Seahawks notebook: Pete Carroll not giving up on Chris Carson

The film didn’t look much different from the game itself a few hours earlier.

“It was a hard day, man,’’ coach Pete Carroll said of the Seahawks’ 33-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints during his radio show on ESPN 710 Seattle on Monday morning.

Later in the afternoon, when Carroll talked to local media, he didn’t back off the self-criticism he had offered immediately after the game.

“I’ve got to do better,” he said. “I’ve got to coach better.”

But the team, he said, also has to play better after a game in which the Seahawks fell behind 27-7 early in the third quarter and never really got back in it.

Here’s more of what Carroll said:

Sticking with Carson

Maybe the key play was a Chris Carson fumble – his third lost this season, one in each game – in the second quarter, returned for a touchdown that put the Saints up 13-7.

C.J. Prosise played far more the rest of the game – he finished with 46 snaps to Carson’s 37 – with Rashaad Penny out with a hamstring injury.

Carroll reiterated Monday afternoon that the team won’t just bench Carson because “we do believe in him. We are going to continue showing him that.”

But Carroll also said Carson has to limit the fumbles, and the specific teaching point from Sunday’s game is for Carson to hang on to the ball with both hands all the way to the ground.

Carroll said Sunday that Carson took one hand off the ball at the last second to brace for hitting the ground, right as Eli Apple punched at the ball.

“He’s got both hands on the ball all the way to the end of it,’’ Carroll said on his radio show. “The guy hit it exactly on the money again.’’

And Carroll said at this point it’s obvious teams are targeting him.

“He’s going to have to be really on it because guys are going to continue to come after him,” Carroll said.

Carroll said Rashaad Penny should be back to practice Thursday after sitting out Sunday with a hamstring injury suffered in practice Friday. But it remains somewhat unclear exactly how much the Seahawks can rely on a Penny at Arizona Sunday.

Carroll wishes for do-overs

As he did after the game, Carroll took the blame for a number of decisions that didn’t turn out right — specifically, some fourth downs. The Seahawks finished 1 for 4 on fourth-down attempts.

On Monday, he said going for it on fourth-and-one at the New Orleans 41 with 2:37 to play in the first half with the Saints ahead 13-7 wasn’t necessarily the wrong decision.

“That’s an OK one to go for it if you are being aggressive,” Carroll said.

Carson lost a yard, and the Saints put together their first good drive of the half to move 58 yards for a touchdown and a 20-7 halftime lead.

Carroll said he wishes they’d punted, assuming an ultraconservative Saints offense may not have done much, and the Seahawks would’ve gone into half down just 13-7.

“I would take that back in a heartbeat.’’ Carroll said. “That was a crusher.’’

Carroll also said he wishes he hadn’t gone for it when Seattle had a fourth-and-one at its own 28 with 9:47 left. QB Russell Wilson checked out of a running call to throw a pass to Malik Turner that went incomplete.

Carroll said there was enough time to still try to play it straight up and punt.

“Should have kicked the ball there and played out the next couple series,” he said.

The Saints drove quickly for another TD that sewed up the game.

Sea

hawks will send Davenport hit to NFL

Another week, another hit on Wilson that the Seahawks will send to the NFL for review.

Sunday, early in the second quarter, New Orleans’ defensive end Marcus Davenport pushed Wilson as he was going out of bounds after a 3-yard run.

The Seahawks were hoping for a flag for a late hit and argued it was obvious Wilson was going out of bounds. Carroll, though, said the officials told him they thought Davenport “made contact with him at the sidelines’’ and didn’t think it warranted a flag.

That’s at least different than last week, when officials somehow just didn’t see Bud Dupree give Wilson a helmet-to-helmet hit. That play did not draw a flag, but the NFL did later say it should have, and Dupree was fined $21,056.

Ansah ‘just getting started’

The Seahawks did not record a sack in the first game with Ziggy Ansah and Jadeveon Clowney playing together. Ansah, in his Seahawks debut, played 19 snaps but did not record a statistic. Clowney had one assisted tackle but otherwise did not have a stat on 37 snaps.

Carroll said Ansah is just getting started but also said Ansah didn’t mostly just did power rush moves in the game. “I think if he had it to do over again he would mix it up a little bit,” Carroll said.

Carroll said on his radio show that Clowney, who has one sack in three games, “was active but he didn’t get clean. This is a group (the Saints offensive line) that had given up three sacks coming in, so they are great at it and they were good again.”

Seattle had only two quarterback hits in the game, both by Quinton Jefferson.

Good news on Brown

Duane Brown’s arm injury that caused him to miss the last 23 plays was the most worrisome after the game.

Carroll clarified Monday that Brown has “got a sore biceps.’’ But he said tests showed nothing significant and that while Brown may miss some practice time, the thought as of today is that he will play.

Carroll said safety Bradley McDougald tweaked his ankle; McDougald returned after missing four snaps, and Carroll noted he did not need a walking boot to leave the stadium. Carroll said Monday afternoon that McDougald “has a chance” to make it back for Sunday’s game.