Getty Pete Carroll addresses potential Seahawks restart in 2022
The Seattle Seahawks have been one of the most successful franchises in the past decade, mainly due to the stellar play of quarterback Russell Wilson and the coaching prowess of Pete Carroll. They had winning seasons since 2012, missing out on the playoffs only once during that timespan.
In the 2021 campaign, the Seahawks are currently sitting at a 5-10 record and have been officially eliminated from playoff contention. The team now sits at the bottom of the NFC West, a place the team hasn’t been since 1996.
Although there have been a few blips in the system, Carroll doesn’t think this season is any cause for concern.
“Not for one reason at all am I thinking we have to restart this whole thing and create a new philosophy and new approach,” Carroll mentions on the Pete Carroll Show on 710 ESPN Seattle. “I think we’ve got the essence of the things that we need; we got to build on and support it better. We got to continue to grow and progress, there’s no standing still.”
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Pete Carroll Likes What the Seahawks Bring to the Table
When looking at the NFC West landscape, it’s easy to point out the talent levels of each team. The Los Angeles Rams have been a hotbed for star players. The Arizona Cardinals have already made a few splashes with talented players of their own. The San Francisco 49ers have tons of young potential and upside on their roster. Where do the Seahawks rank amongst them?
“When you look around our division and you look at when the Cardinals were really rolling and they had all of their guys going, they had a lot of star players on their football team; like national football league star guys.” Carroll tells Mike Salk on the Pete Carroll Show.“The Rams looked like they were pretty loaded up as well and you could see it; and the niners have a lot of firepower.”
“I’m looking at our club; I like what we had, I liked every aspect of what we had, but as it turned out, the guys [are] in our division, it’s why it’s the best division in football. We’re up against it and we like what we got but you gotta admire what the other teams have. They’ve acknowledged the fact that they got some great players over there too, it’s been really balanced out.”
The Seahawks came into this season ranked as the 8th oldest team in the league, according to an Andrew Walker tweet. This showed off that the team has lots of experience on their roster, which is what Carroll is admiring the most about his club.
Seahawks Need Someone They Can Count On
Carroll wants the team to be sharper in late-game situations and not let what happens during the game affect their execution. After the loss to the Chicago Bears on December 26th, the team is 2-5 in one-score games. Including two overtime games, the Seahawks are 0-5 on the season in games with a margin of 3 points or less.
“An example of [how to grow and progress] would be how we ask guys to do what they got to do in crunch time,” Carroll said in a Press Conference on December 27. “What guys we call on, who do we go to with the ball that is going to be comfortable and come through.”
“For instance, you can think Tyler has always been a guy that has always been able to come through in crunch time, so you make decisions to position that guy so that he gets that opportunity.”
“We’re still focused, committed. We’re too invested to quit now, we’re going to finish the season strong,” defensive end Carlos Dunlap reiterates to Seahawks.com reporter John Boyle. “As you’ve seen all season all these games are coming down to the wire…You’ve got to respect that, it just speaks to the character in the locker room right there.”
Pete Carroll, 70, has an annual salary of $11 million per year. He signed a contract extension in November 2020 to keep him around the Seahawks until 2025, positioning him right in the heart of the Seahawks for the foreseeable future.