The Seattle Seahawks 27 to 24 win over the Green Bay Packers Thursday night at CenturyLink Field kept their playoff hopes alive and gave the 12’s something to finally cheer about after two consecutive losses .
QUOTES
QB RUSSELL WILSON
(On what he saw on the final touchdown…)
“We got a lot of work on it during practice and everything else. Ed made a vet play, and we were able to see what we were trying to do. I thought that whole drive was pretty exceptional. I thought the offensive line did a tremendous job and we were able to get the ball down the field. We knew we had to throw the ball, let’s go win the game, let’s go do it. We had to run the ball, occasionally, here and there, but let’s go win.
Tyler made a few exceptional plays down the field. On third down we got a huge one. I think I had to slide to the left, they gave me great protection sliding to the left and Tyler just kept coming across the field and made a great catch on third and nine or whatever, I don’t know what down and distance it was.
He made a great play on that. We took a shot down the field and made a great play on that one, too. Ran the ball well. When it came down to it, on third down you have to win in the red zone and we were clutch in the red zone there at the end of the game.”
(On the read on that touchdown play…)
“I think, if they got out of it or did something different, we’d have to adjust it, but just trying to read it out, just see if he would come open. Sure enough, he did a tremendous job, Ed did, got his head around and the ball was coming his way, and he made a great catch and went in the end zone. That’s pretty exciting.”
(On the four minute offense…)
“We were very confident. We were very confident in what we were going to do, and how we were going to do it. One of the things that we talked about this week, and I brought up to the guys is that we have to think big, we have to believe big. We have to believe that great things are going to happen. We’ve been through the fire this season, we’ve had some amazing games against some tough teams. Back and forth.
Rams last week; Rams twice this year. Down to the wire. Chargers. We’ve had some amazing games, going back and forth. We’re a young team, but a team that has a great faith in what we’re doing. We’re completely together in what we’re trying to do. We just stayed the course and we were able to be clutch at the end of the game. We were able to get the first down.
I kept telling the guys in the huddle, hey, if we get a couple of first downs, this game is over. They don’t have any time outs. And we were able to run over there, and I ended up sliding and they called that time out, so they didn’t have any more time outs with three minutes to go. So, I think for us, we just wanted to get first downs, and then sure enough, we were able to. Guys made some great runs. The offensive line blocked up, did a tremendous job, and closed out the game.”
(On some uncharacteristic throws in the first half of the game…)
“Just missed it, you know. Sometimes you shoot, and you miss. Sometimes it bounces off the rim. But, you just keep shooting.”
(On whether he might have been a little amped up…)
“I felt pretty good. Sometimes you just miss some here and there. But, we were able to make the throws when we needed to in the fourth quarter and third quarter, and stuff like that, and stay the course.”
(On what Coach Carroll said to him on the sideline…)
“I don’t remember exactly what he said, but he was basically trying to say calm down, and I said hey, I’m good. I’m great. I feel confident in what we’re going to do. Coach always has this funny story about Rick Barry, one of the greatest shooters, scorers of all time.
I’m not going to tell the whole story, but basically, Rick Barry, one of the greatest shooters of all time, he said he saw him when he was coaching with the 49ers, and Rick Barry said that if he’s missing some, then watch out. I just believe that, I know what I’m capable of. Great things can happen. We have great receivers, guys that can make plays. I missed a couple here and there, but we stayed the course and had a great night.”
(On Doug Baldwin getting a touchdown…)
“Doug, he looks great. Doug and I were talking about that this week, and really the week before. He was looking really strong and making a lot of plays. I want to get him involved, he’s a superstar. Doug and I were talking about going back to 2015. We were 4-5, I think it was, and we got on a hot streak. This is one game, we have a lot of games to go.
We have a tough game ahead of us. Just a reminder of where we’ve been and where we’ve gone and how we’ve done it before. Doug got on a hot streak, I think he scored 14 touchdowns or something crazy, in a row. We have great players. Guys are going to make plays. The great thing is that we have so many guys making plays.
We have Chris Carson running the ball, we have Mike Davis running the ball, Penny’s running the ball well. Then we have receivers catching the ball and tight ends catching the ball, so there’s a plethora of guys making plays, and Doug Baldwin is one of those guys who can make a lot of plays for us, so that’s exciting for us.”
(On how a healthy knee helps Baldwin…)
“Well, I think he’s so explosive off the line, I think he knows how to get open. Me and him have thrown a lot of balls together and scored a lot of touchdowns together, so that’s huge for us. It’s great to see him just continue to be who he is. He’s a superstar at what he does. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
(on the catch Baldwin made on the bubble screen…)
“That was pretty crazy. He has great hands. That was pretty awesome. He made a lot of great plays tonight.”
(on the catch he, Wilson, made…)
“That was unfortunate. I never want to catch one, unless it is down the field for a touchdown, hopefully. We kept battling, it was exciting. One of the things I wanted to mention, too, is just how our defense played. I thought our defense was lights out in the second half. They really played great defense, they were feisty there.
Then, when we scored, with however much time was left, 5 minutes left, our defense went out there and stopped them three and out, and then they had to punt the ball to us and we won the game. That was great by our defense, and leading by Bobby and what he does. A lot of the guys making the plays, a lot of sacks, doing a lot of great things.”
(On the play of the offensive line…)
“They’re fun guys to hang out with, just to be around them and their work ethic. Their work ethic is amazing. Coach Solari is doing a tremendous job coaching them up, too. It’s been pretty cool playing with those guys every day and just the energy they bring to practice, the focus, the detail. It starts all the way from the left side to the right. Duane Brown being an all-pro tackle.
You have Sweezy who has been a Super Bowl champ, who’s been through the fire. Justin Britt, whose done everything you can imagine and is a great leader for us at center. D.J. Fluker is super passionate about the game. 360 pounds is a grown man who can throw people around, and then Ifedi is doing a tremendous job this year, too. There is a lot more to do, and a lot more things. We have our heads down.
We are right in the midst of the fire, right in the midst of the storm, right where we want to be. We just believe that we have everything we need, and we have everything that we’ve got. So, we’re going to make the best of it.”
(On why the offense was clicking better in the second half…)
“I watched some on my own the other day, just to watch. I think part of it is that you go through the season, and not everything goes the way you want it to. I’m not trying to make it complicated, sometimes the things don’t happen to win the game, and whatever happens. And, you have good teams in the NFL. It’s not just us. There are 31 other teams that can play ball.
The thing that we were able to do back then is we just kept our heads down and kept working. That’s all I know. That’s all Doug Baldwin knows. That’s what Tyler Lockett knows. Bobby Wagner. That’s what we know. That’s what we’ve done our whole lives just to get to this point. I think that, for us, we’re continuing to just develop and mold and become who we want to become. Each guy is just growing. I’m growing. Duane Brown is still growing. Doug Baldwin, all the way to Flowers. Every guy on our team is continuing to develop and grow. The great thing is that you want to keep progressing. You want to continue to grow, and just go where you want to go.
(On what he’s thinking when the Packers don’t convert their last third down….)
“We have to go finish the game. We have to be great in our four minute offense. We have to go finish the game and let’s go get it done.”
(On the end zone celebration…)
“You may have to ask him. Are you talking about the one where they are swimming and doing that whole thing? That was pretty good; they have to work on their technique a little bit. I thought it was pretty entertaining, that’s for sure.”
“Thank you guys. Go Hawks.”
QB AARON RODGERS
(On why the last third down attempt went incomplete…)
“The ball just stuck to my hand and went in the dirt. Frustrating. Obviously, I’ve done that a hundred times and probably never do that again. It was a gimme, gimme out there. Stuck to my hand.”
(On whether he is having as much fun on the field as he has in other years…)
“Winning is a lot of fun. We haven’t strung together too many back-to-back wins and we haven’t won on the road yet, so, that part’s not fun. I love my teammates and I love competing, but losing – it’s not fun.”
(On why they have struggled on the road all season…)
“It’s been the same stuff. Tonight – terrible on third down. Situationally, we have to score touchdowns in the red zone. We had a chance there in the first quarter to go up a couple scores and didn’t. Had a chance in the third quarter to go up – fourth quarter – to go up by eight. Didn’t get it done, situational football.”
(On whether there is any hope left for this season…)
“Come on, what kind of question is that? I don’t even know how to answer that. What am I supposed to say? Of course there’s hope. Of course we believe in each other. It’s just going to take one galvanizing moment. Whether that’s a speech or a practice, or something happens in a game – something’s got to get this thing going.
I thought we had moments tonight and I thought that’s where we were going. Defense – a lot of injuries. Offensively, we lost Jimmy (Graham), but guys battled, so nobody gave up hope. We just didn’t play well enough to win.”
(On whether going for it on fourth down late instead of punting could have been the galvanizing moment…)
“If we had gotten the first down, if not then it’s a short field and we have to hold them to three and we are in the same situation.”
(On whether this is a “relax” moment…)
“No, Mr. Schwarz, it’s not. As I told these good folks here that we talk to every Wednesday, it has to be an authentic moment for times like that. The moment will be right at one point, for us to have a moment that gets us going the right direction.
Hopefully it starts with a nice couple of days off here. Guys getting healthy mentally, come back ready to finish these last six games the right way.”
(On the third down struggles tonight…)
“Yeah, there wasn’t a lot of guys open on third down. We have to get back to getting open on our routes and being in the right space at the right time. Figuring out what those best concepts are for our guys. Without Randall (Cobb), without Geronimo (Allison) we are still learning these young receivers.
Davante (Adams) is incredible, he really is. Teams are going to continue to shade to his side, I would think. You’re going to have a lot of one-on-one matchups and that’s what’s going to happen when you leave that guy open one-on-one in space.”
(On if he felt like Adams and Jones were his only two options tonight…)
“They weren’t the only two options, but it’s two of our best options, for sure. I’ve said too many times at the podium ‘I wish I had thrown Davante (Adams) more passes.’ Tonight, I don’t know if that’s the case.
I looked to him often – I missed him one time in the first half when I should have just pulled the trigger on an in-breaker. Other than that I was telling him all night I coming your way and I was going his way.”
(On how he was able to connect with Tonyan on the long TD…)
“He just was in my vision, to be honest with you. He just kept going. Bobby has made plays since he got here. I was really proud of him that he made the team, first of all, because he was very deserving. Just making sure he got in my vision, I kind of rolled out to the right and I had a quick flashback to last week when I was thinking about pulling the trigger on a Jimmy (Graham).
I told myself before the game if I got in a situation like that to take a shot. I kind of saw him and just tried to throw it as far as I could.”
(On why he was upset after the last sack he took…)
“I was frustrated just not being on the same page as Davante (Adams) on that play. The short week is tough because you don’t get to really talk through every single look you expect to see.
I thought he was going to go over the top, he was thinking that based on a different conversation that he was going to cross face. I was just frustrated we weren’t on the same page. I am not blaming him, I just wish we would have had one more conversation about that.”
(On what the Seahawks did in the second half to restrict what they were capable of…)
“No disrespect, but not much. I think we beat ourselves in the second half. We moved the ball at-will in the first half and in the second half we didn’t get the run-game going and we didn’t convert any third downs.
They brought a little more pressure, but I don’t think there was anything special that they did that was slowing us down. We just didn’t click in the right spots.”
(On if he and Coach McCarthy need to be in better agreement about their plan…)
“I think there is an agreement on what we are doing. Obviously, we meet multiple times throughout the week on what we are trying to do. The frustration is in the execution. The execution just hasn’t been great, especially in situational offense.
When you compare it to years past –we have always been really good on third down and really good in the red zone and we are just not this year. I think that is a combination of a lot of things, but that’s the biggest frustration.”
