Pete Carroll Monday press conference notes

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll spoke to the media on Monday afternoon and I took some notes on what was discussed.

Coach Carroll:

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• We were able to get the film looked at, follow up on the opinions of the game. We really did the things we had hoped for in that game. Looked like a complete effort, we were real pleased to get that done last week. But that was last week, we are moving forward to Baltimore, big trip. Very interesting team, how their season has gone. Feel good, got out the game pretty healthy.

• The return of Jeremy Lane and the emergence of DeShawn Shead along with considerations of special teams is what lead to Cary Williams getting cut. Our guys came back to us and it gave us an opportunity to go with them.

• Cary had a short amount of time to learn our technique and the specifics. Feel more comfortable with the guys that have been with us.

• Carroll says they "possibly" need to re-think bringing in free agent veteran cornerbacks in the future because of how specific our technique is.

• Cary was a real pro after being benched, his attitude was excellent. He worked hard in practice and all of that. It didn't change him at all.

• We will do something with that open roster spot.

• Jeremy felt a lot better after this game than he did a week ago. He will be battling for more playing time, will also be pushing Shead for time out there also. Felt that spot was filled up, have bigger concerns elsewhere.

• Pete is really excited about Frank Clark. Whenever you can add a guy that can run that fast and has that quickness and energy Frank Clark brings is exciting. The speed he plays next to with Cliff Avril, Bruce Irvin and Mike Bennett, it could be a real asset for us. If we can get cued in on how to use him it can create big problems. He will play more. That was a lot of activity for just under 30 plays.

• Will keep Frank more inside than outside in 3rd down packages, but we will have flexibility and we will take advantage of match-ups with our guys. He is a equipped outside pass rusher as well. He gives us flexibility to do stuff.

• Think Clark has been good the whole time. Clark could have had 3 sacks, maybe even 4 Sunday. Not quite sure what we got in Frank and what it will turn into but we are excited about it.

• Frank was more comfortable outside. That is where he had his background. That along with us feeling good about Jordan Hill had us trying to feature him, trying to help Mike-B out in the rotation along with Cliff. Have a lot of information now so we think we will zero in on the best way to use him.

• Ultimately you have to stop big plays from happening to be a good team. The whole point is to slow guys down and get opportunities to do something. It is hard to get it done, to stop big passes. It is hard to get it done, you have to function really well and a lot of contributions are required.

• Paul Richardson had time to heal but there was uncertainty in the recovery. The way it showed up on the MRI made it look like would it be three weeks or five weeks? Looked like an unpredictable return. Felt really bad for him because he is such a cool kid and worked really hard to get back. Have to look forward to having a great off-season.

• He (Paul) had a setback in recovery last week.

• No need of surgery to recover. No talk of that at all. He is a sprinter, some guys will come back from this injury more quickly. The time frame we gave him wasn't just right.

• Reports are Marshawn Lynch is doing really well. It is so much to ask him to jump back after three weeks, don't even know how we could think that way. But this is week three. He left Philly. "He is at large" in regards to where he currently is located.

• Heard about Darrell Bevell being a BYU coaching candidate walking down the hall just now. He is a fantastic candidate to be a head coach one day. Doesn't know if Bevell is interested.

• The last couple of weeks have felt very familiar. The approach the players have held onto the past few weeks feels very similar to what we have had the last few years. Really hopeful we can capture the essence of it going forward. Like the way it feels, like the way they have responded. They are really anxious to keep it going. We haven't done anything yet, we are just making progress in the middle of the season.

• Do think it helps us that it is familiar that we have had to get back on track. Rarely does a season go like it is for Carolina where you just keep going and we are equipped to finish strong, our mentality is there. At this point we are healthy enough. We can put out a good looking group on both sides of the ball. Training staff was instrumental in changing the tempo in practice last week. Slowed down in practice so the guys could recover and get fresh and then upped the tempo on Friday to get everybody flying.

• In reference to Jimmy when Thomas Rawls scored his TD he did a Jimmy Graham spike tribute. We mishandled one ball on one play at TE, other than that Luke made two really good plays, Cooper did stuff for us, we blocked alright. Always miss a player like Jimmy though.

• Don't think Doug Baldwin is doing anything different this year. Think the emergence of his time spent in our offense and time with Russell and the coaches getting him in the right spot. He has always been a play maker, remember he set records his rookie year (most first downs by a rookie FA since whenever or something). Think he is at his best. He is as clear as he has ever been as a pro. Natural progression of an athlete emerging.

• The execution of the style, things we have tweaked here and there have lead to Russell in the pocket. Pete isn't surprised unlike others to see Russell playing as well as he has in the pocket. Have seen the guys around him also grow, the protection has improved dramatically. Think it is a combination of factors, his receivers are showing up big too.

• Patrick Lewis has been really consistent, he has communicated really well as an experienced player (which we tried to draw out him earlier). He is a good technician and effort guy, he finishes well. Not the biggest guy in the world but likes giving him credit because that change is the biggest obvious difference on the O-line as we have seen improvement.

• Went back to fundamentals, strictly, after giving up all those yards against the Steelers. Did as good a job as all the way back to the Denver game with how we attacked on defense. You saw a shift in the tightness of our zone play.

• Wait and see if we get Demarcus Dobbs and Jordan Hill back this week.

• Given the opportunity to connect with Tom Cable to get him to come here was his commitment to the zone running game. Had watched him coach on the practice field and saw the result of his years of experience. Pete's job was to put him in a position where he can be really successful. Has absolute trust, we do a lot of stuff together in this, one of Pete's favorite parts of the team is when he works with Tom. If they differ they are just battling to figure out what is best for everybody. Very healthy relationship. Trusts the heck out of him.

• Never had a "what the heck is going on here?" with the O-line. Had to make adjustments to make the ball come out of the QB's hands quicker. Had to fix what was going on in the protection game. Thought we'd come along faster than we did, made some decisions and moves that we thought would help us. The guys have done a great job adjusting. Improved pass protection is "probably the single most significant change that has happened during the course of the year."

• A.J. Francis got some play time, he played big and it was good to get him started.

• Came out of the game really clean injury wise.