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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hawks quiet, try to regroup

Adjustments being made after 1st loss

Tim Booth Associated Press

SEATTLE – With Super Bowl rematch hoopla looming, the Seattle Seahawks spent Monday trying to regroup after being drained by the heat of San Diego.

The Seahawks haven’t been accustomed to dealing with losses much in the past 12 months. That helped explain the mood Monday after Sunday’s 30-21 loss to the Chargers.

“They’re quiet. They’re quiet and serious,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “We don’t take these easily. There are very high expectations that we live with here and everybody knows that. The main thing is everybody took to heart the changes and adjustments and the things that we can fix. They were ready to do that.”

San Diego had offensive success where others had failed. There were many reasons, but it started with the performance of Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who drew high praise from Carroll.

There was also San Diego’s ability to get gains on first and second downs to set up short third-down opportunities and extend those drives that eventually wore out Seattle’s defense. San Diego was 10 of 17 on third down and many of the passes were underneath.

“They have a real good mentality about it. They’ve been committed to that style it seems to be since the midway point of last year and that’s the way they like to play,” Carroll said. “Philip does a great job of it. … That allowed them to play to their strength and we weren’t able to knock down enough situations.”

The stumble only raised the specter of this Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch with the Broncos in Seattle. Denver beat the Seahawks last month in the preseason opener for both teams.

“They wanted to get rid of the feeling and I don’t blame them one bit. That’s what everybody would do,” Carroll said. “I’m sure this is a really important game to them again. As it is to us.”