Featuring postgame quotes from the following:
Head Coach Pete Carroll
COACH CARROLL: Man, there just seems to be so many lessons for us right here. We have a big list. And there's some really obvious things, just trying to win a football game, the penalties and the special teams, the gimmes, the 100 yards in returns, something like that, setting up scores and all. It's really hard to win when you play like that. It's hard enough anyway. So there's big lessons. I have to really zero in on the guys that are having the problems, like Charles had problems on the line of scrimmage in this game, four penalties on procedure penalties and stuff that you can obviously clean up, little different situations. But you have to get that out of your football. You can't play football like that. It's bad. And so we'll learn a lot here. I'm not going to make any bellyaching about turning it around for Thursday night. We have to do that during the season. This is what you have to do, and we have to do it better than we did, regardless of what the travel was or whatever. That's no excuse. You have to get it done and both teams have to play fast. We'll learn from this. You saw that a lot of guys didn't play again tonight. And we're still working our way through that. We'll figure out what happens for us this week coming up. So one of the things I have to evaluate is where the errors are coming from and how meaningful it is. Our leverage on the return game was really bad on special teams for two weeks in a row. I don't remember us ever looking like that. So there's some things that -- some things and some people, there will be some changes. And we'll make those decisions as we go. We finally have a really cool week. This is a full week for us. We can get prepared and have good practices and get our work done, and really take our time getting through the week and the installation of the game plans and all that. So we'll really appreciate how that works. And then we'll come back after that with some really good time we need. We need every minute of it. The thing I have to stay up on is, where are we going. And I know that a lot of the guys that are not playing would be making some really nice plays for us. They'll be making some tackles and some hits and some catches. And we're counting on those guys. But otherwise you look at the game, it was not a great game for us at all, in any way. I will say this. The defense did a nice job. They hung in there pretty tough, didn't give up a lot of yards, did pretty good on third down. Three explosives for the night. Nice little stand down there on the 1-foot line, which is great. But all in all, we've got to a get better in a lot of areas.
Q. How is Damien Lewis?
COACH CARROLL: D-Lew (Damien Lewis), we're very fortunate. He had a lateral ankle sprain out of the deal. Got rolled up on and all that. All the X-rays and stuff were negative. Very fortunate there. He was upbeat about that a little bit. Maybe surprised by the results but we're thrilled by it as well. Geno banged his knee on the ground. Has a little bursa thing, like a bruised knee. Penny Hart was going to go into the game if we needed somebody in the second half. Geno could have gone back in. We were thinking about him coming back playing in the third quarter just to get some more plays. It just wasn't the right thing to do. Jacob battled out there. He did a nice job and I'm fired up. Got a chance to get a lot of airtime and a lot of situations. And we talked through a lot of stuff as the game was going. It was a really good learning experience for Eason. So that's really good for him. It was good to see. Made some big plays, some big throws. We have to catch the ball better in general. The guys that are trying to make this club have got to catch the football for us and make our plays. And it happened a little bit to Geno again, couple of balls that we need to catch. The first third down was a beautiful read and play and protection and all that, didn't make the catch. Those things we've got to keep evaluating. There's a lot of information coming at us.
Q. Did Smith get hurt on the scramble out of bounds, when he landed on his knees?
COACH CARROLL: Yeah.
Q. What did you tell the guys in the locker room?
COACH CARROLL: Let me tell you what I told them at halftime. There's games you don't start right, you fall behind and it takes a while to come back. And there's a mentality about coming back and understanding the patience that it takes. You can't score three times and get the game back in order so you can feel good about it. You have to patiently work your way back into it and build the momentum of a comeback. And so we got to feel that last week and we got to feel that again this week. Those are important things to learn so that you can stay poised and make comebacks and make games come back to you. That's a big-time lesson for us there. It's preseason, and we have to make some big evaluations, and everybody needs to be accountable. Everybody needs to get their act right. We can't give up 13 different things and might have been 15 or 16 different things we did in the game, to give stuff to the other team. And when you do that, you can't win. So, I would try to make the impression on them that everybody is responsible for taking care of their own business here. And we have to all own that and then fix that. And don't let it be you. Last week we had three penalties. We had a great start. And everything looked fine. But this week, you know, we went into the garbage can on it and it wasn't good enough.
Q. You mentioned the tackling straight out last week, too. And it seemed to be another issue. What do you kind take away from that today?
COACH CARROLL: I'm going to check on the tacklers. I'm going to check on the tacklers, the guys missing. That's the important thing. I'm going to see who is missing tackles and fix that problem. I don't think it's like an epidemic kind of thing. It looked like that last week a little bit. But we've got to clean some stuff up with some guys. If they don't get it right, then they won't be able to be here. We'll get guys that can.
Q. How do you fix tackling at the NFL level when you're worried about injuries?
COACH CARROLL: You have to drill it. You have to drill it and emphasize it. We did a bunch of stuff this week to point out the situational tackling, understanding the situation. Sometimes the way a guy gets one tackle is way different than another one. What it calls for is way different. They have to recognize the situation. And sometimes you've just got to get them down. And sometimes you've got to get lined up and take a big shot, and you can go attack the football. We have to assess that. Some guys are ahead of other guys in doing that. So that's important at this level, is that they recognize what the opportunity is and then what it calls for and in that chance that they take their shot. So sometimes if you're a little bit out of whack, you're over-jacked up or whatever, you can miss the opportunity of assessing. If we can get that done that makes a big difference for us.
Q. Are you going bring the gymnastics mat out and bring guys out?
COACH CARROLL: We're doing all kinds of stuff. We're going to do everything again.
Q. How do you evaluate Geno's night?
COACH CARROLL: He did okay. We needed to come through. We needed to help a little bit. We needed to make the plays around him. We missed a block on the screen. We missed a third-down conversion. There's another one in there. He's running the show well. He's doing okay. Got out of the pocket when he needed to, and threw a couple really good balls that could have been converted. We have to come through for him. Our receivers have to make the plays for him. And we need to see DK (Metcalf) and Lock (Tyler Lockett) and the fellows out there. We're going to count on DK and Lock and Marquise (Goodwin) has a chance to help us. And (Dee) Eskridge has a chance, Eskridge had a chance to come back this week. We need those guys to come through if he's going to be good. Tight ends did a nice job. Really good play by Colby (Parkinson). There's some bright spots. We have to assess the stuff for guys that are going to playing when it comes time in the opener.
Q. With Charles, can you adequately assess what his issues were?
COACH CARROLL: We already talked through it. And each one of them is a different situation, different plays. Anyway, every one of them had its own little storyline to it. And they're not all the same. But him being comfortable, assessing the cadence adjustment and the things that we have to do, it's just experience. And so this is not going to be something that bothers him forever. We've just got to get it cleaned up and settle him in and make sure each situation, that he makes the right assessment does the right job. It's like the tackling thing.
Q. Because how it looked tonight, are you any more curious what Drew Lock might look like, what the offense might look like with him running it?
COACH CARROLL: It's disappointing that he didn't get a chance to play tonight. We had a different plan for this night. And we weren't able to execute it. Couldn't do anything about it. I'm still curious to see how he plays with us. Yeah, I am. And he's done enough good things. He's got some real stuff to him and some real exciting ability and playmaking stuff that you all see when he does get his chances eventually. And just disappointed we didn't get to know some more about it tonight.
Q. Does that change your thinking on how you would normally do a final preseason game with starters?
COACH CARROLL: Really, I postponed the thought of that. And we had a long week here. We'll figure it out. I don't know exactly how to do that yet because I don't have to. So I'll let you know. I might let you know. I'm not very good letting you guys know that stuff.
Q. How is Drew Lock doing?
COACH CARROLL: He's really sick. He's sick. I think it was this morning or something I talked to him. It hit him pretty hard.
Q. He hasn't tested negative yet?
COACH CARROLL: I don't think he's even tested. There's no reason for him to test at this point.
Q. With Damien Lewis, does he have a chance to get back for the opener?
COACH CARROLL: I don't know that.
Q. Seemed like Coby Bryant made some plays in the second half, couple big tackles?
COACH CARROLL: He was really aggressive. You can see the difference. He played at a different level of some of the other guys, running and hitting and making tackles. He's a football player. We're getting that information on this guy. He's a ball player.
Q. Does it tell you something about a guy, the goal-line stand with Iggy (Joel), the game is kind of out of hand, a preseason game?
COACH CARROLL: The whole crew, to hang in there, look at what we did. These guys, their attitude is to come back and make the plays. They're believing. That's why they make stuff like that happen. That's why we had a shot with an onside kick, here we go. From J.J.'s catch down there and I think it was Aaron (Fuller) down there. Beautiful attempts. And so it's close. That's because they're giving themselves a chance with the way they think. And that's really encouraging.
Q. Those returns on the kick and punt return that went past midfield, what do you think were the biggest issues there? Was it about the pursuit?
COACH CARROLL: The issues of guys recognizing where they are in the coverage format and where they have to stay the leverage, where the ball carrier is, I'm concerned with the other guys. We didn't look like we had a clue how to do that the past two weeks. We've been working at it, but it doesn't show up. We have a bunch of guys out there all trying to go make the tackle as opposed to working together. And it's a young bunch of guys. I'm just not used to seeing that happen in our games. It's unfamiliar. Sometimes the guys, they have to do it right. And we're spending time on it. We'll spend more time on it. We're not going to scapegoat on who can't make a play or whatever. We have to post up right. That's fundamental stuff. We're not done with that yet.
Q. That's something that is really difficult with the way the practices now are catered with the physicality?
COACH CARROLL: Sometimes you don't have the right guys in the right spots. We're trying out guys. We're trying to see what they can do. We're throwing them into the fire, and we're getting a lot of information. Sometimes it doesn't help them. But it helps us understand where we are.
Q. What did you think about the running game tonight?
COACH CARROLL: We never got going. We ran for 90 yards or something like that. It didn't feel like we ever got really going. We didn't have enough plays. We've heard this before. We were 1-for-11 at one time on third downs or something like that. It's not the kind of rhythm that will give you a chance.
Q. What did you think about Jacob Eason in the fourth quarter?
COACH CARROLL: I thought he did a good job. I thought he did a really good job. Was really resourceful, clear, competitive, made some big-time throws. That was a great opportunity for him playing the game. So I thought we saw a lot of good stuff.
Q. With all of what you're trying to do new, Pete, defense and offense, how worried are you? Are you worried?
COACH CARROLL: Am I worried? No. What I am, I want to maintain my patience knowing who's playing and the guys that are going to play on game day when we open up. I'm more concerned about, are they ready based on the amount of work that they've been able to get? This week just did not help us in that regard. So we can't do anything about it. But these next two weeks are enormous for the other -- the guys who haven't been playing in the games and to make sure they're ready. They feel like they are. They can't wait to get out there. They have a sense that the pups are out there playing for them. We've got some really good players that aren't out there right now. And so we know that. So preseason is good. We're learning a lot.
Quarterback Geno Smith
Q. How is your knee feeling, Geno?
GENO SMITH: It feels good. Feels good. A little ice, need a little ice, some stem, some massage. I'll be fine.
Q. Was that on the scramble in the first quarter when you landed on both your knees out of bounds?
GENO SMITH: Yeah, took a little bump. Obviously didn't want that to to happen, but I'll be good.
Q. Play a regular season game, coming back --
GENO SMITH: Yes, I will.
Q. On the offense, what was going on?
GENO SMITH: I think we again just started a little slow. Had some self-inflicted wounds, some things that we can control that really set us back. And that's the reason for the preseason, for us to get those things out. And obviously there's a ton of room for improvement. And a lot of things that we have to improve on very fast. And so when I watch the film, I'll be able to give you a better answer. But just from the feel of it, just some things that were uncanny that we can control, that kind of set us back.
Q. How do you have a team to start fast without pressing?
GENO SMITH: That's a good question. And I would say the reality is that you have to just execute. It's a one-play-at-a-time mentality. You don't press because you just have to focus on this play. And so obviously you want to start fast. You want to score every time you touch the ball. But in the NFL it doesn't always work like that. And when you have penalties and when you have things self-inflicted wounds, it makes it a lot tougher.
Q. What was this week like for you with Drew getting all the snaps on Tuesday, they announce he's going to start and suddenly you're going to start on Wednesday?
GENO SMITH: It was the same. It was the same. We always have been mixing the reps. So the week hadn't changed. Obviously we wish Drew a speedy recovery. And when that happened, the dynamics changed a bit. But the week stayed the same for me.
Quarterback Jacob Eason
(On how it felt to get some game action) "It was exciting. Every opportunity for me is huge. This is a great opportunity regardless of what the score was to get in and play some football again. It was a lot of situational stuff and a lot of things to clean up, but overall, it was good to get back out there."
(On how challenging it has been for him without getting a lot of reps) "Yeah, it's a challenge, but I think it is a good challenge. With the spot I am in, it pushes me to seek out things that are hard to do like being in this spot, not getting a lot of reps and playing in a preseason game. It is tough, but I think that at the end of the day, it's going to make me better, it's going to make me grind more on the mental side of things and really understand those things. Today was a huge opportunity to get a whole half of football in and go out there and chuck it around a little bit. I'm excited to go watch the tape, see what I can learn from, access the things I did well, access the thing I didn't do well, and get ready for next week."
(On how it was to get ready for the game without knowing that Drew Lock would be out) "Yeah, it was a whirlwind. They do a great job in our facility of preparing for a short week. I realized in these two years, you never know with COVID. I had a few scares in other places too. It was exciting, not for Drew (Lock), we love Drew, we knew it was his shot to go out and start today, but in this situation, it was an opportunity to go out there and get some playing time. I wish Drew nothing but the best in his recovery and good health, but it was a little bit of a whirlwind. I would have liked to have some reps in Tuesday's practice, but that's just how it goes with this bug that is going on."
Cornerback Coby Bryant
(On if he was more comfortable in his second preseason game) "The biggest thing is to progress each week, learn from your mistakes from Week 1, and go out and execute."
(On getting reps at the nickel corner position) "I love nickel, I love corner too, and I just love competing and challenging myself. I feel like nickel is a lot more thinking and seeing like three and whatever the case may be. You get a chance to make a lot of tackles as well too, and blitz, so I love it."
(On if he played nickel in college) "No, I never played nickel, but that obviously shows how much they trust me and respect my knowledge for the game."
Running Back Darwin Thompson
(On what they can learn from today's game) "Preparation, special teams, penalties, offense, defense, tackling and getting better. We are getting better one day at a time."
(On communication on special teams) "With this being my fourth year, definitely new guys trying to find their role. Me as well trying to find their role on this team. Just knowing what to do and going out there, preparing all week and going out there and exceeding and executing."
(On why the offense couldn't convert) "I couldn't tell you. We just got to go back to work and watch film and we'll know come next week."
Linebacker Uchenna Nwosu
(On the pressure with him and Darrell Taylor) "It was good. We got good pressure on him, got him startled, got him rattled early. Now, we just got to turn them into sacks; get the ball out, get the ball back to our offense and get some more possessions."
(On Myles Adams) "Myles (Adams) is that guy. He's always been a dog. He's always been a hard worker. Anytime you have a guy like Myles who comes through for your team day in and day out, that's huge for our team. We are going to need that moving forward."
TE COLBY PARKINSON
(On slow start in the first half) "First off, obviously we're trying to get things going and trying to find a way out there. I think we talked to ourselves during halftime and found some things that went better in the second half."
(On all the penalties that need to be cleaned up) "Yeah definitely some things that are unacceptable like those pre-snap penalties and at the line of scrimmage that we got to work on. I think it's just taking accountability and really taking ownership of your craft and not letting yourself make those errors."
(On Geno Smith's performance tonight) "I think it was a rhythm thing, I don't think it was a performance, necessarily. I think we were kind of behind the eight ball on certain plays and certain drives where you couldn't really get into rhythm."
Center Austin Blythe
(On what he gets out of a preseason game like today) "It just shows us how much we have to work on and how much we have to figure out. We can't shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties. Just the pre-snap stuff we can take those away and focus on those details we can put ourselves in a better position."
(On where pre-snap penalties come from) "You know, I am not really sure what it is. We just have to focus on the snap count every single play and we just didn't do that enough tonight."
(On how frustrating it is to see a teammate go down in preseason) "Yeah it is. You never want to see a guy go down like that especially when you have to bring the cart out. I hope he's (Damien Lewis) alright but we've got guys in the room like Phil Haynes who has done well all camp and can step in."
Tackle Abraham Lucas
(On how gratifying it is to have another pancake block) "I mean, to me, it's less about showing people up or anything like that. Certainly, it's nice to have that success, but it's more about just doing stuff right to help the team out. Anybody can do it one game, anybody can do it two games, I'd like for it to be as consistent as possible. But that's just another part of my game I just try to keep working on."
(On if things slowed down in today's game with another game under his belt) "Honestly, I think the speed of the game is something I'm still adjusting to. The first game we got out there, obviously it's a little bit nerve-wracking, but once the first play is done it's like, 'Okay, I've done this before. It's faster, yeah, but we've been practicing and just going through that.' It's slowing down, but we still have to play fast and all of that."
(On the penalties in today's game) "It's just all about discipline. I had a penalty that was called on Jake (Curhan), but it was on me. Just being able to eliminate all those, because if you have 13 penalties in a game, you're probably not going to win at all. I think that's really what killed us tonight because we had more yards than them, we weren't converting on third down well, and our defense was holding them very well. So, we really just have to eliminate that on the offensive side of the ball."
Linebacker Boye Mafe
(On if things slowed down for him in this game versus the first one) "Yeah, I can notice that there are little things to the game. And honestly, right now, one thing I'm improving on is my IQ of the game. Things that I'm seeing, things that I'm noticing throughout the plays, throughout the game, getting a feel for the flow of the game in certain situations. They came out with a lot of hot, quick passes, a lot of draws, a lot of screens. A lot of hot, quick passes where you can't really get enough rush in, and you can't really get that type of play. But I definitely understand and feel as if things are coming along."
(On who's been the biggest help for him on the team) "I feel like it's been everyone, honestly. There's not a person on the team that I couldn't go to that wouldn't help me. I'm learning from the D-tackles, I'm learning from the linebackers, I'm learning from my position group, from my coaches. Every coach has come up to me and helped me out. So, I've really had a lot of people help me out and really learn how to play this position and play at this level."
(On cleaning up the missed tackles when the season starts) "For us, it's just technique. We go through tackling practice every day. So, for us, it's just we have to work on that, we have to tighten that up and make sure that it's clean and bring it all together and tie it in."
Cornerback Michael Jackson
(On what Pete told the team after the game) "You know we just got to continue to keep working and just look forward to Dallas."
(On how important it is for him to come up and make tackles in run support) "I'm 210, I'm a big corner. If I can't tackle it's over with. I might as well go home."
(On thoughts of the secondary throughout preseason games and training camp) "You know we are looking good. Learning a lot. K. Scott (Karl Scott) and Doc (Sean Desai) have taught us a lot in just a short amount of time. I feel like all of us have gotten better individually and as a group like today it was little flow. You can look at guys and guys are playing the game within the game and that's always good."
The Seahawks take to Lumen Field for preseason week two against the Chicago Bears. Game action photos are presented by Washington's Lottery.