Seahawks notebook: Team honors Paul Allen before, during, immediately after win at Detroit
The Seahawks had Paul Allen in their hearts. Just above them, in fact. His initials were sewn into the chests of their game jerseys for the first time.
After Sunday’s resounding, 28-14 victory over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, Seattle’s team owner and global philanthropist who died last week remained at the front the Seahawks’ day. Coach Pete Carroll got up in front of the team inside the locker room minutes after its fourth win in five games and presented the game ball to Bert Kolde, Allen’s vice chairman of the Seahawks.
“This is the first game we have played since the passing of Paul Allen. ... Let’s take this moment ... let’s do this in great spirit,” Carroll told his players, holding the ball above his head.
“He has done so much for all of us. Think about it: ALL of us. He’s put us in position where we are. We are going to keep celebrating the spirit that he’s brought to our area, to our club, to the league, just to the world. He’s an unbelievable, wonderful, for-a-lifetime guy.
“We are giving this ball to Bert.”
“This is the first game since Mr. Allen passed away, just about two weeks ago,” Carroll said a few minutes later, in his postgame press conference. “So, we had an opportunity to celebrate (him) once again, and I know we’ll continue to celebrate. There are so many reasons to celebrate his life. That’s what we did in the locker room and we gave the game ball to his best friend.
“We just had to make sure we connected the spirit one more time and we’ll continue to do that. Without Paul, none of us would be here. So, we’re very grateful and appreciative and we’ll continue to feel that connection and play for that.”
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson also began his press conference talking about Allen.
“We got a huge win after a tough, tough loss,” Wilson said.
“He meant so much to us, all of us players. The culture that he was able to create that will forever live on here for the Seattle Seahawks, and the impact that he’s made, not just for us as individuals, as a team, but also as a city. There’s probably not too many people that have impacted the world more than he has.
“Obviously from Microsoft, to all of the things that he’s done for other people. For brain research, everything else, to all the animals around the world. I think that there’s so much more about Paul Allen that we’ll forever miss, but forever remember.”
This past week, Wilson remembered his and Allen’s shared love for Frank Sinatra music.
“He was a man that had so much grace and so much love for the world,” Wilson said Sunday. “So we’ll forever miss him, but we’ll always remember him.”
WIDE RECEIVERS UNITE, SHINE
Celebrations they craft on the sidelines during Friday practices aren’t the only things Seahawks wide receivers have excelled in.
And the majority of the production is coming from others besides No.-1 receiver Doug Baldwin. Baldwin had two of the Seahawks’ 14 catches, for 26 of their 248 receiving yards and none of their three touchdown catches.
On the other hand, David Moore’s touchdown catch he tipped to himself in the second quarter put Seattle ahead for good 14-7. He finished with four receptions for 97 yards Sunday and has 11 catches for 221 yards and four scores in his last four games. Those are the only receptions, yards and scores of the 2017 seventh-round pick’s career.
“As wide receivers, that’s what we preach in the wide receiver room is having confidence in going out there and having fun,” Moore said.
“Our coach tells us that if the ball is in the air, it’s ours. So that’s what we do.”
The hulking, second-year veteran from tiny East Central University is so far ahead of six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Brandon Marshall in the wide-receiver rotation that when the Seahawks had the ball again inside the Lions’ 20-yard line in the second half and Moore was in the game, the 34-year-old Marshall was 45 yards upfield on the opposite end. He was standing on the sideline with backup quarterback Brett Hundley. Marshall came in for a second-and-goal play, but Wilson threw to the opposite side, to Baldwin.
Marshall has two catches, and four drops, in the past month.
Tyler Lockett got his team-leading sixth touchdown of the season to tie his career high, in his seventh game. That tied the game at 7 early in the second quarter and Lockett’s six scores ties his career high from his Pro Bowl rookie season of 2015.
WRIGHT RETURNS
K.J. Wright made his season debut after arthroscopic knee surgery in late August and then a slowed return.
He had five tackles and a pass defensed. The Seahawks didn’t give their Pro Bowl outside linebacker a full load in his first game back. They subbed in Barkevious Mingo as the second linebacker next to Bobby Wagner while in nickel defense with five defensive backs. That rested Wright in passing situations, reducing the amount of running he did across the field.
Wright talked after the game how defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. jumped the defense’s stuff after Detroit’s breezy, 91-yard drive over 13 plays with a Matthew Stafford touchdown pass in the first quarter.
“’Nort’ got on us, and said, ‘Wake up!’” Wright said. “You know how it is for those 10-o’clock games (Seattle time), and you have to wake up a little bit.
“We woke up and we came ready to play. We were dominating for the rest of the game.”
Wright was already looking ahead to next Sunday’s home game against Philip Rivers and the Los Angeles Chargers (5-2) before he boarded the team’s bus for its flight home Sunday night.
“It’s a perfect time, coming off the bye-week, to just really take off,” he said. “We have a home game next week and we just have to start stacking these wins on top of each other. That what it’s going to take to make the playoffs.”
PRAISING ‘THE DIRTY WORK’
The Lions came into Sunday having run for 248 yards the previous week in winning at Miami, and feeling they finally had a running game to balance Matthew Stafford’s passing. The yards against the Dolphins were Detroit’s most on the ground since Barry Sanders played for them. That was in 1997.
The Seahawks put Detroit back into pre-2018 on Sunday.
The Lions gained just 28 yards rushing on 12 called running plays. That doesn’t count Stafford’s 6-yard scramble in the second half. Rookie Kerryon Johnson followed his 148 yards against Miami with 22 against Seattle, on eight rushes.
Hats off to defensive tackles Jarran Reed and Shamar Stephen.
“Those guys up front, you can talk about all the other stuff that happened, but they only allowed 30 yards today on a team that wants to run the football,” Carroll said. “And that was a great job. And it starts right there with J. Reed and Shamar and those guys up front and inside. All the credit goes to them playing great, disciplined defense. We didn’t do anything special today. We just played our scheme and did the stuff we wanted to do. It starts right there.
“Bobby and K.J. are the beneficiaries of really good technique play and getting the blockers off. They do all the dirty work in there and they’re really good at it.”
EXTRA POINTS
The only Seahawks’ health issues was starting strong safety Bradley McDougald getting sick and missing a couple series in each half before returning, and excelling again, and defensive end Quinton Jefferson was helped off the field by trainers in the second half. “He’s not on the injury list, so I think he’s OK,” Carroll said. Of McDougald, the coach said: “He was just really ill before the game and just sucked it up and played anyway.” ... Rookie defensive end Rasheem Green was inactive for the fourth consecutive game because of a high-ankle sprain. He had been listed as questionable to play. ... This was the Seahawks’ fifth road game in seven contests to begin the season. They play four of their final five games of the regular season in Seattle. ... The Seahawks have flown 13,452 air miles, to London and Detroit and back, since their last home game, Oct. 7.
This story was originally published October 28, 2018 at 5:43 PM.