Carroll's finest moment is in defeat

Feb 3, 2015 - 8:11 PM Phoenix, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - Mistakes were made and Pete Carroll took the heat.

That's what leaders do and that's why Carroll's finest coaching moment came after his most gut-wrenching loss, a 28-24 setback to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX.

A second straight NFL title for the Seahawks was there for the taking if only Darrell Bevell made the right decision, or Russell Wilson took a poor choice and didn't make it worse, or something called Malcolm Butler didn't decide he was Mike Haynes in the waning seconds on the NFL's biggest stage.

It was a perfect storm that slammed into the Seahawks and one that rendered all of Seattle helpless in one fell swoop, except for Carroll.

It would have been easy for the Seahawks mentor to pass the buck and point the finger of blame at his offensive coordinator or quarterback but those two had already earned his trust, along with the rope to hang themselves in front of a record 114 million television viewers.

The most casual fan knew what Seattle had to do. Just hand the football to Beast Mode, pass go, and collect your 200 dollars along with another Lombardi Trophy.

Yet, Bevell, in a classic case of over-thinking, called an ill-conceived slant for Ricardo Lockette out of a bunch formation.

Off the line, Lockette looked like he had plenty of separation and Wilson pulled the trigger just as Butler, who looked nothing like a third-stringer out of West Alabama, reacted.

He was more like Deion Sanders being shot out of a cannon, beating Lockette to the spot and stealing Super Bowl XLIX for the Pats.

Carroll had plenty of prospects to throw under the shuttle buses that they were evidently trying to hide from media at University of Phoenix Stadium but he took the high road, focusing the blame on himself.

"We sent in our personnel, they sent in goal line," Carroll said. "It's not the right matchup to run the football."

It's always -- repeat always -- the right decision to run Marshawn Lynch from inside the 1-yard line.

Instead, Wilson threw the ill-conceived slant toward Lockette and Butler pounced, sending all of New England into a frenzy and giving Bill Belichick and Tom Brady their fourth Super Bowl title.

Carroll, meanwhile, was left to defend the tortured logic.

"On second down we throw the ball really to kind of waste the play," teh coach said. "If we score, we do, if we don't then we'll run it on third and fourth down."

Unfortunately Seattle never got that opportunity.

"The guy (Butler) makes a great play and jumps in front of the route and makes an incredible play that nobody would ever think he could do and that changes the whole outcome," Carroll said.

"There's really nobody to blame but me."

If you broke out the Sodium pentothal and injected Carroll, the real answer would have been: "Bevell and Wilson earned my trust and I left them to do their jobs."

Great coaches delegate to a superior supporting cast and that's exactly whant Carroll did but on Sunday night, for one egregious play, a really good offensive coordiantor and the winningest third-year QB in NFL history failed their boss.

So the Jedi jumped on his own lightsaber for his Padawans.

"There's no reservation in (the call), and don't make it out like there is," Carroll said at his Monday press conference. "First off, Darrell is an incredible play-caller. He's done a fantastic job. We are so lucky to have him. He has been absolutely instrumental in what we have done. He is an awesome guy on our staff and crucially important to our future, as well.

"And let me say this, too. We don't ever call a play thinking we might throw an interception. I don't ever think that. There was not a thought in my mind that we would make a mistake on the play. It was a tremendous play by the guy on the other side."