Carroll, Kelly reunite as Seahawks host 49ers
SEATTLE — Chip Kelly and Pete Carroll overlapped for only one season as college coaches in the Pac-10. They’ve met only once since both found their way to the NFL.
If all goes to plan in both Seattle and San Francisco, the pair will get quite familiar over the next few seasons, beginning today, when the Seahawks host the 49ers.
When Kelly was the coach at Oregon, one of the first places he visited to see how other teams run in-season practices was Seattle.
“It was his request to come here, then I was grilling him,” Carroll said.
“Not a lot of people would allow people to come in, especially inseason, but it was good experience for me,” Kelly said.
San Francisco has surprised with its performance through the first two weeks, opening with an impressive 28-0 shutout of the Rams, before losing 46-27 at Carolina in a game that was 34-27 midway through the fourth quarter before the Panthers pulled away.
Seattle is showing signs of major offensive issues after managing 15 points through two games, including three points last week against a Los Angeles team the 49ers routed in Week 1. The offensive line has been unable to fully protect quarterback Russell Wilson or get the run game started. It hasn’t helped that Wilson has played with a sprained right ankle suffered in the second half of the opener against Miami.
“We feel like we’re really close,” Carroll said. “We feel like we can see the execution, we can see the potential to make the ball move up and down the field like we want to.”
Here’s what else to watch as Seattle goes for its fifth straight regular-season win:
THE INFIRMARY: Seattle came out of last week’s loss to Los Angeles beaten up. Wide receivers Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett suffered minor knee injuries, while running back Thomas Rawls has a muscle strain in his lower left leg. All three are expected to play, but none will be at 100 per cent. Coupled with Wilson’s sprained ankle and a number of Seattle’s offensive stars will be playing at less than full health.
GROUNDED: After rushing for 150 yards and three TDs in that opening win over Los Angeles, the 49ers’ running game couldn’t get off the ground in Carolina. San Francisco was held to 65 yards on 25 carries against a defence keyed to stop the run.
“We need to get into the pass game a little bit more and maybe a little bit earlier just to kind of loosen them up a little bit,” Kelly said.
TURNING IT OVER: A big positive for the 49ers early this season has been their ability to take away the ball after ranking second worst in the league a year ago with 12 takeaways. The defence has six takeaways already this season with three interceptions and three fumble recoveries. Co-ordinator Jim O’Neill has stressed taking chances on defence — even if it can lead to the occasional big play.
“We don’t want to be that team that never makes any plays,” O’Neill said.