Pete Carroll, Richard Sherman press conference notes

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and cornerback Richard Sherman spoke to the media on Wednesday. I took some notes on what was discussed.

Coach Carroll:

Video Link

• Wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

• Marshawn had the surgery, he will stay back east for a number of days. Will see what happens when he returns. The doctor was very optimistic for a quick recovery, could be 3-to-4 weeks or something like that, there is a chance. Other than that everything went very well. This is a terrific team we are going against. They are tough, have athletes across the board that will make it a big challenge for us. Looks like the QB should be close to full strength this time of the year, with a lot of weapons to throw to. It is a championship style match-up.

• Marshawn's surgery related to sports hernia. Don't know what the true definition of it was.

• Marsahawn will remain on the roster with the hope that he comes back at this point.

• There is a chance but Pete doesn't expect him to miss the season.

• Doctor is very optimistic about his return (a quick recovery). They fixed everything that was wrong.

• Pretty confident in Thomas Rawls carrying the load, he has done very very well. Whenever he has been given a real shot he has come through in a big way. Excited for him to have another opportunity and to see our guys block for him. Not every game is going to be like that. But hopes are very high that he will do very well.

• The O-line doesn't have to change a thing when blocking for Rawls instead of Marshawn. But he needs to adapt, sometimes he is so quick that he is hitting things differently than Marshawn would, he is working on timing things up.

• Rawls has a good feel for the read-option, he is good at it. Marshawn is remarkably good at reading that stuff. Thomas has benefited from watching our cut-ups (tape) of Marshawn. We feel very confident we can run the thing, get the looks and take advantage of the things that pop up for us.

• See how it goes, why would we not? (Have Marshawn be RB1 when he comes back). Lets see how much we get to work Thomas and how Marshawn heals. Of course he is the guy we lean on.

• What we miss losing Marshawn besides rushing the football: Marshawn is a great receiver as a RB. He can run routes, run out of the backfield, he has a great sense. When Russ moves around he is very instinctive.

• Thomas has a similar attitude, with his attack mode, but "beastmode" you know, he's got a nickname, obviously he has done something.

• In the first half he had to slow down because Rawls had 11 carries after about 10 minutes of the game, so supplement him with Fred Jackson to not over work him. Even Derrick Coleman will help us as well, we will see what Bryce Brown can bring as well.

• We have become more proficient doing what we are doing rushing the ball. Think Patrick Lewis has really helped us. He has done a nice job for us. We haven't changed anything, we are just continuing to grow, we have improved. With Patrick in we have improved, a nice uptick. Hopefully we can keep growing.

• Patrick Lewis took part in walk-through. Will be limited in practice but will be fine to play.

• Rawls is very quick, he can bounce side to side and has good lateral movement. Sometimes he almost looks like he surprises himself with his cut, then is apt to make another big cut in the same run. Stays on the attack.

• Don't have any concern with Rawls being too physical, don't want to change that about him. But we have talked about how there have been opportunities where he could have made someone miss and go for more yardage instead of attacking the defender and going down.

• Rawls is like Marshawn in some ways, is more like LenDale White than he was like Reggie (when asked to compare Rawls to RB's Pete has coached).

• It was hard for Drew Nowak, so as Pete looks back now he would have liked to give Patrick a chance earlier to see what he could do, thought Nowak's learning curve would happen faster. Will say yes that he wishes we started with Patrick from the start, but Pete did want to see how Nowak would develop.

• Lemuel Jeanpierre has played Guard and Center, that is why he has been up and Drew is down but who is up depends on who is the backup Center. Lem has more flexibility.

• There is a little frustration there for Tyler Lockett, he thought when he got kicked the ball he would score like he did. The opposing teams are doing a great job trying to take him out of the return game. But there are a lot of punts & kickoffs left. It was fortunate he was also getting play at WR so he could contribute in other ways.

• Doug Baldwin's ankle is a little bit sore. He went through the walk-through, won't miss the game, but B.J. Daniels being activated is tied to Doug being hurt.

• Steelers defense doesn't look much different without Dick LeBeau. They are a 3-4 team moving all around, every angle you can pressure from and they do it a lot. They give up some yards at times but they are really good scoring wise and tough against the run.

• Cary Williams is anxious to compete his way back, his attitude is right on point.

• Cary needs to be more consistent. Need to make the adjustments as we go along. He is new to the system and he will work really hard at it. He has been playing hard and tough. Wait and see if Cary will start will compete this week to start.

• Big Ben puts incredible strain on the secondary because he gets second and third chances with his movement in the pocket avoiding sacks. He is such an accurate thrower that he takes advantage of small windows.

• Antonio Brown is right on top when asked if he is the best receiver we have seen this year. He is as big a threat as there is in the league.

• Don't know if we will use Richard Sherman on Brown (smiles).

• Jeremy Lane will be active, if he makes it through the week he will dress and play.

• Don't want to dress Lane to not play him.

• Paul Richardson is trying to make it back but it will be really close, game day decision, same for Bruce Irvin.

• From what Pete has gather Superbowl 40 was a bad memory, heard about it from Matt Hasselbeck. "Some officiating challenges and stuff like that..I'm not surprised the 12's are still riled up about that."

• Could look at the TEs having big games as the wide receivers not doing much. If they are under control he doesn't care about the numbers, but if they are getting over top then that is a problem. We play a lot of zone so there is room for that.

• The doctor fixed a couple things with Marshawn, not sure what they call the surgery.

Richard Sherman:

Video Link

• Antonio Brown is quick, he's fast, he gets in and out of his breaks. Him and Big Ben know each other really well so they can play backyard football.

• Defending a small guy or a big guy is the same challenge.

• Gotta understand when Ben is in and out of the pocket, rules change when he leaves the pocket.

• Not once asks to cover someone, does what he is told. Get caught up looking forward to things, getting up (peaks and valleys) for certain guys.

• Hope Big Ben is under center, have to roll with the punches, play by play, sometimes he will sit in the pocket, sometimes he will roll out, sometimes he will scramble and sometimes they will run the ball.

• Jeremy Lane being back will be awesome. He will be jacked up and awesome I am sure. He would want to start if it was up to him. Probably wants to match up with Antonio Brown, that is the type of player he is.

• Have had numerous talks with Marshawn recently, he is in good spirits. Has gotten through 9 years or so without needing a surgery so he was surprised how it went down.

• It will be fine in the locker room without him. He will come back like he never left, we have a strong leadership in the locker room. Nobody is perfect, everybody makes mistakes. We support Cary through good times and bad, those things happen to the best of us. Think he will bounce back well.

• Saw consistency out of DeShawn Shead when he took over. He has heavy hands, tackles big, is always in the right spot.

• Think getting back to game speed is by a player by player basis (in regards to Lane). Some it might take no time (like Kam Chancellor) and some it might take a year.

• Sherman's kid has two teeth so he will get a little turkey in him. Wouldn't be fair to have it on their plate and him not get some. Will be awesome.

• See similarities between the Steelers passing attack and the Cardinals. They like to take their shots so it will be a fun game.

• There is no book on how you defend a scrambling QB, it is play to play, each guy does it different.

• Doug Baldwin is not difficult to recover, just kidding! He is really tough to cover, he can go anywhere and you can barely tough him in today's game. You have to allow him to run anywhere he wants to, and when you have a shifty receiver and a QB that is scrambling it is really difficult. Thankfully the rules change a bit when the QB leaves the pocket.

Relevant Tweets:

• @JasonPuckett20 Baldwin sat down w/ us, @IanFurnessSea , said his comments about leaving plays on the field was not directed at Wilson. Instead Baldwins comments directed at ppl who feel that Bevell can't call plays. Said the #1 thing missing this yr is enthusiasm.

My Thoughts:

• Assuming Rawls and Fred stay healthy, this Marshawn injury couldn't have gone any better than it has. Of course I don't want Marshawn to be injured and I love and respect the Beast for everything he has done. But Rawls has clearly been the more effective and productive RB, and Rawls getting 3-5 weeks to show what he can do as the teams RB1 is fantastic. It is a great workload previous for us moving forward (2016 and beyond) and it will be a great test to see what level of production he can get against different rushing defenses (Steelers ranked 4th in NFL in rushing D). I asked a doctor if Marshawn getting ~4 weeks to heal will be like an extended Bye Week for him, that the rest of his body will heal and he will get fresh legs and he said yes. That makes me very excited for the possibility of getting Marshawn back Week 16 or 17 (maybe the first playoff game) and him being ready to go full Beastmode with fresh legs.

• I don't hate Cary like some of the people on here I have seen, but he has had some poor games. I think it comes with the territory considering he is a vet CB with years and years of habits and experience that don't mesh with our technique and scheme. I think he deserves the right to bounce back, compete for the spot and earn it back if he can. However for this game against Big Ben and these WR's I think I would rather Shead play. Unless Cary is on a WR that he matches up very well on, I like the consistency of Shead, and hearing that he is the best and most consistent at forcing fumbles, I would rather have Shead play and the odds CB2 gets a pick or turnover be higher than if Cary was playing.

• The comments about Patrick Lewis were surprisingly candid and I am glad Pete made them. I definitely agree with the overall sentiment that it isn't a surprise to see the correlation between better O-line play and Patrick starting (though I do think each new linemen is developing well). I do think starting Lewis against teams that would have already been tough (Rams, Packers, Bengals) earlier in the season would have given us a bit better odds to win. If you can have a level of stability and improved communication at Center even with issues elsewhere on the line, you should do it.

• The overall point about TE play against our Defense is worth repeating. What Pete was talking about is how we don't give up big games and TD's to WR's rarely ever. So play inside the numbers because the area that Offenses attack more. Because we play a lot of Zone inside there are spots that TE's can make their hay. A TE can finish a game with 100 yards and a TD but because our D stuffed the run and shut down the WR's the opposing team loses. Pete is saying he doesn't care about stats in that situation, you are funneling production inside and as long as you aren't getting beat over the top by TE's then you should be fine. I do believe he thinks there is room for improvement, specifically that Kam (and in some cases Earl) can defend against TE's running seams which end up scoring (Bengals, Panthers, Cards, etc) better and prevent those plays from succeeding. A great example of this is 49er TE Vance McDonald, who had his career best performance against us (4 receptions on 4 targets with 65 yards receiving with a 16.3 yard average, a 36 yard long and 1 TD. That TD (his career first) coming on a preventable seam route in the red zone. And yet we won that game but a significant margin and defensively played a pretty great game besides one or two drives.