What wound up making it bad was that it had worked in the past. Often success in football is predicated on doing the “dumb” thing largely nobody ever does it and the other side doesn’t expect it. But this one was on the tapes, and Bill coached against it, and thus it didn’t work.
What I love about that play (the whole play, not just Pete’s call) is that both coaches did “dumb” things that if they didn’t work would be questioned. CW in that situation for the Pats is to call the timeout and nurse the clock for your thrilling comeback. But Bill didn’t because he saw the formation and figured his guys had it. If the Seahawks succeed in that play today the talk of the sports world is how stupid Bill was for not stopping the clock. I don’t think I’ve seen a play where both coaches took the genius/ idiot path at the same time.
I imagine Pete (and all the players and a lot of fans) will replay this as remembering a car accident. I know that is how I felt waking up on Monday morning! Did that really happen? What could I have done differently? What if...
I was in a minor accident once and it took about two weeks for me to quit thinking like that.
It may have been this interview, but in one of them Carrol said that as soon as the throw was intercepted he had to transition to the next thing. He knew what would be coming and what would need to be done. (Talking with the players, meeting the press, etc.)
It was only at 4:05 on Tuesday morning that he had the time to reflect (and cry) about it. It’s Friday now. I bet he’s already put in two days of work regarding resigning Lynch, figuring out Wilson’s pay, and getting his ducks in a row for the draft.
http://mynorthwest.com/category/pod_player_sports/?a=9983143&p=1027&n=Pete Carroll Show
Podcast on Tuesday morning with Carroll. Pretty inspirational really. Winning is a challenge, losing is a challenge. But it is what you do with that challenge. I’ve spent my whole life preparing for this and I know I’m well suited to handling it.