Seattle Seahawks: Cliff Avril Calls Out Pete Carroll

Is it possible for one play to decide the future of a team? Based on what former Seattle Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril says, yes.

Here’s a question for you. Is head coach Pete Carroll a Hall of Famer? Not so easy to answer is it? He’s won a lot of games and made the playoffs a number of times. He also has a Super Bowl ring. The problem is there are a number of head coaches not in Canton who can say the same thing. Carroll has found himself in this strange purgatory between good and great coaches, and it’s possible all of this lukewarm feeling resulted from one bad decision.

At least that’s what Avril thinks. People continue to talk about the iconic moment of XLIX when Russell Wilson threw the backbreaking interception to Malcolm Butler that cost Seattle a second-straight Super Bowl. Fans were stunned the Seahawks didn’t hand the ball to All-Pro running back Marshawn Lynch. It was 2nd down, he had 102 yards rushing at that point and there was still a timeout in their back pocket.

The decision to throw it fell at the feet of Carroll and it’s something fans still haven’t forgiven him for. As it turns out, the same can be said for many of the players

Avril believes Carroll lost team with Super Bowl blunder

Appearing on the Dave Dameshek Football Program, Avril spoke freely about why the Seahawks disintegrated so rapidly over the past few years. It looked like they were ready to be a dynasty. Now they’ve missed the playoffs for the first time since 2011 and don’t look like they’ve gotten much better this offseason. He believed everything can be traced back to that Super Bowl play.

That was when Carroll’s bulletproof aura was shattered in the eyes of many in the locker room.

"“You think about what could have happened. If we win that Super Bowl, I think we probably would have won another one within the two years that went by.I do think the team would have bought in more to what Coach Carroll was saying instead of going the opposite way of, hey, this is what we thought the foundation of the team was, and that’s not what happened in that particular play.So I think guys started questioning him more, more so than actually following his lead if we’d won that Super Bowl.The situation sucked regardless of who took the blame,” Avril continued. “It’s just the fact that we were so close and we weren’t able to get it, so I think a lot of guys got turned off by the message.”"

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It’s hard to deny based on the results.

After dominating the NFC during that two-year run, the Seahawks failed to even make it back to the NFC championship. Their once dominant defense began to show signs of decay. Players were acting more selfishly than before and they just didn’t seem to have the same swagger about them. It’s amazing to think how one bad decision could’ve led to such a result. Yet that’s the job Carroll accepted.