Seahawks Pete Carroll the day after: ‘Offensively, we had some issues’

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll didn’t mince words after the Seahawks were held to their lowest point total since 2013 in Sunday’s 12-10 win over the Miami Dolphins.

“Offensively, we had some issues,” Carroll said when he met with the media Monday.

And what were those?

“We were uncharacteristically held down, big-play wise,” he said. “We normally have quite a few explosives, and we didn’t get that going. We were backed up and it was hard to get moving and sustain much. Third-down numbers were a bit off, too. We missed a couple, had the ball in our hands. Really could have had a big day on third down and didn’t and that made a difference in the game.

“As it turned out, having to finish the game on offense, a chance to go down and score, was a great challenge for our guys. Something they’re very comfortable and positive with. But you still gotta go do it. The execution was excellent down the stretch. Th fourth quarter was much cleaner for us, no penalties on offense. Fantastic job by the quarterback and receivers, and by the protection, to pull that thing off in winning fashion.”

To break down two of the items Carroll talked about above:

— Explosive plays. The Seahawks define those as passes of 16 yards or more and runs of 12 yards or more. Last year, Seattle had 127, essentially eight a game, which was seventh-most in the NFL. Sunday, Seattle had just five, and barely at that. The Seahawks had four passes of more than 16 yards, but none of longer than 24. And Seattle had exactly one rush as long as 12 yards.

— Third-down conversions. Seattle was 5-16 for the game after starting 1-10, which is 31 percent, down quite a bit from the 46.5 percent average of last season (though the Seahawks made up for it by hitting 2-3 fourth-downs).

As for his thoughts on a few other items:

The run game

The Seahawks rushed for 112 yards on 32 carries, just 3.5 per attempt — the Seahawks averaged 4.5 per attempt last season.

“I thought the guys hit the line of scrimmage well,” Carroll said.”We just didn’t find the rhythm that we normally found. We ran it a lot – 32 times is a lot of runs. That’s a good commitment to the running game, but it wasn’t as productive as we count on. I just think it was this day. I’m not worried about it at all. We’re going to stay with what we’re doing and do the things that we do and expect to get better. I think we’re going to make that happen. They’re pretty good up front too. They’ve got a pretty loaded group. We’ll see what happens.

J’Marcus Webb

Webb had to start at right guard after an injury during the week to Germain Ifedi. Webb started 13 games at that spot last season for the Raiders, so it was hardly a new position for him. But he hadn’t done it much for the Seahawks, having played mostly right tackle during camp.

“He’ll improve,” Carroll said. “It was a challenge for him because of the guy he was playing against. That guy was as tough as you can get. He held up but he’ll improve quite a bit technique wise and some of the real technical parts of it I think he’ll just feel better a week later. That’s what we’re counting on.”

Justin Britt and handling the calls at center

The game was the first in the regular season at center for Britt after he had played guard and tackle his first two seasons. One of the biggest adjustments for Britt is in making the calls at the line of scrimmage to set protections.

Carroll said that was not an issue calling it “really solid. Really solid. He played just like he’s been playing, did just exactly like he’s been doing. There’s a little ripple in the force when you change one of the five guys like had to happen, and I thought the guys handled it well and took care of J’Marcus the best they could. The guys that have been playing played pretty solid.”