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A little respect for head coach Pete Carroll

Hopefully, there aren't too many 12s out there who think Pete Carroll should be fired. If they do think that, maybe there are some reasons. They aren't good reasons, mind you, but they are at least somewhat logical. One of the reasons simply might be that Carroll has been the Seahawks' coach for so long that those fans have just gotten used to having him lead Seattle's football team to a good level of success but only one Super Bowl victory. To be sure, though, most other NFL teams would have had to have the same kind of success Seattle has had since 2010.

And what many players seem to love about Carroll - even if some of those players have to leave first, find unhappiness elsewhere, and then realize how things can be so good with Seattle and Carroll - is that he treats his players as human beings instead of simply tools for him to win football games with. According to a recent article by Matt Calkins of the Seattle Times, recent free agent signee Frank Clark (who played with Seattle from 2015 through 2018) spoke about why he wanted specifically to come back to the Seahawks, "I feel like it’s just very special and that starts up top. It starts with Coach Carroll and the job he does with his players. He allows you to be you."

We've seen this from other players as well, of course. Richard Sherman left after 2017 to play for the San Francisco 49ers and he had some complaints about the way Carroll handled the team during Sherman's years with the team. Now Sherman seems to come back every training camp to help teach Seattle's cornerbacks. He wouldn't do that if Carroll didn't allow it or if Sherman didn't like Carroll.

My point is that Pete Carroll has been the most successful coach in Seattle football history for several reasons. One is that he simply knows the game of football better than most other coaches. But his players also like playing for him and that goes a lot further than something that can be judged by statistics.

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