After his 236th game as NFL head coach, Pete Carroll was stunned.
Legally confused. At a loss for answers. Like he’s a hit cartoon character with a sledgehammer.
Carroll played his best game of the season against NFL MVP candidate Russell Wilson in the constantly improving Giants defense and Carroll’s high scoring offense without a touchdown until the fourth quarter.
The result? 17-12 win over Seattle Seahawks to stay in first place in the NFC East.
“It’s just a vague feeling that we’re not putting any issues on board,” Carroll said. “I need to watch a movie to find out what happened to Hack and why it happened. It’s just not like that. None of us have seen us play like that. So it was very difficult. “
Here’s what he’s looking for in a review: Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham sits off all season for quarterbacks and top offensive coaching minds.
“We’re always joking about how the stomach is like a computer,” said defensive lineman Leonard Williams. “I swear he can remember a play he played six years ago and he knows exactly where he was in the game. It’s like ‘playing 56 in year 7 against the Buccaneers’, and I, ‘what? How does this person remember that stuff? ‘When it comes to conspiracy, and he’s just a genius at understanding who has what and who to go against. “
Wilson passed just 216 yards with a disruption and a lost mash and ran for his life on five sacks and other pressure. The game ended in a fitting fashion, when Wilson rolled into circles behind the conspiracy line and threw a prayer as he took a shot in the head from another hill, watching James Bradberry batting an incomplete bottom.
“I’m not going to lie: the team had a different swagger and a different interest today,” said safety Gabriel Pepper. “Because we knew if we played our brand – football, hard, tough, physical football – we could shock a lot of people.”
Williams is shocking to many.
Over the years of pressure, knockdown and haste to prove that he is a pass passer, Williams has become a game-racker. He stamped his Pro Bowl resume on Sunday with a career-high 2.5 sack, reaching 8.5 with the best four games of his season total.
Suddenly, the decision by general manager Dave Gatlamman to franchise Tag Williams on a one-year, 16 16 million deal – an outrageous number in his previous production – doesn’t seem silly.
“The plan has been fun, the people around are helping me to play great, the system is helping me to play great,” Williams said. “There are a lot of things that help players reach potential and I think it’s all coming together.”
The most impressive part is that the defense is dominated by an injured linebacker corps that now relies on four interests – Cam Brown, Carter Cufflin, Tai Crowder and Nico Laloz.
“That’s the norm,” Pepper said. “It simply came to our notice then. If you don’t walk up to the standard, the guys won’t get out there. ”
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