Pete Carroll, Doug Baldwin, Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman press conference notes

Pete Carroll, Doug Baldwin, Russell Wilson, and Richard Sherman spoke to the media after the Seahawks' 39-30 win over the Steelers, and I took notes.

Coach Carroll:

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• What a football game, golly. So many plays, so many challenges back and forth for both teams. Feel we got a win over a very, very good football team. Great job not turning it over on offense, got some picks in a bunch, who woulda thought Ahtyba Rubin would get one? Russell Wilson played like crazy, his receivers were all over it. We were good on 3rd down, good in the red zone. Doug Baldwin had a crazy game. DeShawn Shead had a great game, couldn't get challenged more than that. Had incredible accuracy with their throws. Had a lot of yards. Very, very interesting game to watch. Happy to get the win. Played really hard, ready to move onto the next step. Jimmy Graham needs surgery on his patellar tendon. Very grateful he has been on our team, he was going to have a huge day today. "We're gonna miss the heck out of him for the rest of the season."

• Might have converted five 3rd and 10 or more. Fantastic job by the guys in protection, the throwing, the catch and the yards after catch. Russell is okay, but was sick, Thomas Rawls was under the weather as well.

• Unorthodox way for us to play to win a football game. The last two games Russ has been playing lights out, and we need it, we need everything. Wanted to give Shead a chance to play, he has been battling like crazy. There was a little opening there for him to come in and compete. Think he had a fantastic game. Richard Sherman really had a fantastic day too against a fantastic football player (Antonio Brown). We forced the ball to the other guys but unfortunately we couldn't stop those guys very well.

• To get those yards they had to take chances and our guys could make plays. We need to do better, there are so many plays out there we can go back and coach up and fix. But that is a fantastic football team so take that into account.

• We were prepared for the fake, and we played it perfectly.

• Russell and the receivers were so synced up today. The Doug Baldwin long touchdown was a crazy catch.

• Doesn't know a time table with Jimmy but the season is over.

• Have seen Russell throwing better in the pocket all year. He is confident standing in the pocket. You can see when he is in there he is really solid. It is an emerging aspect of our team. We got legit progress in pass protection.

• We started getting on top of this .500 thing.

• Heck ya, finally the turnover margin made sense. Plus-4 today.

• Let's see how we come out of it. The play is so solid across the board. This is what happens when teams get going.

• Holding the opposing offense to field goals was huge. We needed every one of them obviously.

• Mixed the pressures to get to Big Ben in the second half.

• Can't tell you how Jeremy Lane did, made some plays but had some missed tackles. This is like a first preseason game for him. Fantastic for him to get that big play (INT).

• Think we have been making progress for more than two weeks, more like five

• Disappointed we haven't been able to knock any of these 2 extra points in.

• We've had our problems even kicking the extra point, it is a factor (rule change).

• Think going to Luke Willson a little bit of something Darrell Bevell wanted to hit after Jimmy went out.

• Pete Carroll on his offensive coordinator: "Bev called a fantastic game."

• DeMarcus Dobbs and Will Tukuafu had head injuries, concussion symptoms, will be very patient and take great care of those guys.

Doug Baldwin:

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• Phenomenal being above .500 for once this season, it's a relief. It was a team effort. This whole team. It was an unbelievable win for us. Don't discredit the Steelers, who came in with a great game plan.

• Knew it was man-to-man, shook my head to Russ, he threw the ball a little early, "it caught me" and then I got a chance to make a play. (80-yard TD reception).

• Last time he got 3 touchdowns in a game was probably little league, and he was a running back so he got more opportunities.

• First time he has been able to get a stiff arm like that since college, meant something to him.

• Big being so effective on 3rd down. 3rd down directly correlates to scoring offense. When we are moving the chains we are keeping our defense off the field and giving ourselves a chance to score. Gives us an opportunity to win ball games.

• Caught passes like that from Andrew Luck in college, where the ball "caught me."

• Been stressing we have to play consistently all along. Has been saying we have to do better on 3rd down and in the red zone, we are doing that now.

• Could see Russell's focus was a little bit more sharp, not that it isn't always sharp. Could see the killer instinct in his eyes. Plays his best with his back against the wall.

• Yah, Russell had the sniffles but he was alright.

• (Route on 2nd TD) Play-design, great play-call by Darrell Bevell, the way he designed that, something specific for this defense, called it perfectly.

• Heart breaking loss to lose Jimmy. Everyone loves him in the locker-room and he prepares so hard. Never wanna see anybody go down, and if they do, hopefully it is not a season ending injury. If anyone can come back from it, Jimmy can, he is the man.

• Never go into a game thinking we will need to score this many points, we expect like our defense will shut everybody out.

• First time in four or five years that when the opposing offense has scored more than 24 points that we have won. We as an offense wanted to do better, to Doug it means a lot, same with other guys in the locker-room on offense. We didn't want to just lean on our defense all the time.

• They were trying to stop the run, playing off zone. In crunch time they were playing more man. Took advantage when they did.

• Not that often we get up and open field like that, he did wonder where everybody else was at. Gotta give a shout out to his boy Tyler Lockett, he is fast but Tyler is faster, he caught up and made a block so I could score. Can't thank him enough for that. Epitome of our team, doesn't matter who has the ball in their hand, or what anybody else is doing, we are all fighting for each other.

• Have a big crate at home he puts all his TD balls into, game balls will go into there and will find something to do with them at some point.

• Sherman at his best is when you can tell him "hey you got this guy, stop him". That is a competitors dream. You can go out there and just be you. Sherman is the epitome of alpha male, alpha competitor. His focus earlier in the week in practice was above and beyond after he was told he'd get Antonio Brown.

• Doug addressed the team before the 49ers game, why? The game before that Marshawn came up to us on the sideline against the Cardinals, after a couple of 3 & Outs not doing anything offensively, he pulled us over and for the first time he has done this in public, and told us he doesn't recognize this offense, that he doesn't recognize these players, we look unfamiliar. Went back and watched the NFC Championship game three years ago and he was right, before the 49ers games last week I asked us why do the same guys look different? Why when we add Jimmy who was supposed to make us better do we look like this? Also said some other stuff I can't repeat. Us getting back to playing Seahawks football and having fun playing.

Russell Wilson:

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• Feeling good, obviously to get a huge win against a very good football team, we are battle tested, continue to stay the course, battling to find a way.

• Doesn't feel too good (sick), but feels good to win especially on your birthday.

• Thinks he has had three IVs today, been up early today. Relying on his teammates to make plays. Doug, Jermaine, Jimmy, to lose him really hurts, he is such a great teammate. Obviously a phenomenal football player and person. O-line blocked very well against the Steelers defense, a very good front-7.

• Obviously when you are 3rd and 10 plus multiple times, you can't check out. You have to believe you can make the 1st down, gotta trust your reads. Was huge. Gotta do a better job keeping the game out of 3rd and long.

• Passion of the game and his teammates got him through today. Love the game. The fire that we brought together.

• Think it is the flu or he ate something funny or something. Probably just the flu though. Woke up at 5:45am and didn't look too good, was fine last night.

• Thought we did a great job tonight on offense. We hung in there, we kept battling. We played relentless football. Collective team effort.

• Doug and Jermaine are so consistent, they are clutch, they rise to the occasion. They fight for 1st downs and touchdowns. Other guys elevate because of those two in practice as well.

• Gotta remember we played good teams early in the season, we had to move guys around, but wouldn't want to play behind a different O-line. We did great with 3rd downs, in the red zone.

• Luke Willson works so hard, when he gets in there it isn't a surprise to make great plays. He prepares so hard. Heartbreaker to lose Jimmy. Cooper Helfet too can play great football, next guys have to step up.

• Gotta keep the momentum going our way. Have to prepare and step up across the board.

• Expectations with Jimmy, he has definitely accomplished those. Have we wanted more TDs in the red zone? Yeah but we have a great red zone run game to, we've got options down there. He has made such great catches and plays and has such fire, he is a winner no matter the circumstances. We love him to death, he is a great friend and player and teammate.

• Normally gets more sleep, didn't get too much tonight. Gotta find a way to win. Probably would say it was the toughest to play through of his career (in terms of health).

• Go Hawks!

Richard Sherman:

• (Was asked how it felt to play AB 1-on-1 the way he did after analysts said he couldn't); Sherman: "I mean, you hear idiots say a lot of stuff. People can't play. They don't play the game. They don't have talent. So they can sit there and say everything from a couch, from an armchair. But we all know what's good. We all know what it is as players. There's a tremendous respect amongst the guys on the field. Their team had a great respect for me, and we had a great respect for their receiving corps, and it's back and forth. You see people who've never played the game, who've never coached the game, who've never stepped foot on the field talk about how you're not good against smaller receivers. You can't call that. You don't have enough knowledge. You don't have enough intimate details. You don't even know the game. You have very low football IQ. So it's tough to take those people serious, but we went out there and excuted today."

• (Was asked about longtime teammate Doug Baldwin); Sherman: "Doug could easily be one of the best receivers in this league. If he got those kind of targets, if he was featured in the offense, I think he'd be right up there, top five in catches and yards and touchdowns, but unfortunately he has a different job title in our offense. And he takes that in stride and continues to fight. But today finally he had the kind of game that he can have week in and week out if he's featured. And I'm just proud to see that."

Relevant Tweets:

• @ProFootballDoc David J. Chao, MD: 6-9 months recovery timeline for patella tendon repair. Similar to Victor Cruz last season.

• @Matt_Calkins Asked Michael Bennett how Russell was today. "Russell Crowe or Russell Wilson? Russell Crowe hasn't made a good movie since Gladiator."

• @johnpboyle Doug Baldwin also established career highs with 145 yards and 3 TDs. First Seahawk w/ 3 TD catches since Joey Galloway in 1997.

• @gbellseattle 20th game Russell Wilson threw multiple TD passes without an interception. Most by any player in his 1st 4 NFL yrs since '70 merger #Seahawks

• @Curtis_Crabtree Seattle at Baltimore has moved to 10 a.m. PT, (1 p.m. ET) in Week 14. Was flexed out of SNF. Game will be on FOX.

• @scohenPI DeShawn Shead with 4 passes defended. Thought he played very well today despite some unbelievable plays from Martavis Bryant.

• @hawkblogger After converting a season-low 13% of their 3rd downs vs ARZ, the Seahawks have converted 15 of their last 27 (55.6%) 3rd downs.

• @hawkblogger The Seahawks were 4-4 in the red zone today. After converting 29.4% in Games 1-8, they have converted 80% over their last 3 (8 for 10).

• @hawkblogger No other team has had 5 third down conversions of 10+ yards this season in a game. Not Aaron Rodgers, Not Tom Brady, Nobody, except RW & Co.

• @hawkblogger After averaging 353.1 yards per game in games 1-8, the Seahawks offense is averaging 429 ypg over their last 3. #1 offense in NFL = 412.4ypg