Pete Carroll Weighs in on Geno Smith, Injuries and Germaine Pratt

Q: Is this a longer process than you thought it might be? 

Head Coach Pete Carroll: "Yeah. It's longer than I expected it to be, yeah. It depends on how you put it together and how it comes together, and I feel like there's no doubt that it's going to and we just got to get it right and get away from the big plays that are causing huge impacts in games and get down to playing ball. The big stats, the normal stats you look at, runs and passes and all that, it doesn't tell the story in this game. It's the big plays that happen in the kicking game and turnover for a touchdown, and those plays are so huge, and so we have to just get out of that kind of ball and get to just playing good football and we're running the ball better than the team that you're playing and you pass the ball better and those things work for you and win for you." 

Q: In regards to Germaine Pratt, are you anticipating him practicing this week and playing on Sunday against the Titans? 

Coach Carroll: "No. He's been released. Yeah." 

Q: Is there a reason for his release? 

Coach Carroll: "Of course, yeah. We just thought it was time to go in a different direction." 

Q: How do you make up for that loss of Germaine Pratt? 

Coach Carroll: "Malcolm [Koonce], [Charles] Snowden and Jamal [Adams] all combining to help. They all play the same spot, and so those guys will work out for us." 

Q: Is there any more personnel changes that you expect could be on the way, or are on the way? 

Coach Carroll: "No." 

Q: Any updates on Michael Mayer and Brock Bowers and their injury status? 

Coach Carroll: "Yeah, Mike [Michael Mayer] has his opportunities tomorrow to get cleared, and we'll see how that goes. Fingers crossed on all that, he feels like he's ready to go, and has felt like that. But the protocol is challenging and we respect it. Brock [Bowers] -- he's week-to-week. We got to see what's going on and see if we can get him back. And he's dying to play. We went all the way till Saturday's walk through to see if he could go, and it didn't feel like he could. So, we'll just start over again, do it again this week." 

Q: When you look at the film from yesterday's game, how would you evaluate Geno Smith's overall performance in the game? 

Coach Carroll: "G [Geno Smith] was solid. The play when the guy jumps in the neutral zone, he's got a chance to throw a ball in the end zone there because we got a penalty situation. And he had a guy open, he made a great, I think would have been a great throw, ball got tipped up and turns into a game-changing interception. It's unfortunate, sometimes that happens, and his response is he sees the guy in the neutral zone, so he knows he has the freedom to make the play. I don't know that would have changed him any because he had the right read, and he was throwing the right guy. The guy knocked the ball up in the air. It wasn't the guy that jumped that got the ball tipped up, but that's a huge play because it's 14-3, we're going in right then and feeling pretty good. 

"But G's just got to keep doing it. He's got to stay with it. We got to continue to build around him, get the running game rolling, got to get our guys coming through on their plays and he's got to do his part also. The pick that he threw that was legit, we got a little challenge in the coverage right there, and the response to the guy coming off the edge and didn't get what we needed done there. But somebody asked me, I think, last night, 'Did you think about making the change?' Of course, I'm always aware of those kinds of thoughts, but we need to keep playing. We need to get better, and we need to keep practicing. Even though it's a lousy situation in the fourth quarter, we're still practicing our football and trying to get better and get right for the next game. And it's unfortunate that it turned out that way, but we're going to do everything we can to keep taking advantage of all the opportunities we get."

Q: I know you're big on playing young players, but could you describe the challenges that sometimes that presents when you're relying on young players in key positions? 

Coach Carroll: “Yeah, the two D-lineman played yesterday. They played like 14, 15 plays or something like that. So, they got a taste of it, run game, pass game. They got some action. It's just bringing them along, and the whole idea has always been if you play guys early, by the time you get to mid-season, it's comfortable for them to be in the games, and you pick up more quality depth from those guys, as opposed to holding them out, not giving them a chance. And so, there's a little give and take with that, but it just continues to be that the concept is to try to get these guys ready to play, so from the midseason point on, they can be role players for us and factor in and help us. That doesn't just help the fact that they're playing, but they give other guys breaks too. So, that's been the mentality.”