By Liz Mathews

Coming off a 31-14 loss to Denver on Sunday, Pete Carroll gave his thoughts on the game.

"After watching the film and digging in with the team on it, and the coaches, we made some real classical mistakes that give a football game direction. Denver was on it. They played a very solid football game, were able to take advantage of our mistakes and really didn't give us any opportunities to take the ball away from them."

"So in a game where we really wanted to go out and play a good, clean football game, we really didn't get that done," he said.

Carroll recalled something he had told the press much earlier in the preseason, "when you play good, you're good."

And the Seahawks didn't play "good" on Sunday.

Carroll said the focus now is on making solid decisions, being clear about what the team strengths are, and figuring out a way to play good, sharp, clean football.

Addressing some of the weak points from Sunday, Carroll explained that the team had some struggles against the Denver offense in third down situations but played very tough in short yardage and on the goal line. While the team had a solid game plan going in, he and the rest of the coaching staff take some of the responsibility for the mistakes.

"The things that we thought looked good in practice didn't come out like we wanted them," he said "So the coaches take accountability for that sometimes. We don't put it together exactly right and we don't get it right and they (Denver) did a very nice job. The week before, we were on it to the tee but not this time."

Carroll does feel, for now, that he has the guys in the right spots. "Red Bryant and Colin Cole, and Brandon Mebane had a very good game," he said. But in addition to matching the players and the scheme, discipline is a critical factor.

"The running game is more about discipline than you might think because you have to consistently be in the right spots all the time," he explained. "Gus Bradley has done a good job and Kenny Norton and Danny Quinn and those guys are doing a nice job up front to really get buy-in from the players and that they're executing the plan and the techniques the way we want to play and then the consistency will come as we can show it in the next few weeks and just continue to grow."

"It's an important asset to have when you know that you can stop the running game and hopefully we'll be able to keep doing that."

As far as the Seahawks' run game was concerned, it was much improved over the 49ers game, despite the loss. Carroll credited both Tyler Polumbus and Stacy Andrews in addition to the running backs.

Besides his penalties, Carroll said Andrews did some nice things moving the line of scrimmage and that the entire line protected better. "This is very important for us to balance out the offense like we've been saying," said Carroll. "That was by far our best performance, most consistent. So we're going to try to build on that. That's something that we're happy that we made some progress."

"Averaging over five yards a carry any time in this league is really big deal so we'll see if we can keep it going."

Carroll also explained that wide receiver Mike Williams wasn't utilized extensively because he missed a couple days of work as a result of a thigh bruise from the 49ers game. "We weren't really sure," said Carroll, "so we were a little off on that emphasis because of that. Mike will get his catches. He had a couple balls going his way."

Regarding Golden Tate, he will continue to return punts for the team.

"I wouldn't want anybody to misread what happened the first week because he wasn't active," said Carroll. "It's just in that game plan it wasn't time to get him ready. The necessity…he took advantage of it…bang he's on there. So I'm really thrilled about him being part of it. I really trust this kid."

In team injury news, Leroy Hill was the only player who came home injured from the game. Carroll reported that it was a strained calf, and that Hill is in a boot and will be out for "a bit."

And as of this week, Russell Okung will be running "on land" instead of working out on the treadmill.

"This would mean if he handles it well this week, then next week he has a chance to start practicing with us and really get going," said Carroll. "I can't tell you what that means until we see him but that's a good sign. So we're feeling real good about it, he's excited about it and wants to get going."