The Seattle Seahawks defense played its best game of the year when it held the Kirk Cousins led Minnesota Vikings to just seven points Monday Night at CenturyLink Field. Here are sounds, sights and what the players and coach said after the game about the loss.
SEAHAWKS
PETE CARROLL
(Opening…)
“That was a classic defensive ballgame all night long. We had a lot of respect for this team that we’re playing, because they’re so good all the way around. They showed it, it was really hard for us to get the ball downfield and score any points, and we were fortunate in playing a really good game on defense. Some great stops tonight. Just classic short yardage starts, and down there on the goal line, Bradley I guess gets in the way on the fourth down play in the end zone. Just some beautiful football.
Not the kind of football that everybody loves, but the kind of football that we love, and I bet Coach Zimmer, he thinks the same thing. It was a tough defensive day. Let me say this, too, about that. These guys had only been giving up 90 yards a game rushing, and we rushed for over 200 today. That’s something to be proud of.
It was hard to do, and our guys knocked it out; the guys up front, the guys running. All three running backs had good averages and ran well and we had a pretty good mix. Whenever you run 40-something times you ought to win, so that was pretty good.
You’re going to look at the numbers and see that Russ was 10 for 20, or something like that, but when you add it all up, 42 runs and 10 completions, that’s that 50 we’re looking for, so it worked out just fine tonight. When I step away from it, it’s really about the defense tonight. I loved the way they played. They played so hard and so spirited. It was almost poetic after last week’s game that Bobby would get the chance to block the field goal and he pulled it off and did it. It was just an incredible play.
I think they’re going to talk about it. We practiced all week with Bobby jumping over the guys; never touched anybody. I don’t know what happened in the game, but that’s the way he was doing. He was able to clear the line of scrimmage without touching anybody, and that was the plan. Very few people could do that, but he had pulled it off beautifully during the week, and that’s what the officials called. But I know that there’s some controversy about that. So, it’s a really big night for us.
I love winning here in this situation; Monday night. Something our guys have always done really well, and proud to be able to play a good football game for our fans. I know it took a while, but all of a sudden, it just changed. A fantastic sack by the rookie, Jacob Martin, turns into a touchdown play for J. Coleman. A beautifully finished play. Just a lot of good fun stuff tonight. I know you guys might not like it as much as we do, but we love the heck out of this one. Also, I’m proud to say that John Schneider is the all-time winningest General Manager. So, I think that should be really the focus. I know some people want to talk about that stuff, but I think it’s really cool that John’s the winningest GM in the history of the franchise, so we’re pretty fired up about that.”
(On cleaning up the missed tackles from last week…) “I thought the tackling was really good tonight, really good. Good running backs, too. Really quick, and we really saw Dalvin for the most part, but our guys did a really nice job in open field and we closed on stuff way better than we have. We’ve kind of been sporadic with it, but it was very consistent tonight. Really, it’s a good statement starting this fourth quarter of the season to play like that on defense.”
(On the thought behind using seven defensive backs…) “It was a little change up. Something the defensive staff kind of came up with, Kenny, and the guys. I thought it was a beautifully timed plan for these guys. That team is really good and they protect well and an experienced quarterback. I think he had them off kilter a little bit, and I think the mixes of the calls worked out quite well for us.”
(On whether that’s similar to the Bandit ….) “Yes, that’s what we call it.”
(On the blocked field goal…)
“You got to give all the credit to Brian Schneider and Larry Izzo. They came to me and said, hey look, we think we have something. Every week, they’re looking for something in some phase, just to see what’s available. That was a great find by those guys.”
(On the play of Tre Flowers and Shaquill Griffin…)
“I thought they played great tonight. Unfortunately, the one deep ball, and Tre’s all over it, and just didn’t get his hand on the football. I thought those guys played great tonight, and it was really a big challenge because these guys are terrific. Terrific receivers. I don’t know the numbers, what they threw for, but it wasn’t; they’ve been averaging 275 or something like that. I’m sure they were below that. I think those guys took advantage of a really good game plan tonight. Kenny put together a great one, and it really made a difference.”
(On whether there was a particular challenge to the defensive backs after last week… )
“So, that’s why they responded, because we challenged them? No, it didn’t really happen like that. But, there’s obviously a challenge. I mean, it’s not quite that easy. We could do all kinds of stuff if it was that easy. They were disappointed in the way it happened last week. But, remember, that we didn’t give up very many points last week, it was just a lot of yards. But, the best part is the question that John brought up, pointing out how the tackling was way better, and we were happy to see that.”
(On George Fant’s reception…)
“Wow, George, man. How about that? He almost scored. That’s how he saw it. ‘Gosh, if I just didn’t slip I would have scored.’ It was good. He’s been playing a lot of snaps for us and done a great job at blocking for us, and he’s run some routes and all that. I don’t know if you saw the sidelines, but they went crazy to see George catch the ball. He didn’t quite get all the yards that were there. Maybe next time.”
Jusitin Britt pass blocking. ( Cascadisports.net) 
seahwks ball carrier. ( Cascadiasports.net) 
Mini 12 ( Cascadiasports.net) 
Players face off. ( Cascadiasports.net) 
Frank Clark. ( Cascadiasports.net) 
Vikings Delvin Cook is tackled by Shaquill Griffin. ( Cascadiasports.net)
BOBBY WAGNER
(On his blocked field goal)“We seen on film – I think it was last week – we watched a guy jump over, so we felt like we had something. We knew if there was an opportunity because they were on the right hash, we were going to call it and so we called it. I tried to time it up and I got over and made the block.”
(On technique used to jump the line with new rule changes)“I’m an athlete, so you just got to jump over people – it’s not that big of a deal. They changed the rule to where you can’t run up anymore, but if you start on the line you can jump over, so we did it.”
(On holding the Vikings without a score until the final minutes of the game) “We just came out and we were real focused. I think the guys did a really good job watching film and studying. We felt like we knew what plays they were going to run and we knew when they were going to run it and we just had a good beat on them.”
(On his tackling efficiency)“If the ball is by me, I just try to get them down – that’s kind of my mindset. I know if I miss any tackles, it kind of hurts the team, so that’s my mindset. I don’t want to hurt my teammates. I want to do whatever I can to help this team and that’s one way.”
(On Seahawks ability to stop teams in the red zone) “It’s a mindset that we have. No matter how we got down there, we don’t feel like anyone can score on us. The more and more nobody scores, the more and more our confidence grows and that’s what it is.”
