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Lopsided Loss At Green Bay Was "Such A Rare Occurrence" For Seahawks

Seahawks players and head coach Pete Carroll react to the team's Week 14 loss at Green Bay.

GREEN BAY, Wis.—What happened Sunday in Green Bay was something most players on the Seahawks roster had never before experienced in their NFL career.

It wasn't that the Seahawks lost to the Packers at Lambeau Field that was so unusual—though they don't often lose this time of year—it was how they lost, falling 38-10 to the Packers.

"This is such a rare occurrence for our team," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "We've been playing for a lot of years and not seen a game like this. It's just something at this time we have to push behind us and keep going. We have Thursday coming up, everybody in that locker room is glad we are playing Thursday and we're going to respond to go take care of business, and get going here in the last three games of the year. I don't have much for you. It was a miserable night."

Before Sunday's game, the Seahawks had gone more than five years without being blown out. No team wins every week in the NFL, nor do they play their very best every time they take the field, but what the Seahawks had done was find a way to be competitive in every game regardless of the circumstances. Since a Week 8 loss to Cincinnati in 2011, the Seahawks had not lost a game by more than 10 points, an NFL-record streak of 95 straight games, postseason included.

"Yeah, it was a different feeling for all of us," Carroll said. "We don't remember those days. How many years ago was that? We've had a remarkable run. It's the kind of stat that you really don't want to be proud of, but it's a remarkable run, and it's because of those guys in that room fighting, crawling, and scratching, and playing so good for so long. This was a night that just seems so out of character that we need to move on as quickly as we can. And fortunately, it's Thursday night."

The reasons for Seattle's first blowout loss in five years were obvious. The offense turned the ball over six times, including a career-high five interceptions thrown by Russell Wilson, and the defense struggled to keep Aaron Rodgers and his weapons in check, in part, Carroll noted, because "we didn't rush the passer very well."

"All around, the defense gave up points where we usually don't, turnovers, special teams, everything," defensive end Cliff Avril said. "I think everyone needs look themselves in the mirror and see where they can get better. We've got a quick turnaround this week, so we've got to break down the film, get better and move on, that's what it all boils down to."

But just because the Seahawks know what went wrong and believe they can fix it, that didn't make it any easier to stomach the type of loss that most of the roster had never before been a part of in the NFL.

"It hurt pretty bad, it's kind of embarrassing," linebacker K.J. Wright said. "But there's a lot we can take from it. We know this isn't us, it's just one of those days. We'll be fine, I believe this team will respond well. We're resilient, we'll be good."

Added linebacker Bobby Wagner: "It sucked to lose like this, but we play on Thursday, so we've got to refocus real quick and not let this happen again… I'm not used to this feeling, and it's not a feeling a want to get used to. So it's just back to the drawing board and make sure this doesn't happen again."

As Carroll and many players pointed out, the Seahawks have a chance to get past this loss quickly thanks to a Thursday night game at home against the Los Angeles Rams.  

"We don't have to wait until Sunday to get this off of our brains," Wagner said. "The faster we digest this film and get onto the next game, the faster we can let this one go."

Said safety Kam Chancellor: "We've got a game on Thursday, we've to put this behind us and move forward. We got our butts kicked right now, but we've got to put it behind us. We can't dwell on it, because we've got to prepare for the next game."

Yet as badly as things went for the Seahawks Sunday, they also remain confident in their team going forward. As Richard Sherman noted, even the Super Bowl-winning 2013 team had a bad performance in a home loss to Arizona late that season, and as much as the Seahawks don't like the way they played in Green Bay, they also know they can clinch a division title with one more win, and are still in contention for first-round bye if they can finish the year strong.

"We've got the right guys in the locker room, we've got the right coaches, we've got the right players, we believe," said Wilson. "We've had a great season so far, we just want to keep going. Unfortunately we came here and had a tough loss—they played way better than we did—so we move on to the next game."

Carroll said the process of putting this performance behind them already started when the team met in the locker room immediately after the game.

"It's really important that we handle this properly," Carroll said. "We have a work to do. We have a lot stuff out in front of us at the end of this season, and we have to be together in putting this behind us and moving forward. That has already taken place, we've already done that." 

Action photos from the Seahawks' Week 14 game against the Packers at Green Bay's Lambeau Field.

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