Pete Carroll’s message to first-place Seahawks on bye: ‘We are in control of everything’

As soon as they landed home, Pete Carroll had a message.

After four days in Germany, five days of travel, practices and a lost game in Munich then 12 hours traveling from Munich to Seattle, their coach had a final word to the players before they got off the huge plane to scatter for a bye-week break.

“OK, we positioned ourselves here. And we all know that we are here,” Carroll told his first-place Seahawks (6-4), “but we are not nearly as good as we can be.

“Let’s re-commit as we come back to really go for it. Because we have enough firepower. We have enough health, and we’re growing as a team coming together that can really take advantage of our first-half positioning.”

Seattle stayed atop the NFC West despite being awful for the first half, falling behind 14-0 then 21-3 in its 21-16 loss to Tampa Bay Sunday in front of team chair Jody Allen and 69,811 Germans, European and American fans at FC Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena. The 49ers beating the Chargers later Sunday back in the U.S. means a Niners win Monday night against Arizona in Mexico City would give San Francisco and Seattle matching records. The Niners would lead the division because they dominated the Seahawks 27-7 in week two in Santa Clara, California.

The Seahawks next play Nov. 27, at home against Las Vegas (2-7).

“We will see where we end up with the 49ers after this week, but everything is ahead of us, and we are in control of everything,” Carroll told his players before sending them off on their bye.

“That’s all that we could ever ask for,” Carroll said Tuesday. “Whether you are 8-0, 9-0, 10-0, or you are on top the division, winning the division is a huge goal for us and it is the only goal that we deal with, to try to win the West.

“This is a good mentality that we have right now — even though we had to give up a game right there.

“We come out of it OK.”

The mood was business-like inside the Seahawks’ cramped, segmented soccer locker room at Allianz Arena as they were leaving Germany Sunday night. There wasn’t any true anger. They know they are still in first place, where no one expected them to be entering Thanksgiving week.

They were more frustrated than angry, for playing so poorly in the first half against Tampa Bay. Seattle’s offense gained just 57 yards with three first downs while getting shut out the first two quarters. Its defense allowed the Buccaneers’ last-ranked rushing offense two early touchdowns and more yards on more carries in the first half than Tampa Bay had been averaging for an entire game.

Reasons Seahawks remain upbeat

The Seahawks go into the bye encouraged by their play in the second half in Munich. It resembled some of their four-game winning streak that ended Sunday. To them, they’ve played two bad quarters in five games, and are 4-1 in that span.

“The adjustment was just to play better, play more physical,” inside linebacker Jordyn Brooks said. “I thought we did that in the second half.

“We just ran out of time. But I am proud of how we played, second half compared to the first half.”

Rookie Ken Walker didn’t run nearly as effectively against the strength of Tampa Bay’s defense, it’s interior front.

But Geno Smith played the fourth quarter much like he played the first nine games, leading the NFL in completion percentage and in the top three in passer rating.

“Yeah, man, I felt like that second half, to me is an example of truly who we are. I don’t think that first half really is who we are. We couldn’t get anything going,” Smith said. “But we really fought back in the second half.”

Smith threw touchdown passes to Tyler Lockett and on fourth down to Marquise Goodwin in the fourth quarter to rally Seattle from down 21-3 to 21-16.

But Smith lost a fumble inside the Bucs 10-yard line when he was hit while holding the ball loosely away from his body on a failed run and sack in the third quarter. That was when the Seahawks were trying to get to within 14-10. Smith knows without his turnover Seattle likely would be 7-3 right now.

“Obviously I’ve got to protect the football. That can never happen,” he said. “Guy made a great play as I was going down. But if I don’t turn it over in the red zone, I think it’s a different game.”

Healthy for the stretch run

Despite the loss, Carroll sees many positives to the Germany trip. His coaches and players bonded being together five consecutive days and nights.

“We really just felt really connected,” Carroll said.

“The guys had fun. They were open to the change and newness of it, and the guys did a little shopping, and brought some souvenirs home. Everybody was in a really good mentality throughout the time together.

“We just shared a huge experience, and unfortunately, and the part that pisses me off so much is we didn’t capitalize on it and get the win so that you could really celebrate it the way you like to. But it was a positive experience.”

And Seattle sustained no major injuries in Munich, nothing this bye week can’t heal heading into the season’s final seven games.

The Seahawks reinforced their deep secondary this week when they activated cornerback Tre Brown off the physically-unable-to-perform list. The team’s second draft choice in 2021 hasn’t played in 12 months, since knee surgery ended his rookie season. He impressed Carroll with his speed to passes in flight when he started three games last season before he got hurt.

It’s going to be a challenge to fit Brown back in right away.

Rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen is entrenched starting at right cornerback. He had his fifth interception of the season against Tampa Bay. That’s one off the NFL lead for the favorite to win the league defensive rookie of the year award.

Michael Jackson has greatly improved defending passes while starting the first games of his four-year career. He’s here for his tackling, but now he’s playing tight coverage breaking up passes, too.

It’s a good problem for the Seahawks — like many with them still in first place. For now, anyway.

“We go into this bye fairly healthy, so that means that we can come out of it even better,” Carroll said. “That could be a big boost to us as other teams continue to struggle to stay healthy.

“Hopefully, we can make that come to life, and it helps us in all ways. We are going to get clearer, come back fresh, and be ready to go.