The Seahawks dropped their second consecutive game which left the team with more questions than answers. The inability to tackle, get off the field on third down, and make plays when needed were just a few of the issues that ailed the Seahawks against the Raiders.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID AFTER THE GAME
QB GENO SMITH
Q. Big picture, what’s this team need to do to get back on track after a couple losses?
GENO SMITH: Yeah, we can’t let it be a snowball effect. Reality is that we’re going from the hunter to the hunted. People want to play us. As a young team, we’ve got to learn to be able to go out there and win those games. That’s our next step in the evolution as a really young team. We got to understand the moment, capture the moments, take advantage. I feel like we had plenty of opportunities to go out there and win that game, finish it late, and we just didn’t get it done. When I was in college, a coach told me about the difference between a finger pointer and a thumb pointer. I’ve always vowed to be a thumb pointer. I’m going to look at myself hard in the mirror, watch this film, see where I can get better and help this team win games.
Q. The pass to DK that they called no good, what did you see on that?
GENO SMITH: They ruled it incomplete. It was close. They called it incomplete. That was one play in a game of many plays. I could have gave him a better pass. Like I said, being a thumb pointer, those are the things that I can correct. Nobody’s perfect. You can watch across the league, every quarterback is going to make some mistakes. I just got to be better in some aspects and put it all on me. Put it on me. I’ll be better.
Q. After they missed the field goal and the possession after that, overtime, three-and-out, what was the issue there?
GENO SMITH: We didn’t execute to the best of our ability. Like I said before, that’s one of those situations where late in the game we have an opportunity to go out there and get a win. Obviously we didn’t get it done, so we’ve got to look at ourselves and figure out what we have to do better. I look forward to that.
Q. What happened on the interception?
GENO SMITH: It’s an interception. Bad pass. Can’t happen.
Q. How about the fumble?
GENO SMITH: That’s on me. My fault. 100%.
Q. You were trying to pull that back, right?
GENO SMITH: Yep.
Q. Realizing you have the opportunity to seize the moment, a young team, what do you have to do as a leader in a collective way?
GENO SMITH: Yeah, we just got to continue to learn from these things. It’s all a learning experience. That’s what it is. Like I said, we all can learn from it, not just the young guys. All the guys on the team, coaches included, look where we can be better and figure out ways to win.
Q. You talked about going from the hunter to the hunted. Are you noticing any difference in the teams facing you now?
GENO SMITH:
Yeah, everybody watches sports, ESPN. Everyone watches what we do out there. Make a lot of great plays. We got great players all over the field. Coming into the season, there were different expectations. Seeing what we have on this team, I believe we can do a lot of great things. I think everyone else can see that as well. We have to own that, accept that for who we are, because we are great players and we are a great team. We lost two games in a row. It’s not the end of the world. We lost one game today. But we got six more ahead of us. Like I said, we got to learn from that because we’re going to be in these situations again. I’m really looking forward to that, being in that situation, seeing how we can overcome those thing and get back on the winning track.
Q. The touchdown to Tyler, you’re letting that ball go while he’s hip to hip. How much faith do you have when you throw the ball to him?
GENO SMITH:
I got a ton of faith in Tyler. Those are things that we practice day in and day out since training camp. We just got to continue to make plays like that. Like I said, we got great players all over the field. Tyler is one of our leaders, an established player in this league. He’s the guy that’s going to win those more often than not.
Q. (Question about running the ball.)
GENO SMITH: I would have to go back to the film and just see exactly what it was. But I can say in hindsight it’s just execution, whatever it is. It’s execution. It takes all 11, including me. Like I said, I’m not going to look at anyone else, really just looking at myself and what I can do better to help that out.
WR TYLER LOCKETT
(On the takeaways from this game) “I think we had a chance to be able to win and we just didn’t pull through. Any time you’re in overtime and the kicker misses a field goal and we get good field position, as an offense, we have to be able to get our field goal kicker in the best situation to make the field goal. We had a great chance to be able to do it, and the Raiders did a great job on defense, but for us on offense we have got to be able to just take over in that situation.”
(On the miscommunication during the interception in in the first quarter) “There was a lot of miscommunication but I’d rather let Pete (Carroll) talk about it.”
(On what is needed to get back on track) “I think the biggest thing is you just have to make a decision. Unfortunately, we let this game slip away, but at the end of the day, things are still in our control and it sucks to see what just took place but everything that we want is still right there in front of us. It’s not going to be something that’s easy. Sometimes in life we all want stuff to be easy to where you don’t have to work to the point where it’s like you either get it or you don’t. For us we just have to be able to go back to the drawing board. I think this was a game to be able to show us that if you want it, you have to take it. No one is going to hand it to you.”
(On his touchdown catch) “Geno (Smith) did a great job trusting me. We knew how the DBs play, we knew that they were going to sometimes be in a good position but the biggest thing was being able to finish at the end. Understanding that with Geno, we know how he throws the ball, we know the places that he’s going to put it and so the biggest thing that Sanjay (Lal) always talks to us about for the most part is being able to keep running and not slowing down in any of our routes. Geno does a great job of being able to throw it where it’s supposed to be at.”
FS QUANDRE DIGGS
(On whether he has ever started a game with such an early interception) “I’ve been there, done that. I’ve scored a touchdown, too, first play of the game. So, I’ve done that before. I need to do something new, I need to score again.”
(On frustration after this game) “We have to fix it. Everybody’s going to expose it if we don’t fix it. We fixed it for a little bit. It showed its head today. At the end of the day, if we don’t stop the run, we’re not going to be able to do anything. It starts with everybody.”
(On whether the defensive challenges are similar to what they were in September) “I mean I thought we fixed it. I just have to look at it. It’s not a lack of effort. I think we just have to figure it out again, and figure out that niche that we had for a while there, and get it fixed fast. Because teams are going to see that, and when they see that, you could have run the ball. We have to get those stops. I’m not down on anybody, I’m just saying we have to get those stops. We had some good stops today, and we just have to be more consistent with it.”
(On what makes him confident that the defense can get it fixed) “We’ve done it before. It’s not a lack of effort. I know that everybody has their head into it, and everybody wants to get it done. I just think, at the end of the day, we got to bring it. We have to bring it in practice, and we can’t have any lulls. When you have a lull like that, you get complacent a little bit maybe, and you think you got it fixed, and teams find new ways to expose it. We just have to see what teams are doing to us now.”
LB JORDYN BROOKS
(On how tough it is to swallow a loss like that) “It’s pretty tough. We were supposed to win that game, and it sucks to lose on the last play like that.”
(On what it will take to get the defense right again) “Just watch the film. Fix the mistakes during the week, and everybody just stick together and keep rising up.”
(On what the defense needs to fix to stop the run) “We just have to play more physical. Guys have got to get off blocks, make tackles. Can’t miss tackles. That’s what it is, basically.”
(On how having a second running back in the backfield impacts the defensive scheme) “It’s just declaring where they want to run the ball. Anytime they are in ‘21’, with the fullback in there, most of the time they are following the fullback, to wherever the ball is going.”
(On what the group needs to do to bounce back) “Just keep going. We have six games left. Just keep going.”
WR MARQUISE GOODWIN
(On Pete Carroll’s message in the locker room) “Really just control what you can control for right now, and come back ready to work this next week.”
(On the challenge of getting into manageable third downs) “I don’t know. I have to go look at some of the film, so I can give a better answer. Really, it boils down to just executing, honestly.”
LB CODY BARTON
(On what he saw today in the struggles of defending the run) “Honestly, I’m not going comment too much on it. I want to see the film first. I want to take a step back and digest everything. That’s a game that we should’ve won. I wish we could have it back.”
(On his confidence in the defense to make another adjustment for the rest of the season) “I’m very confident we are going to make an adjustment. Like I said, I’m not going to say much about it. We’ll see the film tomorrow, and from there, we’ll get better. I know that.”
RB KENNETH WALKER III (On the struggles in the run game) “I just feel like we haven’t been executing well. The running backs, myself included, we just haven’t executed well in the run game.”
(On what happened on the fumbled exchange between he and Geno Smith) “It was a read option, so it was really the running back’s responsibility to handle the mesh point. That’s how we talk about it, so I’ll take the blame for that too. I would say that it was my fault.”
(On how the team is feeling about being 6-5) “I mean, I feel like we don’t have to be 6-5. I feel like we can be much better than how we’ve been playing.”
SS RYAN NEAL
(On what went wrong with stopping Josh Jacobs today) “Honestly, we need to look at the film. I can’t even give you an answer right now because I just have to look at it. I have a lot of emotions right now, so I don’t want to say anything. I just have to see what the films says, and we will go from there.”
(On what emotions he is feeling after the loss) “I’m pissed off, but we have six more of these things and we have to make them count. That’s all the attitude is right now, we have to make these next six count.”
(On why the team doesn’t have a better record than 6-5) “It’s working together, it has to be all, and it’s not just the defense either, it has to be team ball across the board. When the offense is rolling, we have to turn the ball back over and we can’t let them drive down the field. You all have seen it, we just have to make those plays and make those stops in games like that. Hopefully, it is a lesson learned because there will be more games like that. That’s just what time it is in the season, so we have to learn how to swing back and make plays when we need them the most.”
C AUSTIN BLYTHE
(On how he is feeling after the loss) “Not good. There were way too many mistakes, and we can’t have that, especially in this league.”
(On the teams’ struggle in the run game) “I think it starts with myself. It’s missing blocks and not executing. We are calling good plays and Shane (Waldron) is doing a great job, but we’re just not executing.”
(On how he feels about the team being 6-5) “I think we are still very capable. We have a lot of talented guys in this locker room and a lot of guys that are capable, so we just have to fix it. There is no other choice.”
DE SHELBY HARRIS (On the biggest problem stopping the run today) “Just being in our gaps, making tackles, and just making plays. I looked bad out there today.”
(On how discouraging it is to take a step back in stopping the run) “Discouraging? We play in the NFL. If you get discouraged off of that you might as well throw your pads in and give up on the season. Stuff is going to happen, teams are going to run the ball on you, teams are going to throw, but it’s about the adjustments you make week in and week out. That’s what makes this team this team. We go out there, we make our adjustments, and win out the rest of the year then it’s a whole different story. So, it’s all about adjustments and being able to take constructive criticism and being able to work together to get this thing right.”
(On what specifically is going on with run defense right now) “I would have to go look at the film. We’ve got to be where we are supposed to be and make plays and that’s kind of the gist of it.”
DE POONA FORD
(On if he expected a different type of play mix from the Raiders) “No. Not necessarily. We knew that they were going to try to run the ball. I don’t know they did some things out there and they were able to be effective on us.”
(On the difference between the way the Raiders ran the ball and the way the Buccaneers ran the ball) “I don’t know. It kind of felt the same to me to be honest. They ran the ball, but they were still getting their passes here and there.”
(On if he thinks defense has taken a step back) “There is still a lot of ball left. We’re just going to keep going back to the drawing board and get better every week.
