RENTON — Pete Carroll understood that from the outside, the Seahawks’ win looked pretty ugly.
Whether it was the careless ball security or the Seahawks being unable to pull away until late, there wasn’t much aesthetically impressive about Seattle’s 20-13 victory over Tennessee on Sunday.
But within the Seahawks’ 11th straight home victory, Carroll was encouraged by a better offensive performance and a Seattle defense that didn’t allow an offensive touchdown for the second time this season.
“I liked the way it looked from the inside out,” Carroll said on Monday.
The Seahawks improved to 5-1 for the first time since 2003 and finished their out of conference matchups against the AFC South with a 3-1 record.
Russell Wilson threw for 257 yards and ran for another 61, the third time this season he’s topped 300 yards combined passing and running.
Until Tennessee’s final drive of the game, the Seahawks had limited the Titans to 154 total yards.
Carroll enjoyed analyzing that part of the win.
But it was impossible to ignore Seattle’s flaws, and with little time for corrections as the Seahawks travel to Arizona on Thursday night.
The Seahawks put the ball on the ground five times, although they only lost two fumbles. It was the most fumbles in a regular-season game by the Seahawks since the 2000 season.
For the second straight week, Seattle watched a field goal attempt go back the other way for a touchdown, this time due to a fumbled attempt on the last play of the first half with a backup holder and kicker.
While Carroll didn’t seem concerned, Wilson continued to put much of the offense on his shoulders, both running and passing.
Seattle offense finally found some rhythm in the second half with 251 total yards and 17 points, but it came after a choppy start.
Seattle scored touchdowns on just 2 of 5 trips inside the Tennessee 20.
“It’s nice to learn while you are winning and I think that’s where we are. That’s what we’re hoping to continue,” Carroll said.
“I don’t know if we’ll be able to reach the levels that we saw late last year where we were scoring points at a huge rate. That was an enormous run that we had. But that’s good to expect that and I’d like to see that too.
Game plans were already being handed out on Monday for the quick turnaround and trip to Arizona.
Seattle will play consecutive division games in prime time, facing the Cardinals followed by a Monday night game in St. Louis on Oct. 28, and then not see anyone from the NFC West again until December.
The Seahawks may be without defensive end Chris Clemons against Arizona after he hyperextended his elbow late in the game getting caught in a pile.
X-rays were negative and an MRI on Monday showed Clemons had a “little issue,” Carroll said, but that it would not require surgery. It’ll be a pain tolerance issue for Clemons if he is to play on Thursday.
The other major question for Seattle is middle linebacker Bobby Wagner after he missed the Titans game with a high ankle sprain suffered a week earlier against Indianapolis.
Carroll said Wagner is making progress in his recovery, but might not be far enough along to go against the Cardinals.
If Wagner can’t go, K.J. Wright would move from the outside and start his second straight game at middle linebacker.
“We’re very fortunate to have the depth to be able to withstand that,” Carroll said. “It’s worked out well for us.”
Seattle is expecting tight end Zach Miller to practice and play after missing the past two games with a hamstring injury.
Miller was close to being able to go on Sunday, but with the quick turnaround, the Seahawks felt it best to hold him out until Thursday.
And while wide receiver Percy Harvin is eligible to come off the physically unable to perform list and start practicing, it’s not expected to happen this week because of the limited practice time.
“He’ll be running and doing a lot of stuff this week,” Carroll said. “We won’t expect him to play this week, but we’ll find out how far along he has come.”
