Seattle Coach Pete Carroll Is an ASS

There is no bigger ass in all of sports than Seattle Seahawks' coach Pete Carroll. Actually I'm being polite. Others are trashing him more viciously. Most common anti-Pete zinger: lying s.o.b.


What's really angered everybody is what happened Sunday in the fourth quarter of the Buffalo blow-out, with the score 47-17 and the Bills waving the white flag. On fourth down, with the Seahawks in punt formation, they executed a fake punt, which led to a first down, which set up a field goal that pushed the score to 50-17. What a flagrant violation of coaching etiquette. A fake punt with a huge lead in that situation is a cheap shot. With that kind of lead. the offense should do just what the beaten opponent expects, simply run off tackle and try to run out the clock, not use razzle-dazzle to inflate the score.

Then, in a post-game press conference, Carroll had the gall to say that he didn't call for the fake punt, but that the unit was under orders to use it if the defense was in a certain formation. "I feel bad about this," he said after the game, a comment reeking of fake remorse. "It was part of the game plan. It was something I could have called off and I didn't."  So the punting unit just executed an automatic and Carroll didn't call for the fake punt. .

Bull. Does he think we're stupid? See why that "lying s.o.b." charge has been used again and again?

His motive was very clear. He wanted to reach 50 points for the second straight week, a rarity in the NFL. The previous week, the Seahawks had murdered the Cardinals, 58-0. In that game, though, Carroll wasn't maliciously piling it on. With eight turnovers, Arizona was shooting itself in the foot, again and again. But scoring 50 points on consecutive weeks is a meaningless stat. To reach that plateau, Carroll ignored the rules of sportsmanship and was dancing on a downed opponent's chest, doing some old-fashioned  King-Kong-style chest thumping.

In addition to being rotten sportsmanship, Carroll's move was stupid for two reasons. First, it puts your players at risk for injury, vulnerable to cheap shots by angry defensive players. Second, you waste a weapon, unveiling the fake punt, allowing it to be filmed, so other teams can prepare for it.


It's strange for Carroll to pull something like this. He knows what it's like to be on the wrong side of a rout. When he was coaching USC in 2009, Stanford came into the LA Coliseum and, late in its 55-21 win, unnecessarily went for two points after a TD. During the post-game handshake, a miffed Carroll asked Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, "What's your deal?" That tension-filled moment has become famous.

Ironically the two meet again Sunday night in a pivotal NFL game, with Harbaugh's 49ers facing Carroll's Seahawks. They still don't like each other. Many would love to see the Seahawks routed and have Harbaugh pile it on, doing something cruelly unsportsmanlike like ordering a bomb late in the game. Hopefully the tv camera would then focus on Carroll's fuming face.

 Then the anti-Carroll brigade would be smirking and thinking, "How does it feel now,  jerk?"