Pete Carroll was wrong: You CAN win the game in the first quarter!

Seahawks have been so dominant in the first half that the second halves sometimes have not mattered at all

Pete Carroll’s motivational motto to ask his team “Can win the game in the first quarter? No! Can you win the game in the second quarter? No!” made for one hell of a post-win locker room speech to the Seahawks after a win but there is maybe one flaw…

Are you really preaching that the team doesn’t have to worry about what they did in the first three quarters unless they didn’t play all that well in the first three quarters?

I mean, when Pete was coaching the team in a 58-0 win over the Cardinals in 2012, I guarantee you that they won that game in the second quarter (38-0 halftime lead). And when the Seahawks beat the Bills 50-17 the following week, they surely won that game in the third quarter (increased 31-17 lead to 47-17).

The Seahawks used to win plenty of games before the fourth quarter, but it hasn’t been happening lately.

Now Seattle has won several games this season in the first quarter, dominating opponents with an average of 7.23 yards per play in the first half while only allowing 4.16 yards per play on defense. Sam Darnold is averaging more than twice as many yards per pass in the first half (11.6) as the Seahawks are allowing (5.1).

Even when Seattle makes some of their most boneheaded of mistakes this season, it often has not mattered because of just how dominant they are on almost every other play that isn’t a mistake.

After the Seahawks beat the Cardinals in the first half by getting too many points to lose, I asked the Seaside Joe community to share your thoughts on Week 10’s 44-22 victory. Here is some of what you said, sorry if I wasn’t able to squeeze in everybody. Maybe next time in the fourth quarter!

Danno: I think the Seahawks will top the Eagles for the 1st seed if the Eagles lose. It’s best overall record 1st, then conference record

My mistake was trying to add 2+1 without a calculator. It was brought up several times in the comments, as it should have been, that the Seahawks will be the number one seed if the Eagles lose. Because obviously then Seattle would be 7-2 and Philadelphia would be 6-3, whereas the Packers would then be 6-2-1, the Bucs are 6-3, and the Rams are 7-2 but don’t have as many conference wins.

If the Eagles lose, then Rams-Seahawks becomes a battle for who has the number one seed going into the last seven games. Of course, even if the Eagles win this week, those stakes could still exist next week. (It’s Eagles-Lions next week.)

West Seattle Tim: I haven’t been to a Hawks game in years, but I got a last minute invite to the game. I usually prefer to watch the games on tv so I can deep dive each play, but man, this was a fun game to be at! We were in our seats before kick off and it seemed like 5 minutes later we were up 28-0. The crowd was loud, even late in the game. Nice weather, good crowd, solid day to go.

Seems like the “what happened to the home field advantage???” narrative can disappear as soon as the Seahawks kick somebody’s ass at home!

Blair: So many great plays from our defense. I have to give a solid nod to Riq Woolen he played great and so glad they didn’t trade him. How about Tyrice Knight super star in the making.

Paul G: Woolen was outstanding. At different times, Durden had him on both Harrison and McBride, and Riq more than rose to the occasion. That Lawrence was the DPOTG takes nothing away from how well Woolen, Emmanwori, and Knight played.

I know that I’ll catch some flak for this but to me Woolen will have a hard time not always being the DK Metcalf of the defense. Which is to say that it’s very good for the team when he has a good game and we all know that he is capable of having good games (and he’s had 2 good games in a row!), just as we should know that players don’t shed their bad qualities overnight. They usually never change that much during their entire careers.

Even when he was at his best in 2022, the 49ers deployed a plan of attack in the wild card game to go right at Woolen over and over with both the pass and run games and it worked to perfection. I expect the Rams to do the same, so by all means…prove me wrong, Tariq Woolen.

This week, Woolen faced the Cardinals and Next Gen Stats tracked him at allowing 2 catches for 13 yards on eight targets.

Next week, he faces Matthew Stafford, Puka Nacua, and Davante Adams. Does he have another occasion rise in him? Because Seattle could really use it against the Rams. Last season against Stafford in Week 9’s critical loss to the Rams, Woolen had an interception but also was blamed for 2 missed tackles (season-high) and cited as the closest defenders on both of Stafford’s touchdown passes (season-high), including the game-winner in overtime.

For what it’s worth, the bulk of the passing yard blame on Sunday went to Nick Emmanwori (98 yards on 6 catches, but it was on 12 targets) and I would kind of attribute that to Jacoby Brissett being a bad quarterback on a bad team who was under pressure all day. The fact that he/AZ couldn’t really vary the passing attack tells me that maybe the Seahawks were able to easily shut down everything else and then you’ve got Trey McBride.

As for Tyrice Knight, he ends up with 2 sacks (FF) on only 4 pass rushing snaps. That tells me more about Mike Macdonald than it does Knight, although his speed and elusiveness works in perfection with the blitz attack, which you can watch on this Top Billin’ video. Also great point made here:

zezinhom400: Yes and what was most interesting to me was Knight playing in Jones’s spot, not weakside like he had been playing next to Jones.

Whether or not Knight will ever be a full-time, every down linebacker is still not established; it’s barely been a month since Macdonald benched him. But you never know what could be unlocked when the coaching staff is forced into making adjustments based on a starter injury. When Ernest Jones IV is able to return and Knight is put back on the bench, he could find himself used in more efficient and valuable ways than before.

Don Ellis: There were quite a few firsts for today: Emmanwori’s first (half) sack, Holani’s first NFL TD, Mafe’s first sack this year, Lawrence’s first 2 TD day. Every running back was over 4 yards per carry and we had 46 freaking rushing attempts compared to 12 passing attempts. Shout out to Jason Myers who now leads the franchise for field goals made.

Interesting that when it was all said and done, they ended up crediting Boye Mafe with the sack and therefore left Derick Hall stuck at 0. Next Gen Stats credited Mafe with a 9% pressure rate (2/22 snaps) but had Hall at 20% (5/25). Uchenna Nwosu was probably the best edge rusher of the day and still of the entire season so far (6/30).

We usually don’t talk about defensive tackles unless they get a sack, but Byron Murphy II had four pressures and was probably as dispruptive and effective as anyone hoped for, while Leonard Williams (who had a sack) is also soaking up more double teams for his teammates.

Fun fact: George Holani is 26. He’s 2 years older than Zach Charbonnet and a year older than Kenneth Walker.

Because he’s on the Seahawks, Jason Myers has the second-most extra point attempts and makes (32/32) in the NFL this season. If there’s anything that makes me a little nervous about Seattle’s offense being so good it’s that Myers isn’t being tested very often. He’s just 1-of-2 on 50+ yard field goals over the last five games.

We know he has the leg for it, but kickers are now regularly making field goal attempts over 56 yards (which is Myers’ season-long) and now we’re seeing guys hit from 60 with relative ease. Myers career long is 61 and he’s made just 2 kicks over 58 in his entire career.

This isn’t raining on his parade, I’m just curious to see what happens when the Seahawks trot him out there with a midfield kick (so when Michael Dickson is holding it at the 50 or deeper)…or if Mike Macdonald even trusts him enough from 60 to do it. I kind of don’t think he does but we haven’t seen that put to the test yet.

Myers had a kick from 53 blocked and missed another kick from 53, but he also has a make from a season-long 56.

Hawkman54: One thing it looked and seemed as if Olu was doing a better job in run blocking then Sundell.

I appreciate added insight into the offensive line, whether that’s eye test or something else, and Mike Macdonald would agree with you.

As I wrote after the game, Oluwatimi’s snap issues — however legitimate they are based on such a rushed call to action — could be fixed with a week of practice. Macdonald doesn’t think that Sundell will miss the rest of the season (a better update may come out after I send the newsletter) so maybe Seattle will even have some options moving forward.

Rozone: The miserable fumbles that happened so close to the Cardinals goal line were unfortunate, but trying to get some yardage from that place has to make every QB nervous with all the risks that exist for the opposing team to score on the slightest mistake. Just glad our defense played so well today.

Here’s a poll question I thought of after the game even though I’m pretty sure the answer is a landslide:

Obviously the Seahawks want to win by 3 touchdowns and have no turnovers but it’s hard for me to wrap my head around some of the concerns fans had about the second half when Seattle had…a 35-point lead!

We can call it sloppy, sure. We can say that turnovers are never acceptable, of course. We can also all agree that the Seahawks haven’t had 35 points leads very many times in franchise history.

The turnovers were also all kind of silly and absurd and not as indicative of a larger issue as most turnovers would be.

If Sundell doesn’t get injured, no exchange fumble. If Darnold doesn’t have two passes barely — I mean baaaarely — near-accidentally deflected at the point of his throwing motion, no interceptions.

I agree with you that these were not the most costly and worrisome backed-up turnovers we’ve ever seen and if anything kind of also highlighted how insanely good Seattle’s defense was to have the day that they did in spite of them.

IdahoFred: Sam needs to stay away from the helmets. They keep causing interceptions.

Indeed!

Nicholas Donsky: The only negative I saw is that when the Cards went no huddle/ hurry up we did not respond to it well. Could this be our opponents offensive scheme, to keep MM from substituting in our optimal defense?

Better to get some experience on addressing these issues now in the middle of the season than potentially finding Seattle in a similar predictament in the playoffs when the teams will be much better than Arizona. Great observation.

Chuck Turtleman: I love that we have our own tush push play that works. The Barnyard is good for a yard just about every time. Secondary depth is getting thin but Woolen seemed like a changed player today. Ty Okada went from abysmal in the first game vs the 49ers to laying wood. The passes defended were coming every play. 200 yards rushing and only 10 pass attempts all game because we were up so big.

The Seattle Seahawks are becoming the big, bad bully on the block. Hopefully we can stay healthy and get some guys back. That’s a big ask but if it happens, this team is a Super Bowl favorite.

Still too small of a sample size to say much really, but the Seahawks have improved their fourth down conversion rate from 52.6% (10/19) to 66.7% (4/6) this season.

And another way to look at it would be that the Seahawks now trust their running game on short-yardage plays more this year than they did in 2024:

In 2024, the Seahawks faced 3rd and short (1-3 yards) on 54 plays, and they ran it 22 times (40.7%), achieving 15 first downs (68%).

In 2025, the Seahawks have faced 3rd and short on 28 plays, they’ve run the ball 17 times (60.7%) and achieved 13 first downs (76.4%).

On their four fourth and short conversions this season, Seattle has had two first downs via run and two via pass. Well, the Seahawks had 14 fourth-and-short attempts in 2024 and you know how many first downs they had via pass? 0. By being a more successful short-yardage running team it’s actually opening up their ability to succeed through the air too.

The Seahawks have converted 2-of-3 fourth-and short running plays compared to only 6-of-10 last season.

As to Okada, I don’t know if there’s anything that Coby Bryant did to play himself out of a long-term role on the Seahawks but Ty Okada is giving Seattle the one excuse that ALL TEAMS look for in a player to part ways with another player: “Wait, you save us…money????”

In the six games that he has played full-time, Okada has averaged 6.3 tackles per game which is second on the defense behind Ernest Jones. Seems he can play close to the LOS or deep in the secondary and make a play from anywhere on the field. As an exclusive rights free agent in 2026, Okada isn’t going anywhere and he will make the league minimum. That could force Coby Bryant into playing for the Bengals next season.

Rusty: Pritchett’s play that saved a TD was spectacular, but Woolen and Spoon also had great plays. Even Harrison’s TD was played well by Spoon. When this D has Jones IV, Love and Reed back, it will be incredibly dominant.

I almost forgot to talk about Nehemiah Pritchett! Hey if he keeps making plays and the Seahawks end up using Christian Haynes this year then the 2024 class (Murphy, Haynes, Knight, Barner, Pritchett) will be showing out at just right time. Seattle also didn’t have Josh Jobe in this one so worst case scenario is that Pritchett and Derion Kendrick (remember him?) aren’t the worst depth in the world.

We may have seen the “worst depth in the world” on the Cardinals.

Bill H: Would anyone wish for the return of Pete Carroll, Geno Smith and DK? Great moves by John Schneider and unbelievable coaching by Coach Mc!

As much as having the guts to fire Jim Mora Jr after only one season to get Pete Carroll was probably the best coaching move of the 2010s, having the guts to then fire Carroll and hire the youngest head coach (at the time) to replace him could end up being the coaching move of the 2020s.

Even just the fact that Jody Allen sensed that Schneider could have the answers (this is totally speculative on my part but my gut tells me that Schneider wanted to get rid of Geno and Pete didn’t so they parted over that disagreement, in which case we know who Jody sided with) tells me that the Seahawks have been incredibly fortunate with ownership since Paul Allen bought the team.

Mike A: Next week’s the Rams. McVay owns the Hawks until proven different. McVay owned Darnold in last year’s playoff. Blitz city left Sam dazed and confused. I think Hawks finally have a staff that can match McVay’s game planning. If Hawks execute all four quarters, it’ll be heckuva game.

I agree 1000%. In a way, none of what the Seahawks have achieved this season will amount to increased Super Bowl hopes if they lose to the Rams, but especially if they suffer a non-competitive loss to the Rams. Seattle most likely makes the playoffs no matter what happens, but then they’re just hoping that they get lucky and avoid L.A. once they get there.

I’m sorry but the Seahawks have not beaten a good team this season:

• 5 of 7 wins against teams with losing records

• The Jaguars are 5-4 and fading

• The Steelers are 5-4 and fading

You can only play the teams on your schedule and I actually DO think that the Seahawks would beat good teams if they played more of them. (As opposed to starting 3-0 last season when I didn’t think that.) It just so happens that they’re not getting to a huge test until Week 11. When they played the Bucs, they had their worst defensive game of the year. I’ll excuse the 49ers loss as “Week 1 weirdness” to a team that was still put together on defense at the time.

As you say, Sean McVay has had his way with the Seahawks and last year the Rams sacked Darnold nine times in the playoffs and also beat the Vikings in the regular season. The conversation around Seattle’s Super Bowl chances will not even really start until this game is over…and there is a way to lose and still see those talks get serious. But it sure would be better to win.

Bryant: Sad day for Seattle though as we lost Lenny Wilkins. He was one of the most important figures in Seattle sports history and a compassionate and thoughtful human being! I love watching the new, young stars, but get a twinge as each of my childhood heroes drop one by one. Sorry to be the downer in the room, but Lenny was too special to ignore!

That’s what the community is here for! Nothing to apologize for, Bryant.

Seaside Joe 2443