It’s always interesting to hear our Seahawks’ head coach break down a win after he gets a chance to look at the game tape. And I’m not just saying that (although maybe partially) because I’m tardy in putting my thoughts down about the game for a second straight week.
Not only does a win make listening to the press conferences throughout the week more compelling, it makes watching sports highlights throughout the week a lot better. So if you’re anything like me (and stateside), you’ve probably already seen the highlights at least 20 times to know the Seahawks are now on a two-game winning streak after their 24-7 victory over the Rams.
The clear highlight for Seattle, as it has been so many times already this year, was the team’s defensive play. The Rams only score came after an interception on the Seahawks own 27-yard line, and St. Louis scored two plays later.
Chris Clemons was a beast on Sunday sacking Sam Bradford three times and forcing two fumbles. Three players combined for two sacks, and Red Bryant had an interception. No, that’s not a typo, Bryant had an interception where he actually dropped back into coverage.
When Carroll was asked how many plays the defense has for Bryant to drop back into coverage, the answer was, “one.” But the coach is considering doubling it after seeing that play.
On the offensive side of the football, it was a rough start outside of the very first play of the game. Sidney Rice got the call on a trick play where he completed a 55-yard pass downfield to Mike Williams.
Carroll had a lot of praise for Rice, and said that he would love to get him the ball more often. This was one play in an attempt to do that.
“He’s such a good all-around football player that you just want him to be around the ball a lot,” said Carroll. “To pull off that throw, that’s an extraordinary play.”
Unfortunately, Rice didn’t get the call on the team’s second play from scrimmage, because Jackson’s first pass was intercepted. Then again, on the following drive, Jackson’s second pass was intercepted which led to the St. Louis touchdown.
But just when Seahawks fans were muttering chants under their breath to pull Jackson so Rice could take over under center, Tarvaris and the offense turned things around.
Coach Carroll talked about the importance of practice in his Monday press conference. Jackson didn’t throw much in the previous week and that little bit of rust could have been what led to the two turnovers. But Jackson rallied and helped lead the team to 24 unanswered points.
On top of the rally, running the ball hard and playing tough on offense, Carroll credited the defense with taking the Rams out of their game plan to run the ball and doing a great job by adjusting to St. Louis going with more four wide receiver sets than the team expected.
After getting beat up a little bit in the first half of the season, Carroll said how it’s been nice to see things start to move in the right direction.
“I think we’re coming around,” said Carroll. “It feels a little different right now. I think we’re playing more physical as a team. There’s a more physical nature to our play and I think we’re feeding off one another.”
Although the Seahawks didn’t put up as big of numbers in the run game, it was how they controlled the ball for most of the game. The ability to do that while playing tough defense appears to be how this Seahawks team is going to earn their victories.
Jackson continues to nurse his sore pectoral muscle and apparently felt better today than after any of the games he’s played with the injury. If that’s the case, then hopefully it means he’ll be able to make more throws in practice. Although they were able to recover from it this week, two early turnovers usually makes it difficult to win games.
Overall it was a solid road win for a team we’re used to seeing struggle away from home. But maybe it was the closest to a home game Seattle had on the road this year. Seahawks fans showed up to St. Louis in force to cheer the team on the road. There was enough of a presence to hear an audible “Seahawks” chant on television during the final minutes of the game.
San Francisco continues to have the second-best record in the NFL behind Green Bay. Their 23-7 win over the Cardinals brought up to 9-1 on the year. I’m still holding out hope that they lose at least three of these final six to the Ravens, Steelers and Seahawks. Considering four of their final six games are against division rivals, they’re probably not going to do much worse than that.
Speaking of playing teams with losing records, the Seahawks play their next three games at CenturyLink against opponents who all have four wins or less: the Redskins (3-7), Eagles (4-6) and Rams (2-8). So with that in mind, does this Seattle team have a 5-0 run in them? I think they do.
Coach Carroll would never say how many games they expect to win, and he certainly would never say they expect to lose any game, but he does see an opportunity to finish the season strong.
“There’s a lot of wins to be had if we can do it. If we stay on course with what we’re doing right now, we’ve got a formula that can get us close in every game we play,” said Carroll. “It doesn’t matter who we play, I don’t care what their record is or where they come from, it doesn’t matter right now. And that’s a good feeling in here.”