RENTON -- After getting two wins in five days against division opponents, the Seahawks get a bit of an extended chance to enjoy their 30-29 victory over the Los Angeles Rams while watching the rest of the league play their Week 5 games on Sunday.
"They had a chance to win it and didn’t get it done. Obviously, we’re happy to take it," head coach Pete Carroll said on Friday. "They’re hard to come by. It was just a really, really exciting night of football and a great night to be at the stadium. Everybody enjoyed the heck out of it. There’s a lot of people complaining that it took so long and why did it have to be so close, but suck it up. That’s the way it is. Thrilled to get the win.”
Greg Zuerlein's 44-yard field goal sailed just outside the right upright with 15 seconds left to play to preserve the one-point victory for Seattle.
Carroll reflected Friday on the performance of Russell Wilson against the Rams, Jamarco Jones' play in relief of an injured D.J. Fluker and his belief that the pass rush is going to make strides in the near future.
-- Jamarco Jones played well in relief of D.J. Fluker at right guard.
D.J. Fluker played just nine snaps for Seattle on Thursday night before a hamstring strain sidelined him for the remainder of the contest. In his place, the Seahawks inserted Jamarco Jones into the lineup for his first regular season action on the offensive line.
Jones had never played guard in a game before Thursday night. He was a tackle exclusively through high school and college and only had limited snaps at guard in practice with the Seahawks.
“He did really well," Carroll said. "I was shocked that it was so smooth for him to move to the right side and play guard when there’s no background other than in practice, you know. He moved his feet well, he played strong. Assignment-wise he was solid. I think he got out of the game with no pressures, might have been the only guy up front that did that. At a time when Fluk may be unable to go we’re fortunate that he stepped up like he did."
Not only was Jones get his first game action at a position he'd never played, it also came with the task of needing to block Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers.
“He made it. He survived," Carroll said. "I think it was a remarkably good showing for him and for us going forward. As for depth and all of that. He’s healthy and ready to go. He’s champing at the bit to be part of it. Our coaches have always trusted him from the start. He has really good awareness and really good sense for the game. He’s a natural playing the game and it showed up. Almost have to have some special savvy and qualities to be able to pull it off like he did.”
-- Another peak Russell Wilson performance.
Russell Wilson completed 17 of 23 passes for 268 yards and four touchdowns against the Rams on Thursday night. The four touchdowns were spread among four different receivers as well.
“It’s incredible that he had such impact on the game with only 23 passes," Carroll said of Wilson's performance. "He had a number of runs that were really good, his scramble efficiency and effectiveness was off the charts. I just thought it was an exceptional night for his consistency and being able to find his way out of the problems. We didn’t pass pro great against these guys obviously and that’s what was causing him to move, but the play-actions gave him space to move and do his thing and other than that he just found ways and it was just a remarkable night of football for him. Just kind of adding to what’s going on this season. I think he’s on a great roll. We just need to keep him head on straight and keep growing and really likely we’ll be able to do that.”
The biggest highlight of the night was Wilson's 13-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett in the first quarter. Carroll hadn't seen a replay of the touchdown prior to meeting with reporters Friday night, but had seen it several times since then. Wilson threaded a pass into the back corner of the end zone with Eric Weddle in tight coverage against Lockett. The Rams had covered the play brilliantly and forced Wilson to evade pressure against the grain and yet he still delivered a perfect strike for a
“It’s amazing how little space there was for Russ to evaluate that he would even be available to him," Carroll said. "It wasn’t like he came running across the field and you could see it coming. He was going this way in that corner of the end zone already and Russ threw him to that corner in a sense. He said this is one spot the ball could go and see if he could get there kind of thing and as we’ve seen so many times those guys, they see football together. They see it as one and that’s chemistry and extraordinary savvy. It took every bit of that. I saw Lock this morning. There’s a play in practice, I think it was last week, when he caught a ball in red zone in the back of the end zone. It’s the exact same catch, not going to the corner but going over the top, and we went back 20 times with the whole team in here trying to figure out if he was in or he wasn’t and it’s exactly the same catch. I don’t think we’re surprised that he could do it, shocked that it happened as it did in that circumstance in a little bit of space to such magnitude. It was great.”
-- Carroll says Jadeveon Clowney close to huge game, expects pass rush to make strides in near future.
The Seahawks did not sack Jared Goff once on Thursday night but did get five hits on the Rams quarterback and affected a handful of passes. Jadeveon Clowney was clearly the most effective rusher for Seattle and showed glimpses of a breakout for his new team.
“Clowney was so close to having a huge night," Carroll said. "He was all over, arms up and just missed probably four different times to knock balls down or to be a factor on a play. He was wild with his rushes. I thought he did a great job, it just didn’t show up numbers-wise. He had an effect. [Quinton Jefferson] had some solid rushes but he played the run look a lot and we didn’t put these guys in pass rush modes a lot just trying to eliminate one aspect of the game. We’ll be able to help those guys more."
Carroll said that their desire to limit the Rams rushing attack did limit some of what they tried to do with their pass rush. However, Carroll said he finally started to see some of the possibilities of the group and where they can made strides moving forward.
I think this was the game to me where now I can see some things that we need to do better and we can utilize our guys a little bit uniquely for them, their strengths. They’re playing really hard, with really good consistent effort. Ziggy [Ansah] is one of those guys. He’s just played so hard, stuff is going to happen for him too. So I think the pass rush is going to come alive here the next few weeks. I’m really excited about that. It’s the first time I really could see enough and feel like we’ve seen these guys out there enough to make some evaluations to make the kinds of little tweaks and stuff so we can help them out.”
Photo Credit: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 03: Todd Gurley #30 of the Los Angeles Rams runs the ball against Bradley McDougald #30 of the Seattle Seahawks during the first half of game at CenturyLink Field on October 03, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)