The manner in which the Seattle Seahawks lost the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round of the 2022 playoffs, and the fact that it was a third straight loss versus their division rival, gave Pete Carroll’s team a standard to try to match.

Kyle Shanahan’s team dominated all three matchups, outscoring Carroll’s Seahawks by a combined 46 points and turning Seattle over six times without committing a turnover of its own. The losses were so convincing that Seattle had no choice but to do whatever it could to bridge that gap.

So, Carroll and general manager John Schneider spent the next 10 months playing catchup. They overhauled the defensive line. They used the first top-five draft pick of their tenure on a versatile defensive back. Carroll and second-year defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt tweaked the scheme and reunited with familiar faces such as Bobby Wagner and Jarran Reed to run it. The offense didn’t undergo such dramatic reshaping, but that unit added a veteran center, a top-20 draft pick at receiver who was expected to improve the third-down numbers and a physical, downhill running back.

The Seahawks (6-4) host the 49ers (7-3) on Thanksgiving night at Lumen Field in what will be their first opportunity to see whether those changes have made them better equipped to deal with one of the conference’s best squads.

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