Seahawks beat Bears: Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson press conference notes

Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson spoke to reporters following the Seahawks' 26-0 win over the Bears on Sunday. Here are some notes on what was said.

First published on Reddit.

Pete Carroll

Video Link

• Lot of really good things happened today for us. Holding a team in the NFL to zero points is so hard. Fantastic job by our defense. Defensive staff and Kris Richard are jacked up (happy) and the players are for them too. First half we got screwed up, 3rd and shorts we didn't convert. 0 for 6 in the first half. Once we started getting our 3rd downs in the second half things went better for us. Really good day on ST. Big day for Jimmy Graham and Russell Wilson, now that you look at it he has 6 (receptions) the first game, 7 today, there was one game in the middle we didn't like (Packers). Got a MNF game coming up that we gotta get ready for.

• ST staff saw an opportunity, we tried and it and we did it (Sherman/Lockett fake punt return)

• Thought Lockett's return was really good because I saw the whole thing. Was so perfectly blocked, Tyler was untouched. Great boost, we are counting on him being a factor. Seeing him show up so soon is great.

• Nothing to be alarmed about with Marshawn Lynch. He was slow getting through his pre-game routine. He had a calf (injury) earlier he was dealing with, hammy bothering him today, tried to go out there and do a little bit of running and couldn't get it going.

• Brandon Mebane did have an issue with his groin, don't know how (severe) it is yet.

• Kam Chancellor wasn't gassed, he was having fun. With so many three and outs he stayed real fresh. Love that the fans responded how they did.

• This was another game where we didn't get the third downs in the first half and it prevents you from getting into a rhythm. Once we got into the second half we started getting the 3rd downs and everything started looking good. It's not smooth yet, it is a work in progress. Unfortunately we got pass rushed more than we thought we would.

• Kam did have an impact to the defense. "He made us whole" coming back.

• Has looked forward to using Thomas Rawls, how he ran today was exactly what we saw in college. Had a fantastic day. Guys are really fired up for him. Everybody loves everything about him. Were looking for the chance to use him.

• We had some other really good plans to get Jimmy the ball today too but they just didn't happen.

• Need to look at the film to judge O-line.

• Tried to play Frank Clark a lot more. Tried to double his work load.

• Luke Willson had back spasms that came up late in the week. He could have played, he is an amazing healer, but thought we could hold him out and have him ready for next week. He was upset he wanted to play so bad but Cooper Helfet played really well and Will Tukuafu at TE (blocking) too.

• Think Tukuafu got his ankle rolled up on at the end of the game but should be okay.

• What I loved about Kris Richard getting the Gatorade bath is the players are excited for him. They love the guy.

Russell Wilson:

Video Link

• Made a lot of great plays especially in the second half. Jimmy had a great game tonight. Jermaine Kearse made a lot of catches too.

• Obviously you want to start fast but you want to finish strong.

• No huddle picked up the tempo a bit, some guys made some big plays, we got the ball moving right before the half. We get the kick off return after the half, that sparked things up. We were struggling on 3rd and short, we had to battle their defense for that. But second half we played better.

• We have always been good in up-tempo/2 minute drill. We do a great job with time of possession which wins us a lot of games though (non up-tempo). Key is in no-huddle we gotta make plays and stay on schedule.

• Made the reads, Doug Baldwin on the flat, waited, saw Jimmy ran a nice in route and caught the ball and made a physical run to the end zone.

• Had to be patient, O-line blocked perfect, gave me the time to throw to Jimmy for the TD, is the key to it all.

• To have Kam back, a great player, a great leader, a great man, he elevates the locker-room that much more.

• Anytime you don't have Marshawn it is tough, but Rawls was lights out. He made some plays, had some cut backs. Rawls works at it every day so you aren't surprised. He is phenomenal in practice, he hustles to the end zone, has a lot of grit to him.

• Simple thing, not converting on third downs was the key to a poor first half.

• Game plan with Jimmy was no different this week. Plan is to throw to the right guy at the right time. First game he caught 6 or 7 balls, and then we played Green bay and we had plays setup for him but we got penalties on those. Every week we try to get better, it's as simple as that.

• Key is not to turn the ball over, stay on schedule. Goal is to score a lot of points and not give them the ball.

• Go Hawks!

My Thoughts:

• Playing Marshawn in this game given his health status was kinda dumb. I'm not a doctor but from what I know; when a player is injured, like say an ankle injury, they are prone to subconsciously compensating which can lead to other injuries like pulling a hammy. Now even if that is wrong, this game was such a lock that risking him just shouldn't have been done.

• Wow, Rawls...I love this guy. He seems like the perfect mixture of Beastmode and C-Mike. By that I mean he seems like a brawler, he can run inside the O-line and get sweet yardage, he can plow into a pile and churn his legs. He changes ball carrying hands for ball security. But he also (like C-Mike) can speed it outside and burn guys with his 4.4 speed. I am really excited for this guy. Question is: Going forward (without Marshawn) can he be our RB2? RB2 is a 3rd down and red zone back, which means a lot of pass catching. I doubt he is our RB1 if Lynch retires (I imagine we draft a RB1 in '16 draft) but can he be our RB2 and get a good amount of carries?

• Jimmy...god I love this guy. Don't consider me one of the 12's who were freaking out about getting him involved. Yes my first reaction when he doesn't get many targets is to question that, but I feel like the answers we got were solid. He got good action in the Rams game for a Seahawks receiver. In the second game things didn't go his way, not for lack of trying but sometimes stuff happens. But damn, he got the coming out party at home like I predicted. His blocking looks poor, in the replays I saw he was the reason for a sack and why a Lynch run got no yardage. He will improve because blocking is a skill that requires technique practice and repetition.

• Tyler Lockett has looked fantastic. He would have caught that deep ball for a big TD if it wasn't for the defender getting his hand on the ball before it got to Tyler. I don't fault that on Tyler at all. This kid is special, I truly believe he is a first round talent and if he was on a passing heavy team he'd have a 1,000 yard 7+ TD season.

• The first half offense was disappointing again. It really sucks to see our team start this way but I imagine it is just a fact given the youth of experience on the O-line we have. Not just that but Jimmy blocking was hurting us with a poor block by Jimmy leading to a sack and a poor block by Jimmy leading to Marshawn getting caught from behind for a no gain run.

• 2 minute offense (up-tempo/hurry-up) yet again looked nice, but I just want to reiterate to 12's that it isn't the end all be all. If you make your entire offense up-tempo you end up looking like the Eagles. Your play-call options on offense get shrunk and the personnel matchups you want to use can't be called because you aren't subbing in players. You aren't getting all the information you need to go into the half, study, adjust and come out picking at the weaknesses you found from the first half. It is hard to start a game in up-tempo because the opposing defense is the freshest they will be all game. O-line is hard to judge after watching the live broadcast copy of the game just once. Overall their play looked poor (especially Sweezy who gave up sacks back to back) in the first half. I think they will get flack for things they didn't do as well (again Jimmy getting beat). I liked seeing Tukuafu being used as a blocking TE, Alvin Bailey being used as a blocking TE, and apparently I heard Cooper Helfet actually blocked quite well in this game.

• Red Zone was somewhat disappointing. I was very happy to see a fade was thrown to Jimmy, and then a pass to Chris Matthews in attempt to get a TD before the half. It sucks both failed, but I feel like more often than not Jimmy will catch that, and the pass by Russ was poor to Matthews (was a fastball not a lofted up rainbow). Just gotta connect on those, if we were playing a legit team today those 4 points could have been the difference between a win and a loss.

Relevant Tweets:

• @bcondotta Kam Chancellor says everything felt normal. Chancellor says he could have played whole game and could play another one now.
• @bcondotta Sherman says Seahawks put in that return this week. Tough part is going from gunner on line to returning he said.
• @gbellseattle Jimmy Graham: "I didn't know I was frustrated last week. Just to clarify: I'm not frustrated at all. Because we won."
• @gbellseattle Richard Sherman said he knew all week #Seahawks were running Rams-style trick punt return with him vs CHI. But only practiced it 2 days.
• @Rand_Getlin Tyler Lockett is the 2nd rookie in @NFL history to have both a punt & kickoff-return TD in his team's first 3 games to start a season.
• @bcondotta Sherman says it was noticeable that people in right spots more often today with Chancellor back.
• @SheilKapadia Richard Sherman said the Seahawks just installed the trick punt return Friday. He got about three practice reps at it.
• @JacsonBevens In addition to being 7th in points allowed per game, the Seahawks defense now ranks 4th in yards allowed per game.
• @FieldGulls Jimmy Graham ~pace for 2015: 75 catches, 774 yards, 11 TD
• @gbellseattle Russell Wilson & Jimmy Graham have a shared saying around Seahawks locker room: "Don't matter." As in, don't matter if TE is covered.
• @johnpboyle Michael Bennett is just the best: "Big brother always wins. Just like the government. When you win, good things happen at night, your wife can't deny you when you win the game. When you lose, you get cut off."
• @SheilKapadia Per @ESPNStatsInfo, Seahawks RB Thomas Rawls averaged 3.56 yards after contact, the second most of any RB in a single game this season.