Tie leaves Seahawks with mixed feelings

RENTON, Washington — The first tie in the history of the Seattle Seahawks left Pete Carroll searching for a way to define its meaning.

It certainly wasn’t a loss. Not with the way Seattle’s defence withstood the most difficult of conditions, being subjected to 95 plays by one of the more potent offences in the NFL and more than 46 exhausting minutes spent on the field.

But it also didn’t feel much like a victory after Steve Hauschka badly missed a 28-yard field goal attempt in the closing seconds of overtime.

So less than 24 hours after walking off the field in Arizona, Carroll was still searching for the proper context to Sunday’s 6-6 tie with the Cardinals.

“I’ve decided to make up our own place. We’re going to put this in the extraordinary experience of battling, an opportunity to demonstrate who we are and what we’re about,” Carroll said. “And again, learn how to believe in one another. Count on each other to get stuff done even when it’s really bleak sometimes. You just keep hanging on, keep believing.”

Carroll had reason to be so encouraged after seeing the performance by Seattle’s defence that somehow kept Arizona out of the end zone but left the likes of Bobby Wagner and Richard Sherman severely fatigued after being on the field for 46 minutes and 21 seconds, believed to be the ninth-longest time of possession in a regular-season game. The Seahawks gave up 443 total yards to Arizona, but huge plays in overtime by Earl Thomas, Kelcie McCray and Wagner managed to keep Arizona from finding the end zone and created the situation where Chandler Catanzaro missed a 24-yard field goal attempt that could have won it for the Cardinals.