Pete Carroll says Russell Wilson needs to get rid of the ball

Seahawks coach gave his day after game thoughts on 710 ESPN Seattle and talked a lot about Russell Wilson.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll did his best on Tuesday to deflect any criticism of Seattle’s week two loss to the Chicago Bears. On Tuesday on 710 ESPN Seattle‘s Brock and Salk show, Carroll said, “I could do better.” And generally spoke about mistakes he made during the Monday night game.

But he also admitted that quarterback Russell Wilson needs to “get rid of the ball.” Wilson is “pressing to make plays” when Wilson should be throwing the ball away and avoiding sacks. “We don’t need to take another loss” in third-and-long situations.

Carroll said that during what appeared to be one fourth quarter antagonistic conversation between the coach and the quarterback that there wasn’t an issue. Carroll described the conversation as “competitive thoughts.”

Of course, 12s all know that Wilson has had a history of not getting the ball away to avoid sacks or being hit. Partly Wilson does this because he is looking to create an explosive play. Wilson’s ability to do this has been one reason for Seattle’s success over the last five years.

But in 2018 Wilson isn’t creating many plays and getting sacks six times a game. He needs to be coached to learn to play for another down instead of giving up so many negative plays. And offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer seems to have made Wilson worse in his decision making instead of better, unfortunately.

What happened to the Seahawks run game?

Carroll said Seattle run game – or lack thereof – “wasn’t bad” against Chicago. But he did admit that Seattle “could have done more.” This comes a week after Carroll had to answer the same questions about Seattle’s lack of running the ball against Denver.

The simple fact is, the Seahawks need to make an effort to get Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny more carries consistently during a game. On their first drive against Chicago, the Seahawks didn’t score, but they did have several successful run plays. Then Seattle decided to go away from that. 12s are still trying to find out why.

Nearly every offensive offseason move Seattle made seemed to say the Seahawks were serious about running the ball more in 2018. But they haven’t done that yet.

Carroll also alluded to the fact that Wilson has been a big enough part of the run scheme. “We haven’t seen Russell get out yet.” That blame falls on Schottenheimer too.

Thoughts on other players

Carroll said cornerback Shaquill Griffin “has all of the skills” to be as good as former-Seahawk Richard Sherman. Griffin had two interceptions against Chicago and looked much better than he did in week one.

The coach said he “misread” running back Chris Carson in the second half. Carroll thought Carson looked tired when he may not have been. After the game on Monday, Carroll said Carson was tired from having to play special teams as well. Carson, though, played just two special teams plays.

Whatever happened with Carson not playing in the fourth quarter against Chicago is still truly unknown, I believe.

Austin Calitro called “every play” for Seattle’s defense on Monday. This is impressive for a rookie. And then Calitro led the team in tackles too. Calitro is one of the few happy surprises in a dismal season for the Seahawks so far.