Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was in a philosophical mood during his press conference Monday afternoon at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, so we’ll get into some of that. But first, here’s what Carroll had to say about running back Marshawn Lynch returning to the team Monday and the possibility of his playing in next Sunday’s wild-card game at Minnesota:
“He’s ready to go,” Carroll said. “He’s in the program, going. Working and looking forward to getting in workouts with us today and tomorrow. Wednesday we’re going to practice and see how he feels and how far he can take it. He’s worked out in incredibly competitive situations getting physically ready to go and now we have to translate that to football. I’m not worried about having to work him into the system. It’s been a while, but he’ll be fine. We’ll see if he can handle it and I expect he will. We’ll see how it goes.”
Carroll said he hopes Lynch will be able to play against the Vikings, and he was asked if it was realistic for Lynch to carry the ball 20 times next Sunday:
“I think so,” Carroll said. “This is similar to the first game of the year, really, is what it would be like. We don’t have any different expectations than that, so we’re going at it with the same thought. The fact we’ve seen [Christine Michael] do such a nice job, he’s ready to go. He ran the ball hard the other day and was very effective. Bryce [Brown] too, so we’re in good shape in that position now if he’s able to make it through the week.”
Lynch isn’t the only impact player the Seahawks could get back this week. Strong safety Kam Chancellor (tailbone), tackle Russell Okung (calf), guard J.R. Sweezy (concussion) and tight end Luke Willson (concussion) all sat out Sunday’s 36-6 victory at Arizona. Carroll expressed optimism that all four could make it back for the game against the Vikings.
The one injury Seattle had against Arizona was to cornerback Jeremy Lane (oblique). Carroll thought Lane had a good chance of making it back for next week, too.
—-
The Seahawks finished 10-6 and made the playoffs despite a 2-4 start that looked like it might doom the team’s chance of making a third straight Super Bowl run. Carroll talked about the biggest challenge of the season, which he said was overcoming last season’s loss in the Super Bowl:
“We had to get through last year,” Carroll said. “We had to get through the finish of the season. There was no question that it had a big impact and we did it, we made it. As we’ve said, when we first realized what we were into that it was probably going to be different for everybody, everybody is going to have to deal with it on their own and we were going to try to be extraordinarily patient and understanding and caring as we worked our way through it. But it had impact and there’s a lot of stuff that happened in this off-season that had impact.
“It’s no different than what happened the year before when we won the whole thing and we had all the stuff that went on and all the parades and the hullabaloo, which was great and we had a blast doing it, and raising the flag for the opening game, and I didn’t want to raise the flag for the opening game —- that was already done, it was over with,” Carroll continued. “We had similar issues and so every season it’s something. It could be personnel losses, coaches, players, quarterbacks leaving, whatever, things happen and you have to deal with it and so that’s just a microcosm of life that you have to deal with stuff and than you move ahead. Deal with it properly and put it in the right place and get on with it. It just took us some time and I think we had some hangover from it, just like, look at the history of teams coming out of the Super Bowl, how well are they doing the next year? It’s a most challenging event to endure for a program and a staff and players and fans and all of that and I’m proud to say that we are still fighting and here we go again. Let’s see what happens.’’
—-
Seattle has now won 10-plus games four seasons in a row, and when Carroll was asked about the challenge of sustaining success in the NFL, he told an anecdote about his time coaching the Jets:
“The first game that I ever was a head coach at the Jets, we played Buffalo on the road,” Carroll recalled. “It was the opener. We happened to win that game, and they were really good at the time and somehow we went for it on fourth down and made it at the goal line and we did some crazy things. We won the game like 23-10. The game was over and I went back and walked into the stadium before we got on the bus. Just hanging out and reveling in the moment, first game and all that stuff. And on their wall of that stadium there, they had the championships on the wall there they had had when Marv [Levy] was there when they had gone back-to-back-to-back-to-back to the Super Bowl and division championships. That was the moment that it hit me that has affected me ever since.
“To be really good at something is not to just get there and do it one time,” Carroll continued. “To be really good at something, that really meant something to me, was to do it over and over and over again so that you can prove who you are and prove what you’re worth and prove that you can withstand the changes and the adaptions that are there. That’s where winning for a long period of time became the essence of what I’m working to achieve. So when you do something, that’s why a record that you make in one year, you get the ring, that’s great. It’s awesome. It’s fun. But it’s coming back and doing it again and showing that you’re worthy again is the great challenge. That’s where I find my greatest inspiration to work and try to figure things out and try to find ways to be successful. A record like that, that’s four years of people and changes and times and styles and all of that. That’s a really cool accomplishment for everybody that was a part of it. With that, that ain’t no big deal. That’s it. It’s over. There ain’t nothing you can do about it. That’s just happened. That’s where I find the source of inspiration is to drive for things like that and to help other people figure that out too.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
