Getty Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll reacted to the NFL schedule for the final week of the regular season.
The Seattle Seahawks drew the short end of the stick with the NFL Week 18 schedule. But don’t tell that to Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll.
The 71-year-old head coach was in no mood on January 2 to discuss any potential disadvantage Seattle will have with the schedule during the final weekend of the regular season.
“I know that there’s been maybe some question about the order of the games being played on Sunday or whatever. That doesn’t mean anything to me. We don’t care about that one bit,” Carroll said about the league’s schedule. “It’s not going to change anything that we’re doing. We’re going for it.
“And then maybe there will be a pretty good party afterward to watch the next game.”
More Pete Carroll on NFL deciding Lions-Packers will start after Seahawks-Rams ends: “I don’t care about that one bit. That’s not going to change anything that we’re doing. We are going for it. And then maybe there will be a pretty good party afterward, to watch the next game.”
The NFL released the Week 18 schedule on January 2, revealing that the Seahawks-Rams matchup will kick off at 4:25 ET while the Lions-Packers showdown will be in primetime.
Carroll Avoids Addressing Poor Draw in Week 18 Schedule
In a perfect world, the Seahawks-Rams and Lions-Packers matchups should be played at the same time. But the NFL appears to have prioritized television ratings over competitive fairness.
The NFL is an entertainment organization.
It knows exactly what it’s doing.
Packers-Lions on SNF will be one of the most watched TV broadcasts of all of 2023.
That’s it. No need to think any deeper than that.
The Seahawks need a win and a Green Bay Packers loss to make the postseason, and the Detroit Lions require a win and Seahawks defeat to earn a playoff spot.
So scheduling the Lions to play after the Seahawks means Detroit will be eliminated before kickoff if Seattle wins. Theoretically, the Lions could then be unmotivated to face the Packers, which hurts the Seahawks. Again, Green Bay needs to lose or tie for Seattle to earn the No. 7 seed.
It’s not surprising, though, that Carroll avoided talking about this disadvantage. As the cliché goes, the Seahawks can only control what they can control.
All the Seahawks can do is win and hope Detroit wins, which is what they would be doing anyway, regardless of when the Packers host the Lions.
“The last thing I would ever worry about is coach Campbell’s team not getting ready to play, regardless of what’s at stake and what’s going on,” Carroll told the media. “He’s going to get them fired up and jacked, that’s all he’s ever done.”
Seahawks Had Their Chances to Avoid Needing Help in Week 18
There’s no denying that the NFL handed the Seahawks a competitive disadvantage with the Week 18 schedule. But the team could be blamed for the scenario as much as the league.
The Seahawks had lost five of six before beating the New York Jets in Week 17. Just one more win during that stretch, and the Seahawks would have been in the playoffs with only a victory this weekend.
Seattle lost to three playoff teams during that tough stretch, but the Seahawks also fell to the Las Vegas Raiders and Carolina Panthers at home. Both teams will enter Week 18 with only six wins.
The Seahawks also went 0-4 versus the NFC South. There isn’t a team in that division with a winning record, and yet, Carroll’s club couldn’t muster even one win in those matchups.
Here’s the thing on Seahawks, yes, getting jobbed by the NFL putting Lions-Packers in primetime Sunday:
Seahawks blew multiple chances to be above their position of needing Detroit’s–or anyone’s–help. Don’t lose to the Raiders, or to the entire NFC South, and this is moot.
The Lions have won two straight against the Packers, so there should be hope even if the game is meaningless for Detroit that the Lions can knock off the Packers. However, Green Bay owns a 28-3 record at Lambeau Field versus Detroit since 1992.
Aaron Rodgers has an 18-7 record with 53 touchdowns versus only 11 interceptions in his career against the Lions.
Seahawks will host the Los Angeles Rams, who they beat, 27-23, in Week 13. The Lions defeated the Packers, 15-9, in Week 9.