Seahawks 37, Panthers 27
PETE CARROLL: One of the most obvious things that happened today was feeling the 12s. God, what a great impact they had on this game. These guys had eight false starts in this game and that's not us. We had nothing to do with that. They can't get coordinated because of the noise.
What a great factor. It felt like what it feels like to be here at Lumen. That was a thrill. Thrill for our young guys who hadn't heard it like that, hadn't felt it like that, and they understand why we talk so much about them, why it's such a factor and all that.
Anyway, we got to give a lot of credit to our fans being part of this game, just like they've been in the past. That was really obvious today. What I liked about this game coming off the last game as well is playing 60 minutes of football. To play all the way through to the end, both sides of the ball, playing winning football.
Offense scored 25 points in the second half. That's huge, and that's execution. Geno was on fire and the guys were making their plays, so that's the big stuff, finishing really well, playing 60 minutes, and this young team understanding what that feels like and what that takes.
As well as playing here. The obvious stuff, you can ask all the questions you want to ask, but we were lousy on third down and lousy in the red zone scoring. I don't think -- we might've scored seven times in the game, but all the field goals -- you know, Jason Meyers has a record day because we can't get our first down. Have to convert on third down there, and we got to just capture the opportunity of the drive.
It didn't get any more obvious than that. That is where we're focusing. It's carrying over a little bit. We've seen this for a couple weeks. It's not good enough. So we're going to need to that really get better, and so we already have ideas so we can't wait to get back to work.
Another note about this game was the guys that were hurt all week that couldn't play that were able to get to game day and answer the call, Diggsy, Julian Love, DK, J Reed, those guys didn't get much work at all and they just wouldn't not play.
So they made it through their injuries and sucked it up and all had really solid games for us. It's a great visual for our young guys to understand what it takes.
Another thing I would like to mention is we're getting this run game in order on the defensive side. To give them 44 yards today, that's a team that likes to run the football, and they were determined, and after a while they couldn't.
Great job by our guys. That's just something that we have to hang on to and be part of our team. When we rush for 146 yards, 33 carries, that's the same thing on the other side of the ball. We have to make these staples of our play, and then we can find the consistency we need. Really fired up about this day today.
Q. To be able have that kind of rushing day, at one point you had four backup linemen in the game compared to what you started the year with.
PETE CARROLL: I know, I know. It's such a statement about really about the coaches keeping those guys together and getting our guys that step in to play front level ball. Didn't run the ball real well at times early. Looked like we might be struggling.
Really Kenny and Zach, they were really on it. They're so different and uniquely different. I loved seeing Zach show himself today and show you how tough he is and how explosive he can be. Great asset for us.
So that was a really good part of our day.
Q. You mentioned Jarran not being able to practice. He had a sack and a half...
PETE CARROLL: Oh, yeah, sack and a half, and when he got it too, really to ice the game. Really was a big-time come through. He is such a marvelous return to us, to get him to come back to us. Such a marvelous factor. You wouldn't know how much he affects the guys around him with his wisdom and background, but it's his toughness and resolve. He's unbelievably important to us and had a great game.
Q. (Regarding stopping the run.) Eight false starts. Did this feel like a championship style...
PETE CARROLL: Yeah. And rushing 146 yards, heck yeah. Scoring points at the end of the game and finishing, yeah, it did. I'm really pumped about that. The first game was such an outlier. Can't imagine how that happened.
So to go finish 60-plus minutes last week and come back again this week, that's really a big statement for us to build on. We're going to need it all the way down the schedule.
It's a young team that's coming together and finding themselves and we can really make something of that.
Q. How'd you and Red Bryant get the team fired up yesterday?
PETE CARROLL: Red Bryant did great. It was a classic Red Bryant at pregame. I told him, okay, give the pregame speech like he used to. It didn't take him two seconds to jump into character.
Q. How was that having all those guys?
PETE CARROLL: It was really good. I'm so glad we won and game and played a game like that with the fans being part of it and coming from behind and all that kind of stuff.
It was really a thrilling weekend, way more than I thought it would be. I didn't know it would feel so emotional in connecting with the guys, because they love the recollection of this time that we spent together, and they've all carried it with them and it's been a big part of their life. They deserve to cherish and relish in all the memories of that, and they are doing that.
It just lives on because of that, so really special.
Q. Speaking of the fans, after the back-to-back false starts, you turned around and gave a pretty emphatic salute to the crowd.
PETE CARROLL: It was so obvious. It was so obvious that they were kind of running the show, so we were just playing off them and flying with them. It felt more unique than it's felt recently, and for whatever reason, the fact that they responded like that in this early part of the season after we screwed it up last time we were here, that's where we start moving forward.
I'm hoping that we can continue to fill them up and they can fill us up with, you know, the love they have for the Seahawks.
Q. What happened with Dre'Mont Jones?
PETE CARROLL: His hip tightened up. I don't know. Don't know the extent, but hip got tight.
Q. You said it's a young team coming together. How much has them trusting each other helped this process?
PETE CARROLL: That is what the process is about. It's about learning who you're playing with, understanding what you can count on from the people around you, and then being accountable and being that, finding your way to performing like we need you to perform.
That is what's happening. There is just growth opportunities. I made a big deal about last week because that was such a challenge opportunity to be in. We'll grow with that one. Coming back home and doing it again after we screwed it up before was a huge growth opportunity for us, and I really feel like we can trust that we understand that you got to play 60 minutes of football and sometimes even more.
Q. What did you think of Jake Bobo's touchdown?
PETE CARROLL: Loved it. Loved it. I was so fired up that Jake got that. We missed some opportunities to him today, but he's going to be a big factor. He did some really good things in this game today. I couldn't see how intricate it was at the back line, but I'm sure he did it perfectly. He would figure out how to get in bounds. Great little play, great call, great throw by G, and also to finish it off like that.
Q. You expressed your confidence in the Jason after the misses last week.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, what a great bounceback. He's a great player. That was something else. This was him.
Q. What did you think of Witherspoon's day?
PETE CARROLL: That was a huge call in this game, wasn't it? It was such a crucial time and they thought he grabbed his jersey. If they see any grab at all they have the right to call it. That is how they defined it and that's what the guy said he saw. So, good call on his part if that's happened.
I thought Spoon had a terrific day today. You can see him. He's all over the place. He factors into the game by being around the football to make the wins. You're not going to stop them all, but he stopped a bunch today. Had a couple pass breakups and I think 11 tackles right we saw off the top.
So he's big time, yeah.
Q. The two point conversions did that bring back...
PETE CARROLL: Holy cow. I couldn't see it very well, but did Tyler make it look like the ball wasn't coming?
Q. Yes.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah. That's amazing stuff. Yeah, that was a thrill.
Q. Remind you of Luke Wilson's a little bit?
PETE CARROLL: Had a little bit of that, yeah. Just lucking out, yeah. (Laughter.)
Sorry, Luke.
Q. Darrell Taylor okay?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah. He got hit in the shin and had an old injury there. It's just aggravated enough we had to hold him out.
Q. Tre Brown?
PETE CARROLL: Concussion.
Q. What did you think of the (indiscernible.)
PETE CARROLL: Micah did great. He just capped a couple balls down. So classy in the way he played a couple of them. We're lucky that we have that kind of depth. We'll come back and get a bunch of guys back next week and be really exciting to see these guys come back to us.
Jamal will be playing.
Tariq has a great chance to come back. Some other guys that show up in the offensive -- it would be Charles has a real chance next week. We'll see how it works out.
Q. Their touchdown, was that just kind of miscommunication?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, we screwed it up. We busted it. We busted the coverage.
Q. Sorry if you answered this, but 146 yards rushing with four backup linemen...
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, thrilled about that, the commitment to it. You could see our style from our two guys. Like I said, they're much different, uniquely different, but man, they both got explosions in them.
The physical run that you see Zach make, again, that's kind of how we've already learned about him to be, so when it happens again, man, he just reinforces it. I'm really fired up about those two guys.
That's the kind of day. It's the right numbers. We completed I don't know, 23 something passes, ran 33 times. You know, those numbers really stand for consistency.
So that's what we're going to stay with it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports