Seahawks coach Pete Carroll continues to own the play call that he didn’t make, which becomes even more admirable in light of the fact that he doesn’t call the plays on offense.
Most recently, Carroll opted to take his case to a national, mainstream stage by agreeing to an interview with Matt Lauer of NBC’s Today. During the interview, which aired Thursday morning, Carroll acknowledged that it will take time to work this out within his locker room.
“I don’t think at this point that everybody’s on the same page about that sequence necessarily, but that’s OK,” Carroll told Lauer.
Carroll said he explained the decision to his players during a weekly “Tell The Truth Monday” meeting. “I wanted to make sure that they went through the whole process of what happened at the end -- went through the whole thinking and everything and reminded them how we had prepared, and how we’ve done things,” Carroll said. “So they realize that whether or not -- even the players [who] want to agree -- know that this is the way we have practiced and prepared ourselves to execute in this moment.”
Carroll said he’s not having any trouble getting to sleep in the days after the stunning loss to the Patriots, but that he’s having trouble staying asleep, for reasons unrelated to having a 63-year-old prostate.
“I’m sleeping some . . . but I wake up and can’t stop thinking about it,” Carroll said. “The sleep part works because we’re so worn out after the six months of the season that you can’t help but fall asleep, but it’s the waking up -- it’s getting back to sleep that’s the challenge.”
Pressed by Lauer on whether Carroll has shed tears over the way the game ended, Carroll admitted he has.
“That happened at that 4:05 [a.m.] mark on, you know, that hit,” Carroll said. “There was a break where I allowed all of the rush of it to hit. . . . That was my opportunity to go ahead and visit it.”
But Carroll isn’t looking for closure, at least not within himself. “These don’t go away,” Carroll said. “These occurrences, they don’t leave. These occurrences have stayed with me over the years in a manner that they fuel me. The one at [USC], third national championship opportunity, 19 seconds left, fourth and seven, those don’t go away. I don’t really even want to lose those. I don’t want to wash them out and ignore them. I just want them to be in a place where they’re gonna help me be right.”
So how will he be right with his players moving forward? “By getting to the truth, by getting there, talking about it, facing it up,” Carroll said. “Everybody’s cleared their minds. When you finally gather and you’re ready to take that next step, we’re gonna go places that are extraordinary.”
Asked if there’s a story of redemption planned for the Seahawks, Carroll smiled and said, “It’s well underway.”
At this point, the biggest challenge remains getting those players who aren’t on the same page about the decision to adopt the same attitude about the outcome as their coach.