I am so proud of Pete Carroll for how up front he's been with the media following the Seahawks' demoralizing, last-second loss the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl 49. For him to come out and accept the blame is very admriable--at least from my perspective.
Anyone can be a frontrunner, and talk to the media when your team wins, and the jist of the talk is just about how your team is and what they did right to win the game. But if you LOSE a close game with high stakes, what then? Hide under a rock and wait for the storm to blow over? A man of a lesser heart may do that, but not Pete Carroll. No, several days after the Super Bowl I was reading that he actually had a 20 minute sitdown interview with Matt Lauer of NBC's "The Today Show".
Personnally, as a member of the 12th man (a nick name for the Seattle Seahawks' fanbase) I CAN talk about the Super Bowl loss and what contributed to that, BUT I really don't wan't to. That interception by the Patriots' Malcom Butler was the equivallent to me getting hit by a bus. Totally jarred me, and eveytime I think about it, it gives me nightmares.
But now, for better or worse, it's part of the historical record. For me, it's the worse part. Not that I'm angry with the Patriots. Just like 10 years ago when the Seahawks lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl, I wasn't angry with Pittsburgh after the game, I was just disappointed that we didn't win.
Pete, if you saw me at work last week I don't know if you would have like what I did or not, but in the presence of a Patriot fan I let him relish his victory over us. Acknowlging that it was a classic game, one for the ages. You see I can get this from a Patriots' fan perspective, they're elated that their team won--and they should be. It's still too raw for me to completely process yet, but I can't think of a Super Bowl that was funner to watch. Maybe Steelers/Cardinals from about 7 years ago when Santonio Holmes made that incredible catch to win the game, and with that 100 yard interception return for a touchdown by James Harrison. But I digress...
So what was my take of the 2nd down call, whose end result: an interception which cost us the game? Well, like many other Seahawk fans I think in that case I would have run the ball with Marshawn Lynch. THAT'S the "safe" call. One yard out, with one timeout in your backpocket. Yeah, even if you don't score, you call the timeout and get two more tries to pass or have a Russell Wilson scramble to win the game.
The only problem with a Marshawn Lynch run is that's the obvious call that I'm sure the Patriots were preparing themselves for, thus I understand why Pete could call this play; he wanted to win the game with a play that Patriots hadn't seen on film before. And truth be told Riccardo Lockette didn't get a lot of balls thrown his way during the season. So why not?
Well, part me says why not throw it to someone like Cooper Heltfelt or Luke Wilson in a case like this? Seams like a GREAT time to call play action, fake it to Marshawn then throw a ball to either one Seattle's tightends that have a knack for making big plays when the Seahawks needed it the most.
But overall, I don't blame Pete, and I don't think it's fair to criticize him there. Wanna critisize Pete, what about the end-of-the-first-half play where with 6 seconds where instead of going with the sure points, a pass play is called. Now the result of the play was touchdown Seahawks, but at the time it was happening in real time I was screaming, "Take the sure points, kick the chip shot field goal." And again in the NFC Championship game there was the play where Pete Carroll TOTALLY rolled the dice and ran a fake field goal play that had punter/holder Jon Ryan throwing a ball to some lineman named Gresham, that prior to that play I didn't even know that guy was even on the team! That came in the late 3rd quarter of a game where your team was down 16-0, and your quarterback had already thrown 3 intererceptions. Wanna know what I really think of Pete Carroll? This guy has balls the size of bowling balls! That's what I think. Risky... And if they don't work... My point is MAYBE it's more just to call into question Pete's call on those two plays then one that last play in the Super Bowl...
Now as for the game-deciding quick slant pass that didn't work. Either the timing or Russell threw a bad ball. Now I can't bring myself to watch this play ever again, but I'm willing to venture that pass that Malcom Butler intercepted was a miss-throw by Russell Wilson: Russell lead Riccardo too far, which given the circumstance he shouldn't have done. As a quarterback in the NFL, yes you have to throw with antispation, but you also need to be defensive in your thows and not put the ball in a place where the bad guys can get it. On that goal-line throw, the bad guys got it; Russell's fault--not Pete Carroll's.
Now, I am a HUGE Russell Wilson fan. He's won a lot of games for us. From my perspective that was just a bad throw. I still support him as the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. But let's call it what it was: bad throw by Russell Wilson at a criticial time in the game cost the Seattle Seahawks a 2nd Super Bowl championship. Hash indightment? Well, that's the reality of being an NFL quarterback, you gotta live with the bad too. And I'm not going to sugarcoat it, from my perspective that was a bad throw by Russell Wilson and like it or not he should be held accountable for making it.
That said, I can't wait to see how Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll bounce back from this. I love our guys so much, and I HOPE this isn't the end of the run, even though I have a fear in my heart that it is. Still, I want to believe. And I want to know more about Pete Carroll so much so that I just bought his book from Amazon. I'm really curious to see if he covers how fans and players should cope with high stakes losses. A little over 10 years ago I remembered when Pete's USC squad was taking on the Texas Longhorns for the collegate nation title. In that game Texas won on some late-game heroics by Longhorn quarterback Vince Young. So Pete's no stranger to heart-breaking losses. Currious what his philosophy/midset is for dealing with them. And like I said earlier, anyone can be a front runner, but it takes a real pro to lead when the chips are down, and that's what I see Pete Carroll doing now.
So in closing let me say, that I'm still a big fan of Pete Carroll and what he's done to build up the Seattle Seahawks to the point where we're regularly playing meaningful game in the regular season, playoff and beyond. With Pete at the helm the Seahawks have risen to hights they've never been at before. And for that the 12th man is grateful. You don't always with the "big one." But it sure is nice to be in contention for championships. Win Forever? I hope so. In Pete I trust, can't wait to read his book.
E.C. Henry: one of the biggest Seahawks fans on the planet.
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