Seattle coach Pete Carroll continued to lament the fact that the Seahawks failed to run the ball well or much at all during Sunday's 27-24 loss at Denver, giving the team's top two running backs just seven carries apiece.

"Not enough," Carroll told reporters.

He pointed to the team going 2 of 12 on third downs and failing to convert a handful or third and short situations that would have provided more opportunities to run the ball.

"There was four 3rd-and-5 or less (plays) that, every one of them should’ve been conversions and that changes the complexion of everything about the game and the play-calling and all that," Carroll said.

However, one could argue that no matter what happened on third downs, the lack of rushing attempts came down to a lack of commitment to the run beyond simply not converting on third downs. Consider that Seattle handed the ball to Chris Carson and rookie Rashaad Penny 14 times out of 55 snaps. Even if Seattle threw the ball on all 12 third downs, that still would mean that the team gave the ball to the backs just 14 out of 43 other snaps, which still isn't a strong ratio for this team. Quarterback Russell Wilson had two carries for five yards.

Penny didn't have a good game at all, gaining just eight yards on seven carries. But Carson gained 55 on his seven carries.

"I thought, looked really good," Carroll said of Carson. "He was really aggressive and did what could with the plays he had.

Penny, on the other hand, struggled, in part because he missed three out of four preseason games.

"Rashaad looked a little rusty to me and when I visited with him about it – he really only had one good week of practice coming back (from his injury) and it wasn’t enough," Carroll said. "He needs more work and he wasn’t as responsive as he’s been earlier on, before he had to sit out for a while, so he’s going to work real hard to make sure that he’s ready to go and we’ll work him in."

Another factor that hindered calling more running plays was that Wilson played pretty well while most of hs completions came on first and second downs.

His 15-yard touchdown pass to tight end Will Dissly came on first down, as did the 66-yard connection between the two later in the first quarter. A 24-yard pass to Dissly came on second down and eight yards to go. On back-to-back first downs in the second quarter, Wilson hit Carson for gains of 14 and 9 yards. The 51-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett came on second down in the third quarter.

However, two early sacks came on first down passing plays.

So, one could see why offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer fell in love with the pass on early downs. The running game was inconsistent and Wilson was having success in the passing game.

Still, for this team to win, it has to control the ball and that is best done with the running game and converting on third downs. Seattle failed in both areas at Denver.

--- Doug Baldwin out

Seattle wide receiver Doug Baldwin (knee) will miss Monday's game at Chicago. Beyond that, Carroll wasn't sure.

"It could be a couple weeks and we’ll find out," Carroll said. "He’s as tough as you get and we’ll need to wait. He’s getting his science back and we’ll find out in the next couple of days what that means.”

Carroll wouldn't confirm reports that Baldwin suffered a partial MCL tear in his right knee.

“We didn’t report that. I don’t know where that came from," Carroll said.

Either way, Carroll expects Baldwin to return and be ready to play.

"He’ll be able to get back from this," Carroll said.

--- K.J. Wright update

Outside linebacker K.J. Wright appears to be close to returning after missing the Denver game with a knee injury. But that return still might not happen at Chicago.

"We’re going to see what happens," Carroll said. "He is running and so he’s back to moving and all that. He’s had a really clean rehab in the short time he’s had. He’s very positive about it, but I can’t tell you what that means for the weekend. I don’t know that yet.”

-- Aaron Fentress covers the Seahawks and the Oregon Ducks for NBCSportsNorthwest. You can follow him on Twitter , Facebook and Instagram.