Seahawks’ Carroll has interesting answers to two tough questions

Dec 11, 2023, 11:08 AM | Updated: 12:55 pm

Seattle Sports

The Seattle Seahawks are in uncharacteristic territory, having lost four straight games for the first time under 14th-year head coach Pete Carroll.

Similarly, Carroll’s answers to some questions Monday morning on his weekly Seattle Sports show were a bit out of the ordinary.

Seahawks Injury Updates: Latest on Geno Smith, Devon Witherspoon

Two in particular stood out from the conversation that Carroll had with host Mike Salk.

First, Salk asked if the 6-7 Seahawks could make any changes coming off a 28-16 loss Sunday to the San Francisco 49ers before their next game, a Monday Night Football matchup against the 10-3 Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 18.

“There’s some things we have to do here. There’s some things we have to do, and we’ll take care of business,” Carroll replied.

As Salk began to ask a follow-up question, Carroll quickly jumped back in.

“I’m not talking to you about it, OK? You’ll just have to wait and see about that. Can’t help you,” Carroll said.

That may read a bit more serious than Carroll meant it, as he quickly lightened the mood by cracking a joke about usual co-host Brock Huard missing Monday’s show due to illness.

Salk did get his follow-up question in, however. This is how Carroll elaborated on what kind of change could be coming, seeming to indicate it would be more focused on gameplan or scheme than personnel:

We have to fix some stuff, we have to fix the process, we have to make sure that we’re doing the right job as coaches to make sure they see the things that they need to see with the earnest (so) that they’ll carry it to the game time so when it happens, it happens right for us instead of happening wrong. It’s not very difficult to change that game. It’s not very difficult. It’s just doing things exactly right, and it’s easy. It’s part of the system. We should have gotten that done.

Salk’s very next question, however, received a pretty eye-opening response.

“Do you feel like your message is getting through to the players?” Salk asked.

Answered Carroll: “Ask them. Next.”

Salk looked to get some more insight on that.

“OK. I guess the reason I asked, though, is not because of the messaging but because it comes through you, from you, through the coaching staff to them,” Salk said.

Carroll picked it up from there.

I have to do a better job in all areas. I’ll tell you that every week, no matter what, because there’s so many things that I might be able to affect. I might be to affected the coaches’ mind, the players’ mind, the team’s mind. You know, there’s so many aspects of it. It’s a fascinating opportunity to carry this out, but there’s always so much more that you could hope to do and get done, because you want guys to be perfect. You want them to do things exactly the way we image it and picture it, and exactly the way we try to orchestrate. And then when it comes to game time when they don’t, I gotta go right to the messaging, you gotta go right to the prep, the reps, the speed of the reps. Was it quality enough? Did we do enough to get the point across? Did we capture the guy that needed to be captured because maybe he didn’t quite get the emphasis? It just goes on and on. It’s a never-ending process, and ultimately, it’s my responsibility to get that done. And if it doesn’t get done, then I’ve got to go find the way to get it done. And so that’s how I take it. I don’t know how to be more accountable than that – not that that’s admirable. That’s just what you got to do to get the job done.

The Pete Carroll Show airs at 9:30 a.m. the following weekday after each Seahawks game, making up the final half-hour of that day’s edition of Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. Listen to this week’s full Pete Carroll Show in the podcast at this link or in the either the video or audio player near the top of this post.