Cliff Avril Says The Seahawks Stopped Trusting Pete Carroll After The Malcolm Butler Play

Strong words from Cliff Avril and Bruce Irvin about Pete Carroll. Stronger words saying they would’ve won three rings when they didn’t even win two but whatever. Every member of that Seahawks team absolutely believes they should’ve beat the Patriots and that they would’ve had that second ring if they just handed the ball to Marshawn instead of throwing the ball to Malcolm Butler. Which is probably fair. To this day I still don’t understand the logic of being afraid of the Patriots having 20 seconds max after a kickoff. I know weird shit can happen, and Kearse just made a preposterous circus catch to get Seattle in position to score in the first place. But that team, even as injured as they were in that second half, was built on their defense. Their secondary specifically. And also, they lost. In the real world.

So maybe just securing the points and putting your strongest unit on the field was the right play there instead of throwing to the guy on the other team. It’s impossible to tell who is right at the end of the day, but one thing’s for sure – Cliff Avril and Bruce Irvin DEFINITELY didn’t think throwing the ball was the correct idea. So much so that they’re still talking about it all these years later.

Tight End Luke Willson went on the Evening Yak back during this past Super Bowl and shared similar sentiments. Clearly this became a divided locker room after this single play call and, while the Seahawks have undoubtedly been a good team since this play, they’ve never fully returned to that upper echelon status.

And while I get being as angry as a human being could be at Carroll and the coaching staff, at what point do you remember you were up TEN in the fourth quarter and did nothing to stop the Patriots offense? At what point did benching Kyle Arrington for an UDFA rookie become the ultimate chess move that neither the players nor coaches had any answers for? Again, the Seahawks were banged up in the second half. I get that. But I think Edelman is still concussed from that game. Hightower made the second biggest defensive play of the game with a massively injured shoulder when he shed his blocker and brought down Marshawn at the goal line. Injuries happen and can’t be the sole reason why they blew a 24-14 lead.

Btw, someone tell Cliff that he shouldn’t be all the way mad at Carroll still. The Seahawks just got Pink Stripes’d. It happens to the best of ‘em.