Seahawks say they’re not quitters

Published on November 9, 2010 by T.C.     

Linebacker Lofa Tatupu offered no excuses.

No qualifiers about who wasn’t available, and he also expressed no doubt that this Seahawks team could bounce back from a second consecutive lopsided defeat.

“We’ve got no quitters,” Tatupu said. “I love every guy in this locker room. I know they’ll go to bat for each other. I’m not worried about our attitude or anything like that. We’ve got the right attitude, we’ve got players, we’ve just got to make plays, bottom line.”

Coach Pete Carroll said his major emphasis after the game was keeping the team together.

“These guys are going to hang,” Carroll said. “They’re going to battle. They’re going to stay with it. That’s what they know, these are the guys we’ve chosen to play with and we have leadership in that room.”

Seattle defensive tackles Brandon Mebane and Colin Cole were inactive for Sunday. Defensive end Red Bryant is out for the season, and with Seattle’s inability to mount any consistent offense in the first three quarters the New York Giants ended up running twice as many plays as Seattle, 79 to 37.

Did the Seahawks compete Sunday? Well, the game certainly wasn’t competitive, as the Giants were never forced to punt in the first half and scored touchdowns on five of their first six possessions. But the Giants didn’t score a touchdown in the second half, either.

“I don’t think we ever gave up,” safety Lawyer Milloy said.

Picked on

Seattle’s two deepest drives in the first half ended up in the hands of the Giants after Charlie Whitehurst was intercepted.

The first one occurred in the end zone, a pass to Mike Williams that was broken up by Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas.

“I could have got it to him maybe a little quicker,” Whitehurst said of his pass. “The corner wouldn’t have gotten his hand in there.”

The second interception came on a pass intended for Williams, but thrown too far behind him.

Under pressure

Pass protection was the biggest concern entering the game as the Giants came in with 24 sacks, third-most in the league, while the Seahawks were starting Chester Pitts at left tackle, where he had not started at since 2005.

Of all the things that went wrong for Seattle, pass protection wasn’t one of them. The Giants didn’t get a single sack, and Whitehurst remembered being hit only once.

“They played well up front,” Whitehurst said. “We didn’t have much of a running game, but when we pass protected, I thought that it was really good.”

Day of rest

Playing against his college coach, Giants receiver Steve Smith said the game Sunday felt a little bit like a college game with most of the starters out in the fourth quarter.

“I’m used to us playing the whole way to the end,” said Smith, in his fourth year out of USC.

Tags: Brandon Mebane, Charlie Whitehurst, coach pete carroll, Colin Cole, Cornerback Terrell, End Zone, Entering The Game, Giants Cornerback, Interception, Lawyer Milloy, Line Coach, Locker Room, Lofa, Lopsided Defeat, New York Giants, No Doubt, Sacks, Scored Touchdowns, T Score, Three Quarters