How Seahawks coach Pete Carroll lost Seattle the game versus Saints

The Seahawks have a great coach in Pete Carroll. But even the best coaches can lose games for his team like Carroll did against the Saints.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is the most successful and best coach in the history of Seattle’s NFL franchise. He has won a Super Bowl – the only one in Seahawks history – and been to another. Seattle is not nearly as good as they have been this decade without Carroll.  But Carroll was also a big reason that Seattle lost in week three of 2019 to the Saints.

Carroll, to be clear, isn’t the only reason Seattle lost. But a coach needs to eliminate barriers that keep an individual or team from reaching its potential. On Sunday against the New Orleans, there were several times when Carroll did the exact opposite of that.

First half, last drive of the half for Seahawks

Carroll had two timeouts and Russell Wilson is his quarterback. Let me preface this by saying that the drive ended when Wilson threw a 54-yard pass to D.K. Metcalf and time ran out before another play could be snapped. If Carroll had used his timeouts wisely, not only would have Carroll already stopped the clock before the play but would still have a timeout left after the play stopped. Not using either timeout when there was a bit under a minute left in the half and Wilson is your quarterback is a rookie mistake, not a mistake a coach of Carroll’s ilk should ever make.

Did I mention that Seattle was down 20-7 at the time and every possible point matter for the Seahawks then?

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1175889504206385152

Third quarter, going for it on 4th and 5 from Saints 13 yard line down 27-7

A touchdown would have been great on the drive. No points would have been terrible and that is exactly what happened. To be fair, had Wilson been his usually accurate self on the pass to Tyler Lockett, the play goes for a touchdown. But the play was a risk from the start and Carroll again looked like a coach who had not been coaching long.

Fourth quarter, 4th and 1 from Seahawks 29 yard line with under 10 minutes to go

I am not blaming Carroll for what unfolded on the play. Wilson checked off on 4th and 1 and instead throwing a safe pass through a fade to Malik Turner of all people. The pass was way overthrown. Turner was held on the play, but that isn’t reviewable. Pass interference is. But there wasn’t PI on the play and it was clear there wasn’t. Even Tony Romo pointed that out on TV. But Carroll challenged anyway and cost his team a timeout in losing the challenge.

Fourth quarter, not going for two to possibly make it 33-22 instead of 33-21

There is a huge difference between 11 points and 12. 12 means a team has to score two touchdowns to try to win. 11 points means a team needs a touchdown, a two-point conversion and a field goal to tie. Still unlikely, but less unlikely than two touchdowns. Why Carroll thought it was OK to kick an extra point instead of go for two is something he couldn’t even answer after the game.

The Seahawks are going to win a lot more games because they have Pete Carroll as their head coach. But they lost one that maybe should have been within their grasps against the Saints because of Carroll. Starting in week four, the entire team needs to be better, including the head coach.