Turnovers turn tide for Hawks

Pete Carroll has coined catchphrases for each practice day of the week. There’s “Tell the Truth Monday,” “Competition Wednesday” and, of course, “Turnover Thursday.”

The latter was an appropriate description of Thursday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Seattle intercepted Vince Young four times, including David Hawthorne’s 77-yard interception return for a touchdown that left the Eagles’ quarterback in tears on the sideline, and a 31-14 loser at CenturyLink Field.

“I can’t tell you how fired up I am about that,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said of the turnovers.

Perhaps it was a sign of things to come when Young’s first pass of the game seemed intended for Seattle’s Kam Chancellor, who made a diving grab.

“They had the play covered,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “I’m not putting him in the best position there on the first play.”

But it wasn’t all Reid’s fault.

In the third quarter, Young’s pass bounced off the hands of Riley Cooper into the hands of Brandon Browner, who returned it 55 yards, setting up a Seahawks touchdown.

But it was Hawthorne’s interception that sealed the Seahawks’ sixth win of the season. With Philadelphia down 24-14, and under 8 minutes to play in the game, the Eagles needed a quick score.

Young tried to lob a pass to running back LeSean McCoy because all of his downfield receivers were covered. Hawthorne was right there to grab the floating, wobbly pass and race three-quarters of the field for the score.

“I haven’t ran that far in a long time,” said Hawthorne, noting it was probably during his high school days in Texas while playing receiver. “In my dreams usually I catch the pick about the 20 and take it in and celebrate.”

Hawthorne had a similar opportunity against Baltimore, when he snatched a tipped Joe Flacco pass out of the air. Hawthorne was caught from behind by Flacco and tackled 6 yards short of the end zone.

This time he wouldn’t be corralled. It didn’t matter that he has an aching left knee that was noticeable gimpy in his dash to the end zone.

“You know I was thinking about it,” he said of the Flacco interception. “People gave me so much hell for not finishing that one off.”

On the next possession, Browner finished off Young and the Eagles. Young tried a deep pass to Cooper, but Browner was running stride for stride and made the catch instead. He was beaten on a similar play by Anthony Armstrong for the winning touchdown in last week’s loss to the Redskins.

“I really felt like I lost the game last week for us,” Browner said. “I had that same scenario, but this time I had my head up and I made the play.”

PENALTY PROBLEMS

It wouldn’t be a Seahawks game if Seattle didn’t rack up a few penalties. But Thursday night was a marked improvement. Seattle had five penalties for 30 yards.

“No question we did better,” said Carroll, knocking on the podium for luck. “So that’s one night. We’ve got to come back and do it again.”

Perhaps the oddest penalty came on the Seahawks’ first offensive play of the game when they failed to line up properly when Golden Tate was late getting on the field.

But Carroll said there was a good excuse.

“He was waiting for the 12th Man Flag to be raised, seriously,” Carroll said.

Indeed, the pregame ritual got started late and was going on after the kickoff with former Sonics coach and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell raising the flag.

“I don’t know who screwed that up, but somebody’s in trouble up there,” Carroll said.

CLEMONS FIRED UP

If you wondered if Seattle’s Chris Clemons had any pent-up anger facing his former team, a clue might have been the 30-year-old defensive end letting out a ferocious scream directly in front of Philadelphia’s Reid after bringing down running back LeSean McCoy for no gain.

The Eagles sent Clemons to Seattle for defensive end Darryl Tapp and a fourth-round pick last year after his two uninspiring seasons in Philadelphia.

The trade produced a rebirth for Clemons. His 19 sacks in 28 games is the sixth-most in the league since 2010.

Clemons said he has no hard feeling toward his old team.

“I didn’t take it as a personal game,” he said. “It was all business. And like I said, they made a business decision, and it was the best decision for me.”

Clemons did say it felt good to get a victory over a talented, albeit struggling, Philadelphia team.

“It always feels a good to get a win against anybody,” Clemons said. “Wins are tough to come by in this league. And that team was supposed to be magical going into this season, and look at them now”

EXTRA POINTS

Seahawks offensive tackle Russell Okung appeared to suffer a pectoral injury on his right side in the last series of the game, getting tangled up with Philadelphia defensive end Trent Cole. Okung was seen holding his right shoulder in a sling afterwards in the locker room. “Yes, Russell Okung got hurt,” Carroll said. “I didn’t see the play where they threw him down, but he got hurt. He has a pec injury that doesn’t look good right now. From what I heard it was really an unnecessary play that didn’t have to happen. … Philadelphia cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha sustained a neck injury and is being examined for a head injury after hitting his head on the turf while defending receiver Mike Williams in the second quarter. Asomugha defended the pass but on his way down appeared to hit the back of his head on Williams’ knee, then hit the ground hard. Asomugha was motionless on the field for a few moments before getting up and walking off under his own power. The team said he was questionable to return. … Backup Philadelphia safety Colt Anderson injured his left knee injury covering a punt. The team said Anderson would not return.

Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com