The Pete Carroll Show: How the Seahawks would adjust if Marshawn Lynch can’t play

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll joined KIRO Radio 97.3 FM Friday morning for his weekly appearance. The podcast of that conversation can be found here. Below are some highlights.

Lynch’s status. Carroll reiterated that running back Marshawn Lynch will likely be a game-time decision due to the hamstring injury that forced him out of Sunday’s win over Chicago. Carroll called that injury a slight pull. “He’s working hard at rehabbing and trying to get back” Carroll said. “He’s got a slight hamstring pull. For a running back that runs as crazy as he does, it’s really important, crucial to him. We’ll see how it goes. He’s working hard for us.” Carroll said rookie Thomas Rawls and veteran Fred Jackson would “share the load” in Lynch’s absence, but he didn’t specify whether Jackson’s role would expand beyond third down. Carroll also indicated that fullback Derrick Coleman would factor into the mix if Lynch can’t play, but it wasn’t clear whether he meant as strictly a lead-blocker or perhaps a ball-carrier as well.

INTs will come. As noted in this story from Thursday, the Seahawks are one of three teams without an interception through the first three games. Carroll called that disappointing and said that Seattle’s best shot at picking off a pass might have come in the opener against St. Louis because of how infrequently Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is intercepted at home and because of how conservative the Bears were in their passing game last week. Carroll: “We’re disappointed that we don’t have at this point, but at least we’ve knocked the ball out a few times and we got some turnovers. When they come, they’re going to come in bunches.”

Detroit’s offense. As you would expect from an NFL head coach, Carroll described Detroit as a much better team than its 0-3 record would indicate. He called the Lions a “highlight team” with “big-time players” and said “they have caught our attention right from the beginning.” Carroll added: “Of course they’re hungry for a win. This is a team that won 11 games last year, a very good football team. They’ve been in all of these games, they could have won them. I know they’re frustrated by that. This is a high-powered offense. (Matthew) Stafford can really throw everything at you. He’s got great receivers in their system, they’ve got a tight end that runs really fast, their new running back (Ameer) Abdullah is a rocket back in the backfield. So they’ve got all kinds of firepower and they’re wide open. So they can wear you out if you’ll let them. Fortunately, we’re playing it here and hopefully the crowd will help is with our pass rush and give us a chance to get off the ball and cause them some problems.

Playing in prime-time. This will be the second of five prime-time games on Seattle’s regular-season schedule. Asked about the potential challenges of playing at night with players so accustomed to much earlier kickoffs, Carroll said the team works to ensure that’s not an issue. Carroll: “We use these time frames during preseason to get these guys used to how long it takes just so that doesn’t happen, so that they’re used to it, they know how it works out, they know the timing. We have a meeting in the late morning just to get them going, then we have a meal and then the travel time and all that. They have those sequences pretty well in hand, strictly because we don’t want that to be a factor. So I think it’s OK for us. I’m not worried about it.” One benefit of playing in prime-time for the head coach? A rare chance to sleep in, relatively speaking. “Shoot, I might make it until 9 o’clock or something like that,” Carroll said. “That’s ridiculously late for me.”