Getty The NFL fined the Seattle Seahawks and Pete Carroll.
The Seattle Seahawks were one of several teams fined by the NFL for violating the league’s mask policy in Week 2. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the Seahawks were fined $250,000 while Pete Carroll was individually fined $100,000 for not wearing his mask properly against the Patriots. Coaches are required to wear masks during games, while players are not.
“More fines could be on the way for Monday night’s game after the NFL fined Pete Carroll, Kyle Shanahan and Vic Fangio $100,000 each and their teams $250,000 each for not wearing masks,” Schefter noted on Twitter.
Schefter added that the NFL issued more than $1 million in fines for masks violations after Week 2, and the league also announced the Saints along with the Raiders were among the teams added to the list for violating the policy on Monday Night Football. The NFL insider noted that the league is “reinforcing its requirement that coaches wear coverings over their mouths and noses at all times on the sidelines during games, threatening discipline for those who don’t comply.”
Pete Carroll on Mask Fine: ‘Sometimes You’ve Got to Get Coached Up’
The irony is Carroll has been vocal about the need for people to wear masks. Carroll admitted he had a lapse during the Seahawks-Patriots game noting “sometimes you’ve got to get coached up.” The Seahawks coach added that he switched masks at halftime but failed to utilize it properly.
“I had a coach who was reminding me about it throughout the game, (running backs coach) Chad Morton was on my a– the whole night. He was reminding me the whole time,” Carroll said, per Seahawks.com. “I even changed masks at halftime to find one that worked better. Sometimes you’ve got to get coached up. Sometimes you have to admit that you screwed up and have got to do better.”
Carroll Has Been Wearing Masks During Seahawks Practices
The News Tribune’s Gregg Bell reported that Carroll has been consistently wearing his mask during the Seahawks practices.
“The irony here being Carroll has worn a mask during the bulk of every practice I’ve witnessed, which is just about all of them,” Bell tweeted. “…Also worth nothing: Carroll made a point to have a black mask on to start his remote press conference on Zoom today.”
The good news is the NFL has had great success during the season of keeping players healthy with the majority of people successfully passing the regular COVID-19 testing. Seattle has been taking additional precautions to protect its players including avoiding having their quarterbacks meet in the same room during game weeks. Prior to the start of the season, Carroll talked about the team taking on the pandemic in a competitive fashion.
“I’ve handled it in true competitor fashion, looking at this as a challenge to figure out, create mentality and mode and procedure that would fit with the protocols, competing on every level and everything we could think of,” Carroll noted, per MyNorthwest.com. “Since months ago, months and months ago, since we realized that this was happening, [we’ve been] studying and learning and trying to get up to speed with what we need to know, and talking to everybody.”
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