There's a lot of talk that both the Seattle Seahawks and the Patriots may move on from their long-term coaches. Pete Carroll easily outperformed Bill Belichick when you level the playing field. Take away their Hall of Fame quarterbacks, and it's obvious.
Let me begin by saying that I'm no longer certain that the Seahawks should keep Pete Carroll as head coach. Even through what seemed to be their death spiral - you know, that four-game losing streak - I believed that Pete would eventually right the ship. After the debacle of the loss to the Steelers, I'm no longer so sure.
The Hawks didn't seem to understand the concept of tackling, let alone perform it correctly. The Seattle defense missed 20 tackles in the game, while Pittsburgh missed just five. The Seahawks needed 55 assists to bring down the opposing ball carrier.
At first glance, it may seem like a good thing, a clear indication of gang tackling. Yeah, not really. An NFL player should be able to drop the other guy in his tracks, and the Hawks weren't up to the task. As a point of reference, the Steelers needed just 11 assists to bring the Seahawks down. So since that game, I've been wavering in my support of Coach Carroll. Can he still get the job done?
The Seattle Seahawks have been much better than the Patriots
There's another coach in the league with an even bigger legacy than Carroll who's facing even more uncertainty. That would be Bill Belichick of the Patriots. I specified his team because many 12s may not realize New England is still in the league at this point. Yes, our beloved Seahawks are in danger of dropping to 8-9 for the year, which would be their second losing season in the last three. At best, the Pats will finish the year at 5-12 and are guaranteed their third losing season of the last four. So let's look at which coach was truly skating on the talents of their star player.
That is, they've been much better since both teams moved on from their best-ever quarterbacks. Since Wilson left for Denver - and will soon be moving on again - Seattle has gone 18-18. I'm counting the Hawks 1-2 record while Russ missed three games in 2020. As for the Patriots, they've gone 25-37 since Tom Brady got sick of Belichick's act. Right now, it feels like the sky is falling in Seattle, and believe me, I get it. The defense has played atrociously at times. At best, you could characterize the entire team as inconsistent.
How exactly do you think the fans in New England feel? The team is 4-12, and those four wins have come by a combined margin of 15 points. Pro Bowl selections might not be the best indication of a team's talent, but they're not too far off. The Niners - ugh - and Ravens are almost certainly the two best teams in the league, and they have nine and seven starters, respectively. Even our beloved Seahawks have three starters - yay! -and alternates. The Patriots have zero players and so far not even an alternate. That will undoubtedly change as half the starters opt out of the Yahtzee tournament and whatever else the NFL will be doing this year, but it's still one heck of an indictment of the program.
Pete Carroll is clearly the better coach
Peter Edward Carroll hasn't had the most stellar career without Russell Wilson under center, but compared to Belichick, he's a genius. Before coming to the Seahawks in 2010, Carroll coached four years in the NFL. He went 6-10 with the Jets as a rookie head coach; Boomer Esiason was his QB. What was he supposed to do with that?
He got his second shot at the league in 1997 with the Patriots. Carroll went 10-6, 9-7, and 8-8 there before he decided to go win some NCAA titles at USC. Drew Bledsoe was Carroll's QB with the Pats. He's an upgrade from Esiason for sure, but no one confuses the guy with Tom Brady - or Rick Mirer, who was drafted immediately behind him, for that matter. Man, 93 was an awful year for quarterbacks.
Carroll went 7-9 in each of his first two seasons in Seattle, first with Matt Hasselbeck and then Tavaris Jackson. So Pete's NFL record without the Artist Formerly Known as DangeRuss is 65-67. Not exactly Hall of Fame quality, but then again, what are you supposed to do with those QBs? Carroll still had three winning seasons, one tie, and could have a fourth winning record after next week. He may also have another losing season to add to his current total of four. Regardless, he's never had a year as bad as that guy in New England the national media used to love.
Compare that to Bill Belichick, and you might rethink your disappointment with Carroll. Maybe not rethink it, but at least this should give you some perspective. Belichick took over from Carroll at New England, as most of you know. He totally justified the move as he took Pete's 8-8 squad and brought them in three games under, at 5-11. Coach Hoodie turned it around the next season though as the Pats went 11-5. Odds are the sixth-round pick from Michigan had more to do with that than Belichick. With Brady under center, Belichick's Patriots went an amazing 251-82. Without TB12, the ray of sunshine has been a bit less successful.
A deeper look at just how awful Belichick really is
By awful, I mean his record, not him as a person. Although he doesn't exactly engender warm and fuzzy feelings, does he? Before winning the lottery with the selection of Brady, Belichick coached for five years in Cleveland. He managed one winning season, 11-5 in 1994.
Lord knows it's hard to win there, but records of 6-10, 7-9, 7-9, and 5-11 outside of that one miracle season don't instill a lot of confidence. For the record, he had Bernie Kosar and Vinnie Testaverde for the majority of those games. Not a good draw, but are they worse than Boomer and Bledsoe? Hardly.
Belichiks's record as the Patriot's head coach with Brady out of the lineup - but still on the squad, either due to injury or not remembering to inflate the football - is 13-8. That's pretty good, but it isn't exactly the .754 winning percentage he enjoyed with Brady. Since Brady left, the Patriots have gone 7-9, 10-7, 8-9, and are now 4-12. That gives Belichick the completely unremarkable record of 78-89. Without Brady, he's had three winning seasons and seven losing seasons. This guy is a Hall of Fame coach, really?
As I wrote about six James Joyce novels ago, I'm still on the fence about Pete Carroll. One of the biggest issues is that you better be sure his replacement is better. Or maybe the Seahawks could make a blockbuster deal for the best coach in their history. I know this much, though. At least there's reason to debate the decision in Seattle. In New England there cannot be any serious consideration to keep the lifelong underachiever, Bill Belichick.