leads a team?
COACH CARROLL: I think it's just another chapter in his story. Incredible story in our little world of football here. But it's a big accomplishment. And to set records and stuff like that as well, it's amazing.
Q. How did Cade sort of emerge as the third receiver yesterday?
COACH CARROLL: He's been playing this role for a long time for us and been really backing up Tyler. He's the most like Tyler.
And he's been around here for a couple of years and all. He's just been growing in the trust that we talk about, the trust of the coaches, they really know that he knows what he's doing. So we believe in him.
He's been available; we just haven't needed him. And for him to make a couple of big catches, that was a really big deal. And he did beautifully yesterday.
It's been an ongoing process of him proving himself on a regular basis. He's a great practice player. He's got all kinds of versatility and stuff. And he's a real favorite around here. It was great that that happened.
Q. When you look back on it, how do you feel Geno played yesterday?
COACH CARROLL: It was a harder game for him. When we were talking last night, I wasn't aware of the numbers and stuff. He had a harder time. It was difficult. They made some plays.
The first play of the game the guy makes a phenomenal All-Pro play and steals a ball from us on a timing rhythm thing that he's been throwing forever. Was a great play by Jalen.
So it started hard. And he got hit -- he got hit on the other pick. He got drilled on the one he threw down field to DK. And so it's not that Geno didn't play well. I think his play was harder yesterday; they did a nice job on him.
But when he had to come through he found a way to do it, which is really the most marvelous of all. It doesn't matter how you do it, just that you get the job done. And Geno was able to figure out how to use his legs and get us in field position and make things happen and throw the key balls at the right time when we had to do it, the amazing touchdown pass, and just coming through.
And so that's why I feel like he did a good job of leading us and good job of winning the game with us and all that. But, yet, when I looked at the day, it was a little rougher than some other ones.
Protection had a little to do with it although protection was pretty solid. They covered us a little bit and he had to wait a little bit it. It just made it harder.
Q. You said last night this is a championship team. Is that a realistic goal for this year and something you believe they can accomplish it?
COACH CARROLL: As a coach you can throw that stuff around any way you want. I feel this is the kind of nucleus you have to have to build around it and add to it.
Trust is a big word for us today in this conversation here. I trust these guys that they're going to give me everything they've got every time they go. And they're going to find a way. And if they don't they're going to be pissed at themselves that they didn't get that done.
They're really in it for the right reasons and all. And that's all I ask for. And we've got speed and we've got talent and we've got quarterbacks and receivers. We've got some stuff. So there's a lot to build on here. And the future looks bright because of all that.
Q. What role has Quandre played for the ability of the back end to function despite the rotating cast --
COACH CARROLL: He's had a huge role, because he's the guy they listen to. Of all the players on that defensive side, when Quandre says something, everybody's listening.
He's a really, really bright, savvy football player. He gets it. He can look at the game like he's a coach. And he can analyze and anticipate and help others guys out with indicators that may appear and stuff like that.
And so that's no fluke, it's not because he's -- it's just the personality. He has the information. He's the source. So he is a huge deal to us. And without him we would be different. He affects a lot of guys in a really positive way -- one of the guys that makes the other guys play better.
Q. Did yesterday look a little bit like Earl back in the day?
COACH CARROLL: Yeah, couple of UT guys coming through on the deep end. That's a similar play that Earl could have made.
Q. You said Quandre makes you guys better but T's and Jonathan came in earlier in the year. What effect has he had on them?
COACH CARROLL: That would be a really good question to ask them. What do I think? I think he's had a positive influence on them. They're counting on him. He's the bell-ringer. They're waiting for him to make the calls and make the statements and the adjustments and the alerts and all that. I'm sure he's been a great asset to them.
Q. How good was that play with Quandre? Said he thought that was a perfect play by the Rams. He thought initially it was going to be a good play --
COACH CARROLL: Yes, Baker is able to hold a football for a guy to run a 20-something-yard deep corner route. It's not a route -- the first time anybody's ever run the route. It just takes a lot of time to get it done. And there was enough time for it to spread to where the play became the free safety's play to make.
And Tariq was occupied with the comeback on the sidelines there. And so he had to feel it. And he got enough flight time on the ball that he made a great play on it. But there's some space in there, the ball could have got in there.
Q. Almost 400 rushing yards the last two weeks. Getting that going heading into the postseason, how good is that?
COACH CARROLL: Couldn't have come at a better time. And with the cyclone threatening down there, made need to run the ball 40 times, 50 times, whatever. We'll see how that goes.
It's huge for us to make that statement. And remember the last year at the end of the season, we found our rhythm and really got going, too. I have no idea why that's happening like that. But I think we had like 130-something against KC or something like that.
We've been coming and you can really see Kenneth getting together with the guys up front. The rhythm looks way better than it did. And that's just time and gotta take some lumps along the way. Fortunately we're getting going.
Q. Kansas City, when you wanted a change in approach, with Walker, was it a mindset thing for him that he had to change and be more downhill?
COACH CARROLL: We've been talking in the same ways, but sometimes it takes a moment for you to go, oh, that's what you were saying, or that's what you wanted. And I'll take it on myself, Chad and I trying to get the word across. We didn't communicate well enough to him, we didn't get it to him soon enough to make the adjustments that really looked pretty obvious so far.
Q. How clearly (indiscernible) -- was it simply a run -- how clear was it?
COACH CARROLL: It seems so simple. I remember looking him right between the eyes and said, OK, here we go. In this half, let's get down hill, attack the line of scrimmage and see if that doesn't give us a little bit of a change that we need.
I know Chad said the same thing; I just reiterated.
Q. Talk about the rhythm of the guys up front. Do you mean it's at this point in the season that Ken has found the rhythm with the offensive line, or it's the number of carries in the game that leads --
COACH CARROLL: No, I think it's taken quite a while during the season for him to really connect. And he's had kind of an in and out and a slow start, because he was banged up, things like that, to get going. Just took us a while.
Took us a while to see him enough so we knew where to direct him and all that. It's all that. I would say also, to reinforce the other thought you had, at the end of the games there's never been a running back that didn't want the ball more. And, the more I get it, the more I feel it.
And that's the truth. That's just the facts and it's always proven out. That is certainly true too.
Q. Version of Darrell what you thought you'd get coming into the camp?
COACH CARROLL: From whom?
Q. Darrell.
COACH CARROLL: I'm really fired up about Darrell, and he's really made a big jump. And he's becoming a real force. We need that.
I was really fired up about Mafe in the same light. Both those guys, they're settling in on their strengths more so. They're more comfortable with how they can be successful and so they're working their stuff to make that come to life.
Q. How important is the pass rush to this defense? I know pass rush is critical to any defense, but specifically to your defense, when the guys are up front getting a push, what does it enable this defense to do on the back end?
COACH CARROLL: Typically on all defense, if the rush is making the ball come out quicker, then you don't have to cover them as long and they don't get as open and all that. It's fundamental, but it's the facts.
It can work in conjunction. If we cover them up, there's the -- what was it, the second third-down situation in the game -- it was third-and-3; I can't remember if it was the second one -- we got a sack on the play. It was totally because of the coverage. Coverage was perfect.
There was no place for the ball to go and the quarterback got stuck and there was nothing he could do. And boom, the rush collapses in on him.
That's a classic example of how it works together. But, yes, every defense I've ever been around was a whole lot better when the rush is really good. And you're going to be able to see what that looks like this weekend. These other guys, they're great at it.
Q. Was it Bruce who had the sack?
COACH CARROLL: Whoever had the first one. I don't know. Kind of collapsed in on them.
Q. Couple guys inactive, Ryan Neal and Phil Haynes?
COACH CARROLL: Fired up when I talked to him today. He's making progress. It's going to be a race to see what happens.
But he was pretty positive. He's a pretty upbeat, positive guy. Gotta take that in. I was really happy for him because he felt like there was a hope he could make it back.
Phil will have a chance.
Q. You said on the radio you were going to go on it on fourth, regulation --
COACH CARROLL: Did you buy it? (Laughter).
Q. Go for it, yeah. I was curious --
COACH CARROLL: I used to do it all the time. (Laughter).
Q. The process would have been there with just over two minutes left or whatever. (Indiscernible) score the touchdown and --
COACH CARROLL: I'm not going to go any deeper than that. It might come up this weekend, so...
Q. Tariq, Shelby and DeeJay got nicked in the game. Are they fine coming out?
COACH CARROLL: It seems like -- they're kind of bumped, bumps and bruises kind of thing. And so there's hope they can make it through, but we've got to wait and see.
Tariq had a couple of things he was banged on. And we saw Shelby got hit on the thigh or something like that. And so did DeeJay. Just got to wait and see. I can't tell you.
Q. (Inaudible) okay?
COACH CARROLL: As far as I know he's fine.
Q. Going back, one of the things you enjoy --
COACH CARROLL: There's a lot of things I enjoy in my life. That's not one of the only things -- on the list of -- say it again.
Q. What do you think you've proven thus far?
COACH CARROLL: Oh, I wasn't referencing this year. I'm just saying in general I like proving people wrong, particularly people that fire me. (Laughter).
And that's an ongoing process. (Laughter).
Q. Why don't you like hats?
COACH CARROLL: I don't know. Just can't keep -- I don't know.
Q. You have never worn one during a game until yesterday?
COACH CARROLL: No, I think I did. Didn't I wear one back, against, might have been against New England when they were here and it rained.
Q. 2012?
COACH CARROLL: I have no idea. (Laughter). I think I've done it before.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH CARROLL: It's a process. (Laughter).
Q. When you told him the program you wanted to put in here and the culture and how you wanted, how long did it take to get it exactly as it works now?
COACH CARROLL: That's a good question. Because it changes all the time. Like I say, it's dynamic. There's stuff that happens along the way. But I think the year -- you guys help me on the year -- when we were in Atlanta in the playoffs, we were getting there.
And I think we were -- by then we had been together long enough with enough guys that knew what was expected, and we were starting to find the rhythm and the patterns of things and how they go and expectations and stuff like that.
And we were really building at that time. And I would think it's easy to say when you win the Super Bowl. But it was before that. And the expectations that really -- remember, we came out of the Atlanta game, we all were really disappointed that we weren't still going. That means we were already getting there. So somewhere, I don't know, I can't pin it, but there was somewhere probably during that season.
Q. The reason I ask, a lot of coaches don't even give three years to that. Has the industry changed since 2010 in that regard, that you don't get the time you got here to --
COACH CARROLL: I don't know. You guys do your research on that one to answer that. Have to go back and track how people are getting shots at their jobs and all. But there's a growing impatience. Look around. And there's been a lot of coaches that come and go in our division over the years. And there's been a lot of stuff happening.
And there hasn't been a lot of patience, and is patience the right concept to allow a guy to be successful? Part of it. If you're doing this job for the first time, it's hard. There's a lot of stuff happening that you had no clue of how to prepare for; you can't get yourself ready. You just have to go through it and hope that as you go through it you come out okay. Because there's just so many first-time. Really comes down to the decisions you make to represent who you are, what you feel and where you stand on stuff, you can't figure that out until you get there.
So even guys who have left here, who have been with us -- and I always try to give them my shot when they're going for their interviews and trying to get prepared and all that, at least you have answers; just answer things the way we do it. And if they ask you questions or pose, in situations, at least you have a way you know how we would do it, because otherwise you're making it up on the fly.
And it's hard. There's just a lot of stuff going on in this. It takes time. It takes time to get ready. That's why, when a guy like Sean goes down there in LA, does such a great job so early, it's phenomenal that he did what he did. Almost unheard of. It's happening in Minnesota. They're nailing it, too. Then the Packers in the last couple of years; they did a great job, too. It can be done. It's not impossible. But what's harder than all of that is to sustain it.
You may hit it because things work out right and you get on a rhythm and things are rolling and things are fitting together and you're going and the momentum happens, but that's just part of it.
I was asked I think guys on the radio or something the other day, is it tougher to get it done the first time or to sustain it?
It's way harder to sustain it, to me. There's way more that goes on, the dynamics that start pounding at you after you've been successful, personally, instructionally and intellectually, all those ways, it's tough, it's difficult to keep your act together and to stay true to who you are so that your philosophy continues to stand strong under the rigors, challenges, setbacks and failures and all that.
Q. With that sustained part, do you take the pride in the fact you haven't missed the playoffs in back-to-back years?
COACH CARROLL: I heard that for the first time. Somebody said that to me. I didn't know that. I mean, exactly, it's really good we get to lose one time so we can come back and do it again.
Mike was saying on the radio this morning, 10 out of 13. Okay. There's some consistency to that. I've always said that -- I always wanted to say, if I did it right, would be if you asked me, how are you doing, I'll let you know in a few years, so we can look back and see what happened.
But to say it in the middle doesn't mean much to me. You've got to prove it and sustain it. Show you can sustain it. That goes back to -- I was impressed -- I think I've said to you before -- my first game I ever was a head coach, we were playing Buffalo at the Jets. I told you, we were up there in Buffalo. The game was over. I was going around the field, I was gloating about the win, my first game ever, we're going to win forever, never lose a game.
I looked back up on the wall, the Marv Levy years were up there, four in a row. That's what winning is, is you keep coming back and keep proving who you are, no matter what the challenges are, you can keep finding a way to be successful. That's success to me. That's what you're looking for.
Q. Were you convinced when the Seahawks hired you that you would get the time --
COACH CARROLL: I was not convinced. No, not at all. I told Taylor, we have about three years to try this out to see if we can pull it off. The both of us thought that would be about what we would get.
I had no idea that it would go -- but I was confident enough to go for it and to lay out the way that we wanted to do things. And I wanted to see if it would work out. And we're doing okay.
Q. Is anybody else in that latency category, that got bumped?
COACH CARROLL: Yeah, we could wait and see tomorrow. Okay. Ask me that again.
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