Seahawks’ Pete Carroll Reveals Reason for Riq Woolen Benching

Getty Seattle Seahawks CB Riq Woolen

The Seattle Seahawks beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football in Week 15 thanks to a great all-around team effort. The Seahawks defense held one of the best offenses in the league to just 17 points in this game and limited them to 143 passing yards.

After the game, though, one of the big questions was why Pro Bowl cornerback Riq Woolen was benched for Michael Jackson to start the game. Head coach Pete Carroll answered that question in his postgame presser.

“Guys had a competition this week, and that’s how it came out,” Carroll said. “They’re all playing good football, so we just thought it was worth of those guys having a chance to battle for it, and that’s just the way it came out for the week.”

Michael Jackson Played Most of the Team’s Defensive Snaps

A week earlier, amid a four-game losing streak, Pete Carroll uncharacteristically called out several Seattle defenders by name, including safety Jamal Adams and Woolen. Adams didn’t play against the Eagles due to injury.

In the end, Jackson played 50 (72%) of the defensive snaps in Week 15 while Woolen ended with just 19 (28%). Jackson, a fifth-year player making his first start in 2023 after starting all 17 games for the Seahawks in 2022, had 4 total tackles, 2 passes defended and 1 tackle for loss. Meanwhile, Woolen, a Pro Bowl rookie in 2022, had 1 assisted tackle in his limited time on the field.

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts had just 143 passing yards, and receivers A.J. Brown (5 catches, 56 yards) and DeVonta Smith (5 catches, 50 yards) both had relatively quiet games.

In a locker room interview after the 20-17 win, Jackson discussed the difficulty in defending against Hurts, especially up the middle.

“Jalen’s a warrior,” Jackson said. “It can turn into backyard football. … With him, you gotta play pass, run, scramble — like, everything. … We gotta communicate. I just feel like, on the back end we have to be on the same page.”

Seattle Is Back in the Playoff Race

The Seahawks’ Week 15 win over the Eagles was huge for the NFC West squad. After four straight losses, the team’s playoff hopes were hanging by a thread. Now, with three games to go, the team still needs help, but the chances the team gets into the playoffs are still alive.

Seattle is currently eighth — just outside looking in — in the NFC playoff picture. The Seahawks’ playoff chances stand at 45%, per the New York Times’ NFL playoff simulator.

Carroll’s squad doesn’t totally control its own destiny, though, even if they go 3-0 in their final trio of games. If the other 7-7 teams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Rams, and New Orleans Saints all win out (except if the Rams beat the Saints in Week 16), the Seahawks have a 65% chance of getting in, depending on how a few other games break and determine the strength-of-schedule tiebreaker.

If any of those teams lose a game and Seattle can beat the Tennessee Titans, Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals to finish the 2023 campaign, then the Seahawks will once again go dancing for the second consecutive season.

The Seahawks are a 3-point favorite on the road for their Christmas Eve game against the Titans (5-9). Seattle has a 59% probability of winning, according to Heavy Sports’ Quarter4 projections.