Seattle Seahawks 18 - Indianapolis Colts 16
SHANE STEICHEN: All right. Injuries, Bernhard Raimann had an elbow, didn't return. So we'll see how the week goes.
Obviously disappointing. Gotta find a way to finish the game. Had our chance there at the end, didn't get it done. I thought there was some good. Obviously some stuff to clean up. But gotta finish the games in this league.
Q. So how do you assess the way Phil looked after five years away?
SHANE STEICHEN: I mean, he went out there, we had a chance to win it. Put it that way. We had a chance to win it there at the end. Got a field goal to take the lead with 30 seconds left, or whatever it was, 40 seconds.
I thought he managed the offense. Plan going into the game was running the ball, controlling the clock. Thought we did a pretty good job of that in the first half and just setting up pretty good in the first half that way and then obviously didn't manage enough points there in the second half. It was a hard-fought game.
Q. Was that a pass on third down that Phil affect the run?
SHANE STEICHEN: Right there at the end. Yeah. Third and eight, got closer to field goal range. Throwing the plate. Now you're probably in no man's land, probably going to go for it there.
Q. How much are you encouraged?
SHANE STEICHEN: Very encouraged. I'm very encouraged. There's no question about it. For him to go out there and do what he did after five years off, to have a chance to win it and get a game-winning field goal, close to it, obviously, with 40 seconds left, in a hostile environment, against a tough defense just shows his commitment to coming back and playing the way he did and fighting like crazy for his teammates, and I thought it was pretty awesome to see.
Q. How important was Phillip kind of checking in and out of plays today for the offense?
SHANE STEICHEN: It was huge. We checked a couple there. One run pop for about 12 that he checked to. Obviously that third down to get in field goal range was huge. Couple other things here and there that he did to keep the offense moving.
Q. Is that the kind of game you kind of needed to play today, do you feel like?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah. There's no doubt. That was what the plan was going into it, run the football, control the clock. That was the type of game that we thought it was going to be, probably so much more of this and hopefully we would be on the other side of it and we weren't.
Q. What do you mean the --
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, it's huge. He's got the distance to do it. It was huge by him getting that done.
Q. Your thoughts on that defense the way they played, especially with three of your top players out. Not allowing Seattle to score a touchdown.
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah. No question. Our defense I think they gave up three rushing yards in the first half, which was phenomenal. I thought our defense played really good against obviously the run game obviously and a top receiver in Njigba. I thought they did some really good things.
Q. What do you think the difference was on that last drive defensively?
SHANE STEICHEN: I mean, two-minute drive. They hit the plays there at the end to get in field goal range. That was the bottom line. We had some zone, we had some blitzes up. Whatever they needed, 20 yards in range and they got it done.
Q. Did losing Bernie for the second half impact your ability to kind of execute that game plan?
SHANE STEICHEN: No, we got a lot of (indiscernible). I thought he went out there and battled like crazy. He's been doing a hell of a job for us all year. So to get this opportunity and go out and scratch and claw like he did.
Q. The kickoff right after the field goal, that one's gotta be a little bit more difficult for the returning team, right?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah. They had no timeouts. So obviously we're trying to bleed as much time off the clock there. And I think they got to 37, so would have been 35. So a two-yard difference there.
Q. Ameer leads the team in receiving today. How much of the game plan was it around him and do you see that going forward?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think it was just some of the things we had. Whether he was in there or J.T. was in there, I know Phil does a good job of finding those check downs and getting those balls to the tailbacks and stuff. So Ameer did a real nice job.
Q. First touchdown pass in over five years. Emotion afterwards.
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah. It was pretty special to see that. I'm not going to lie. It was awesome to see him, how excited he was. Brought back the flashbacks of five, six years ago, the way he operated out there and the communication on the sidelines with the O line walking up and down. He was confident, I can do it.
Q. The back shoulder that Pierce that set up Kirby's field goal. What did you see on that?
SHANE STEICHEN: We got that thing up and down early, and that was something they worked on in practice all week, first press. Get this thing up and down and get your eyes to me. Obviously came to life there on that last drive. We hit it for a big play.
Q. What do you tell the team at this point?
SHANE STEICHEN: There's no doubt. I think that's the encouraging thing. Obviously it's disappointing anytime you lose, but we're guaranteed three left and had a chance to win one today, but now we got another opportunity to go do it again on Monday night against San Francisco, and we're excited for that challenge.
Q. Not necessarily being able to push it down the field, you guys probably knew that coming into it. How do you kind of work your way around that?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah. I think each and every week is different. Obviously this was his first time playing, getting back into the flow of it and that was the game plan and we went in and did it. Obviously that'll probably change as the weeks go on.
Q. He took some hits. Seemed like he popped right up. What did you observe?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah. It's hard sometimes because I'm calling plays, I see him down, but he pops right up just like he did in the past. So for him to go out and do what he did after five years off, I thought was pretty good.
Q. Did he talk to Josh about the miscommunication?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, he got that thing up and down early. It was just a little double move to Josh, and Josh was trying to get his head around and the ball was up in the air and just one of those deals.
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