Above almost anything else, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll believes in the importance of possessing the football.
“It’s about the ball” is one of Carroll’s core coaching tenets. Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers, the Seahawks did not do a very good job of following that message.
Seattle fumbled the ball five times, losing three, against the 49ers and Russell Wilson was intercepted in overtime as part of four Seahawks turnovers. While it was just the second time this season Wilson had been intercepted, the Seahawks have now lost 11 fumbles on the season through 10 games.
“It is the most emphasized aspect of our program but, it isn’t good enough. We aren’t doing it well enough. Our guys aren’t buying in well,” Carroll said on Tuesday.
The Seahawks have never lost more than 11 fumbles in an entire season under Carroll’s tenure. Seattle lost 11 fumbles in 2010 during Carroll’s first season as head coach. They had just five lost fumbles last season and just six in 2017. The Seahawks have 11 lost fumbles through just 10 games already this year. Monday night was the first regular season game in Carroll’s 10 years as Seahawks head coach that Seattle had won despite turning the ball over at least four times.
The NFC Championship victory over the Green Bay Packers in January 2015 was a five-turnover game for Seattle.
“We won’t have a chance,” Carroll said. “We won’t have a chance if this keeps going on. You can’t win like that. We’re so fortunate. Think how fortunate we are to win that game, that tight of a game, and kick the ball all over the field. Terrible.”
Carroll pointed to DK Metcalf’s fumble at the 2-yard line when he was stripped by 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt as he tried to run over multiple defenders into the end zone as a circumstance where they need to be smarter in regards to their situational awareness.
“I sat with DK on the plane last night talking for some time talking about how he has to decipher when it’s time and when it isn’t time to keep battling,” Carroll said. “He’s been in the situation a few times already. He’s so strong that he just doesn’t go down. It does allow for a lot of guys to get a shot at him and we can’t let that happen.
“There’s a real presence of mind that’s crucial in protecting the football. You have to know when to go with the way that the attack is coming on you. He doesn’t quite have that yet. He’s fighting and tough as hell. He’s hard to get down. That makes him vulnerable. That was an incredible play. He almost scored a touchdown right there. He shouldn’t have even been close, but that made him vulnerable. It’s already underway to make some better decisions than that.”
The New York Giants are the only team in the league with more lost fumbles through 10 weeks as they’ve lost 14 fumbles. Quarterback Daniel Jones has nine lost fumbles alone. Chris Carson has four lost fumbles, Metcalf has two, and Russell Wilson, C.J. Prosise, Rashaad Penny and Germain Ifedi each have one. The team also has a lost fumble on an aborted snap.
“It’s all about conscience,” Carroll said. “It’s not about, ‘how fancy I want to run,’ or ‘I don’t care, I’m going to go make a first down.’ It’s about how you get there with the right mentality, with the ball in the right spot, and protecting it like we can do. Hopefully this stretch will change this.”