Doug Baldwin defends Darrell Bevell, calls criticism “irresponsible”
Feb 17, 2015, 9:32 AM | Updated: 9:37 am
Darrell Bevell took over as the Seahawks' offensive coordinator in 2011. (AP)
(AP)
In addition to explaining who his Super Bowl touchdown celebration was directed at and apologizing to those who were offended by it, Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin talked about another debatable subject when he joined 710 ESPN Seattle’s “The Barbershop” on Monday: the criticism of offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell.
Often second-guessed for his play-calling (as are most in his position), Bevell has been in the cross hairs more than ever since Seattle lost the Super Bowl after throwing an interception from the 1-yard line. For everything else that went into that play – from coach Pete Carroll’s decision to throw the ball in the first place to how New England’s cornerbacks won their individual matchups against Seattle’s receivers – most of the blame has fallen on Bevell.
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Baldwin, though, vehemently defended Bevell both as a coordinator in general and against the criticism of that final play call in particular.
“People don’t know what he does for our offense, what he has to compensate for and things that he has to do in order for our offense to be successful in spite of some of the things that we do against ourselves,” Baldwin said. “So, yeah, it frustrates me and you’ve seen me come to his defense in press conferences before, it’s because they don’t know, people don’t know.”
Baldwin drew a comparison between the criticism of Bevell and that of Seattle’s receivers, the parallel being that it’s uninformed.
“And again, I get it. It’s human nature. You’ve got to find something to blame. You’ve got to find something that makes you comfortable with,” he said. “But still, in all that I’ve known in terms of football and this business, it’s that people outside of the locker room, they don’t know. Ultimately, it frustrates us because that’s just what it is and there’s really nothing we can do about it. … We all take blame in what happened in the Super Bowl and in losses; to put solely the blame on Darrell Bevell is irresponsible.”
