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Telling NBC’s Matt Lauer that he woke up and wept the morning after, Seahawks’ Carroll says the crushing defeat won’t define him or the Seahawks.
Pete Carroll, in happier times. / Drew McKenzie, Sportspress Northwest
Pete Carroll remembers the moment as he remembers most everything well — 4:05 a.m., in bed with his wife, when he broke down thinking about the the play that cost the Seahawks the Super Bowl.
“Just, lying in bed with (my wife) Glena,’’ he said. “Like, in the middle of the night, you know? 4:05 in the a.m. That’s what happened. That was my opportunity to go ahead and visit it.”
Carroll’s thoughts about the wrenching moment and its aftermath were disclosed in an exclusive interview with NBC Today Show host Matt Lauer broadcast Thursday morning.
Carroll says he is not bothered by the criticism that emerged since he called a pass play that didn’t work, skipping the chance to hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch from the one-yard line.
“I know people are trying the best they can to rationalize it,” he said, but he felt he had a responsibility to explain the call. “It’s been a whirlwind. I feel responsible to a lot of people right now. I had to get my mind right so that I could take on with what I was going to do and that was to face everyone.”
To the near-universal condemnation as the worst call ever, Carroll differed, saying Russell Wilson’s interception by New England CB Malcolm Butler was “the worst result of a call ever.” He said if Wilson would have thrown a touchdown pass “nobody would have thought twice about it.”
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