Seahawks 24, Browns 20
PETE CARROLL: Really big day for us. Fantastic illustration of hanging in and staying in and keeping the belief going and giving ourselves a chance to win a football game. Beautiful illustration of that.
I don't know, 30 seconds or something like that it took to win the football game.
And to celebrate the throwbacks and all that, I hope the fans loved it. It was fun for us. It was a beautiful image in the stadium. It was really cool to see that.
We didn't talk a whole lot about it here after the game, but I know the guys really did appreciate the opportunity to do that. I keep going back to all of the memories that everybody had. That's why they liked it so much, to see it, and I'm glad we could be part of it. It was really fun.
Tough football game. These guys are really tough. They have the formula of playing great defense and running the football, and that's a formula that gives you a chance to win every time out. I thought PJ Walker did a really good job to keep them moving and keep them in position to win the game.
They did some things we needed to stop we didn't stop as well. Screens were a big part of the game. Didn't play the running game as well as we wanted to, but pretty much average for them. That's how they do it.
But all in all, Geno leading that drive, guys keeping him clean up front so we could throw the ball to do what we needed to do to finish the game, guys coming through with catches, the touchdown play to win the game was a fantastic block by DK. Clean. The guy was looking right at him. That's the call they make sometimes.
I thought he did it perfectly. Jaxon got every inch out of that play in really championship fashion. A lot of really cool, exciting things that happened today. Fired up about it.
Q. You said a good example of hanging in there. For the offense and Geno to go through that long...
PETE CARROLL: We started well. Looked so good starting out and just couldn't find the rhythm of it. That's because they're really good. And the fact that it's a close, no surprise.
Q. To then be able to turn it on and get that drive at the end.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, that's what we love about it. The finishing execution that gets you the win, we take great pride in that. We're always talking about and striving to do that. That's why I love this illustration that we can do that. Next time we get a chance we know that we've been there before.
Q. What did you see on the play got you the ball back, the interception? What did you see?
PETE CARROLL: Great call for one. They made a great call to give us a chance it send 'Mal on the pressure. He had to figure out what to do with it, because I think the guard or someone, tackle was popping out on him and he had to do something, and he figured out how to leave his feet and get contact on the ball.
Then there was a spectacular tips and overthrows for us. For Julian to come up and make a big play, we stole the opportunity from them with that play. It was really guys going for it, and I was thrilled about that.
Q. For all that Jamal has been through in the last year or so, to make a play like that...
PETE CARROLL: Man, this is what he lives for. He lives for these opportunities and to go for it when it was on the line. You know, right there, he came up with a way to figure it out and did something that changed our fortune in this game. Fantastic.
Q. Jake Bobo has been on those jet motions. Making blocks down at the goal line. What did you think about him getting the football down there?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, we kind of thought if we hand it to him he's going to figure out how to get in there; he did. Wasn't perfect, but it was clean enough to get a score.
So we continue to work him into everything we're doing because he's a good ball player. He needs to be part of it. You'll see him continue more have opportunities in different kinds of ways.
Q. ( Regarding a call for holding.)
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, because when a guy runs around the block, you see the tight ends on the back side and front side as well, and he did it perfectly. Kept his hands in really tight and released at the right time so there was no penalty. Nothing wrong with that. Exactly the way you should do it, right when we needed it most.
Q. As much attention as he gets, were you surprised that even though that was a clean block...
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, yeah. (Laughter.)
Q. You were pretty heated at the end of the first half, the throw Geno had intercepted.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, I've been complaining about them in the neutral zone and thought I had one for sure, so when it didn't get called and then we turned the ball over on that same play, would've switched that whole result around.
That's all. So I just kind of competing.
Q. Jordyn Brooks, another big game. What's he been showing you last few weeks?
PETE CARROLL: He's on it. He's on his game. He's just playing great, physical football. He's a fantastic linebacker. He runs and he hits and he can make things happen.
We keep trying to put him in places and just accentuate the fact he's that kind of factor. He's doing great.
Q. (Regarding Boye Mafe.) What have you seen from him?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, that he just continues to just play really solid, consistent football. He's kind of been doing it the whole time, for a month. Great to see. Really relying on him and he came through again.
Q. To only allow three hits on Geno and one sack on 37 dropbacks today, how do you feel about the O-line performance?
PETE CARROLL: I thought they did great. I thought they did great today. This is the most vicious rushing team in football today. They have had their way with a ton of teams with their front four. We were able to keep them at bay.
I don't know that we dominated anything. We held on and gave up one sack. It was really exciting to see Jason Peters play today. I think he played about half the time. We just wanted to see what would happen, and then we were going to decide as the game went on and he did well, and so just kind of rotated him.
That's just another boost for us to have an experienced player like that available to us. So I don't know what that means going forward anyway, but I was really fired up for him. He played in an NFL football game in his 20th season. Man, that's a remarkable accomplishment. So remarkable. Somebody has to go find George Bland's record it goes back so far.
Q. What did you think of the your run game? Some of it came alive.
PETE CARROLL: I thought we were spotty. We had a couple big plays. Kenny had a big play. Zach looked really good at the end I thought when he had his opportunities. It's there. It's there. We haven't really found it to where we can really rely on it yet, but it's there. We just got to keep working it.
Q. Were you surprised you only got 13 running back carries out of the game the way it was flowing?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, 11 in the first half; didn't run the ball much after that. You know, we took what they were giving us and that was -- and we were protecting the passer better than we thought and, so we went with it and made some yards for us.
Q. What about their screen game?
PETE CARROLL: Oh, man, yeah, we were not surprised one bit. We practiced them all week and they did it anyway, so I was really disappointed in that. You know, they just had great success with it.
Tight end looked great and the back. We were talking about it all game. We were on it. They just out-executed us. We got to do a lot better there.
Q. The last four second halves your team has a lot of (indiscernible.)
PETE CARROLL: Good.
Q. What do you think about that?
PETE CARROLL: I'm thrilled about that. I'm thrilled about finishing halves like that. That's something we can continue to call on and rely on, and it makes you really hard to beat when you play like that in the second half, finish games.
Q. Big picture you guys have won five of six since the opener and you're in first place right now.
PETE CARROLL: We're what?
Q. You're in first place in the NFC West.
PETE CARROLL: We are? Okay. Jeez.
Q. What do you think about that?
PETE CARROLL: What week in the season? Week eight? Okay, so we're not quite halfway through the 17 game thing that nobody can ever get to halftime here. Halfway through, we're in pretty good shape. That's good. We're still growing. We got out of this game. I have no names for you as far as guys getting banged up, which is incredibly good.
We just need to keep growing. It just felt like that. I know maybe that gets old to you hearing it, but when you do another one and another one and another one, you're getting better. It's hard to stack games. I'm thrilled that we've played -- got three wins in a row here at home. I love that. If you're going to have a good season, you've got to play well at home.
And so we been living with that and really trying to use it as a battle cry that we got to play well here at Lumen. So we're rolling right now and halfway.
Q. Your rookies having big performances today, what can you say about just the infusion of talent the last two years?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, it's a little bit of an old topic because we keep hitting it. It's a beautiful topic for us to be on because it shows the continuity of how we work and how we choose the players on the team and all John's side of the world that he owns.
To have the obvious success last year, come back and top it off again and figure it out again and here we're going again. I mean, what's going to happen next time is what's really exciting. So it's fantastic for us. You can see rookies all over the place, playing, contributing, and doing things.
That is such a boost to us entering the second half of the season. Would this be the second half the season now? Kind of? I mean, it's so screwed up. Used to be kind of easy, but it's not easy anymore.
Q. What did you think of Geno's day overall with two picks; missed couple throws he usually hits.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, I mean, he's upset. He doesn't like it. I thought he figured out a way to get us started beautifully and we looked great, and then when it came down to it, we had to have it, he took us right down the field and we scored and we won the game.
There is some stuff in between. There is a couple passes that looked kind of off. He threw one to Jaxon; Jaxon stopped on the route and screwed it up, and looked like we threw the ball to the other guy. That was a missed cue otherwise.
But he's got room to play better. I think he's doing -- I love the way he's playing and leading us.
Q. Jamal briefly left the game. Were you just managing his snaps?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, just managing his snaps. Exactly.
Q. What's the message going into Baltimore next week?
PETE CARROLL: I don't know. I don't really know. They're really good. Did they win again today?
Q. Beat the Cardinals.
PETE CARROLL: Okay, they're really good. That's all I know.
Fastscripts by ASAP Sports...
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports