Seahawks Pete Carroll 'Not Surprised' About Defensive Struggles

The Seattle Seahawks have allowed the second most rushing yards league-wide over the first three weeks, as their defensive struggles continue to hold the team back.

The Seattle Seahawks are now 1-2 after losing what coach Pete Carroll called an "important game" in Week 3. The Seahawks' 27-23 loss against the Atlanta Falcons served as yet another display of Seattle's defensive woes.

The Seahawks allowed a 99.8 passer rating to Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota on Sunday, while also allowing 179 yards on the ground. Seattle has now allowed 100 yards rushing in each of their first three games while allowing 175 or more in each of their last two. 

When asked what surprised him about Seattle's defensive struggles against Atlanta, Carroll just made even more clear how consistently disappointing the defense has been this season.

“I’m not surprised," Carroll stated after the loss. "I’m disappointed that we are not starting faster. I would have liked to gotten off to a faster start with what we are doing. The third down numbers aren’t in good shape, and the running numbers aren’t either."

Regarding Carroll's point about third down numbers, Atlanta converted over 50 percent of their third down opportunities against Seattle on Sunday. Carroll is now citing communication as the key to defensive improvement for the Seahawks.

"We talked about communication a lot today because there are alerts coming in and alerts in the gameplan preparation that help us there," said Carroll after the Atlanta game. 

"Listening, if there is an experienced player next to you and he tells you something, you hear it. He’s not making the communication, but we act on it well. Those are things that will get better, but there’s no time, so we have to get going.”

Tackling is also a large piece of the puzzle and an issue Seattle continues to display ranging back to the preseason. If the Seahawks want to turn their season around, there's plenty of work to be done on the defensive side of the ball ... now it's time "to get going" and put change into place.

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