In the immediate aftermath of their Super Bowl loss, it didn’t take long for fingers to be pointed. But with the anger subsiding, the Seahawks are left with the sadness that will linger.
“You play the game over in your mind a little bit, and you find that the score doesn’t change,” running back Robert Turbin said, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “It’s quite shocking, because you obviously feel like you should have won the game. We feel like we should be in here celebrating instead of sobbing. But we’re not.’’
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told his players on the day they cleaned out their lockers that they had to stick together, a process made more difficult by a coach calling out a player for a fateful play and players ripping the play-calling.
“I don’t want to talk about that,” wide receiver Doug Baldwin said of the interception which cost them a second straight title.
He had more to say about offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell’s suggestion that wide receiver Ricardo Lockette could have gone stronger to the ball on the fateful slant.
“I would be lying if I said it didn’t bother us,’’ Baldwin said. “He’s a coach, and so you take that criticism or whatnot and you look in the mirror and figure out what you could have done with it. It’s harsh. But in the reality of it, it’s in the heat of the moment. Right after the game, people may say things or do things they may have changed or would like to be interpreted differently. However, at the end of the day, like I said, we’re going to stick together and move forward, so none of that matters now.”
If they can’t repair those internal fractures (a process which will take more than just saying they’re gone), the task of getting back to the Super Bowl next year will become even more difficult.