Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll
Opening Remarks:
"It was a really fine football game for us. To play such a good team, and a team that we respect so much, and a team that has been hot and all that in a place where they've been winning and doing great. We take a lot out of this. This was a really nice effort across the board. Our defense came back again for the third week in a row – just playing the way that we hoped we would play and really set the stage for the game. We had to be very resourceful to get our yards on offense. They did a nice job up front. We found our ways, but it wasn't pretty. By the time it was over, we had a nice day. When you go back to this game, it will be third downs and we did a good job on defense on third downs and on offense on third downs. We kept the ball and we got them out of there. We take a lot out [of the win] because they are such a good football team and in a very difficult setting. So we were happy to get this one."
On how Seahawks QB Russell Wilson was able to get the offense going in the third quarter:
"I thought he played phenomenal in the first half. Somebody said, 'What are we going to do to get him going?' Well maybe his completion percentage wasn't much, but we were moving the football and getting down the field. It just wasn't normal. I felt like we just settled down, made a couple real nice adjustments at halftime and everybody just played really good solid football. The big turnover to start the thing was a really big boost and almost the other one too on the kickoff, which would have been cool. I thought [QB] Russell [Wilson] played a terrific football game and his guys played really well around them. [RB] Marshawn [Lynch] just ran like he was a wild man out there. Again, the guys up front did a really good job for him."
On whether he was surprised that his team was able to hold a Chip Kelly offense to the fewest yards ever, on any level:
"I have tremendous respect for everything that he has done and all that. And the fact that that happened today, I don't know anything about that, but I do know about our guys playing defense. They took this challenge very, very much to heart because they respect them – what they did, the tempo, their background, the terrific players that they have and all of that. So these guys on defense can do a lot of stuff now. They can really play when they're playing like this and there's really nothing that they can't do when they're playing this tight and this close together. So the fact of some numbers or whatever, I don't know about that."
On how the team schemed to hold the Eagles offensively:
"We played our football. We have not changed for the last few years about how we do it. We can play our stuff really well and that's one aspect of it. It's the guys playing and playing it with the intensity and the energy that they're playing with that makes it work. It's not just the scheme at all. It's really [S] Kam [Chancellor] and [S] Earl [Thomas] and [DE] Michael Bennett and [LB] K.J. [Wright] and [LB] Bobby [Wagner] and all the guys – [CB Richard] Sherm[an]. They just will not back off this kind of station that we've acquired here in terms intensity and focus. They get it and they're going to try and ride it all the way to the end of this thing and see what happens."
On the effect CB Byron Maxwell had on the nickel coverage:
"It's a good match-up. For one it's a good match-up. [Eagles WR Jordan] Matthews got us once, but it was a good match-up we thought going in, so we had some good chances on him. I thought our guys covered really well. We made it hard on [Eagles QB] Mark [Sanchez] and there was not a lot of space out there to throw the football."
On the team hitting its stride during the final weeks of the season:
"This is the way we want to play – yeah. We did give the ball up one time today on offense on a phenomenal hit by their guy, but we're taking care of the ball in great fashion offensively. The defense continues to find the football for us a few times a game which is huge. And when we play the defense like we're playing, and we ran 180-something [yards] again – that's us. That's how we play. It hasn't been that way all season long, but it has seemed to come together here. So we're going to try to ride it. It's not about how you start, it's how you finish, so we're going to see if we can finish in great fashion here."
On how important it was to keep the Eagles offense off the field:
"Yeah, it's got to be frustrating. They didn't get many plays today and that's not the way they're used to playing, so we were able to handle that – the tempo and all the stuff that's part of the make-up of their offense and play our football, which is really good. It's a really good job by [Defensive Coordinator] Dan Quinn and the guys on defense preparing the guys and the players understanding what they're up against and they took it to the game and executed it really well. They did give a lot of people problems and we were very fortunate today."
On whether he knew the total number of plays that the team held the Eagles to would be indicative of the win:
"That wasn't really, we never think that we can hold them to under 50 plays in the game. We didn't think that we could do that and we didn't talk about that. But what happened was we played really good football and all the other things that go along with it – that's the conversion on third down, taking care of the ball – other than the one turnover in the first half – we were pretty much on it. So if we knew exactly that this would happen … it's playing football and we put together a great night."
On whether the offense played better in the second half:
"Yeah I did. I thought we came off the ball better. I thought the line of scrimmage was more under control. I don't know what the third downs were in the second half but I just felt like we were able to convert and make things happen. The drive right before halftime was a really big statement too for us. We got a chance to get ahead. One minute and thirty-four seconds and we're behind the sticks a couple times in that drive. We made a couple catches and throws and getting three points was a big deal as tight as this game was. So there's a lot of really cool things that happened here when you look back at this game. To hold it together, holding the score down and all of that and then take advantage of our opportunities."
On some of the younger guys coming up with big plays today:
"Yeah I love it. Yeah I love when those guys can contribute like that. We're playing these guys like the regulars. Like we said earlier, we hope to get to the second half of the season and the guys you've been kind of nurturing along now can become regulars and those guys are doing that. So [CB] Tharold [Simon] makes a big play today, as you said, and to see [DT] Jordan [Hill] get a sack and put some pressure on, he had a couple of nice tackles in the backfield as well, that's fantastic for us that those guys are able to contribute."
On whether CB Tharold Simon is okay:
"Yeah, he dislocated a finger."
On other injuries:
"[DE Demarcus] Dobbs sprained his ankle. That was it."
*On promoting WR Chris Matthews to punt returner: *
"Yeah, we thought that [WR] Chris [Matthews] had done a lot of good stuff way back when as a special teams player. We thought we needed a little boost. It actually affected some other guys too by using him where we did, it allowed us to move some other guys around back to their home spots and we thought that would really help us. He's a big body and he really is aggressive in the situation we put him in. He was a good contributor today. The ball was punted and it was really hard, the ball was all over the place tonight. The wind was pretty tricky and [WR] Doug [Baldwin] taking some decisions to not have to handle a couple, it hurt us a few yards, but I didn't care. It was better than forcing the issue. Sometimes that's a problem. But the kicks were so funky, they were all over the place tonight and they had trouble on one too. So I don't have any problem with that. We'll be a little better at that, but I told them don't even catch it. Let it hit the ground. It's not going to make a difference you know, if it's difficult it's more important to take care of the ball."
*On P Jon Ryan's bobbled snap and losing the football: *
"I don't know how that happened. [P] Jon [Ryan], he has caught a million footballs and I said, 'Hey Jon, you caught a million of them, the next one that's going to happen, it'll be 10 years from now so I don't have to worry about it."
