National Football League

Pete Carroll begins navigating Seahawks through tumultuous offseason

Published Feb. 20, 2015 5:51 p.m. ET

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Alex Marvez

INDIANAPOLIS — Nothing can make amends for Second-and-Dumb.

But give Pete Carroll credit for this: There is brilliance in the way Seattle's head coach is handling the aftermath of the worst play call in Super Bowl history.

From the beginning, Carroll has tried to personally take ownership even though it was his offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, who called for the ill-fated pass that cost his squad a Lombardi Trophy. This is what true football leaders do rather than allow their assistant coaches or players take the blame.

The next step for Carroll is trying to minimize the damage left behind by Malcolm Butler's goal-line interception that sealed the New England Patriots' 28-24 victory. Carroll shared his vision of how Seattle is moving forward during a Friday news conference at the NFL Scouting Combine.

"We're in a situation that is notable," Carroll said. "The way our game finished coming off a Super Bowl, there's a lot to grow from and learn from. We share the experience with the world. In that, I feel that there's a responsibility for us to really extend the message of accountability. That's getting to the truth of what happened and being prepared to move on productively and constructively as soon as you possibly can.

"We're not into this world of fixing blame and trying to figure out what went wrong. That's already been dealt with. It's time to move,€“ so we're moving."

The Seahawks must or are guaranteed to become the 22nd consecutive Super Bowl loser that failed to reach the championship game the following season.

There is a litany of tasks ahead starting with free-agent decisions. Seattle has two starters, cornerback Byron Maxwell and left guard James Carpenter, set to hit the market when the signing period begins March 10.

Quarterback Russell Wilson is in line for a massive contract extension that must be negotiated. A new defensive staff must come together following the departure of coordinator Dan Quinn, who became Atlanta's new head coach. The Seahawks should be keeping their eyes peeled for upgrades at wide receiver and tight end either through the draft or free agency.

And of course, the Seahawks anxiously are waiting to learn whether Marshawn Lynch will return in 2015 or retire. Carroll said that he hasn't spoken with his star running back lately but "we have been in earnest for a great deal of time negotiating to get Marshawn back with us in any way we can."

Lynch is slated to earn a $5 million base salary in 2015 with another $2 million available through incentives. While a healthy salary, Lynch understandably wants more considering his value to Seattle's offense and productivity over the past three seasons despite dealing with chronic back pain.

"We've had big offers out," Carroll said. "We continue to work with that."

The hardest work for Carroll personally begins in April when the Seahawks gather for the start of their offseason workout program.

The group that returns still will be shell-shocked by Lynch not being given the chance to carry the football from inside the Patriots 1-yard line on second down with 26 seconds remaining and Seattle having a timeout left. Bevell will have to face Lynch and re-earn the respect of Seattle's locker room, especially after throwing Ricardo Lockette under the bus after the game by claiming the wide receiver could have done more to prevent the Butler interception.

Carroll has tried to justify having Wilson pass by claiming Bevell was attempting to counter a specific Patriots defensive formation. Plenty of fans and media (including yours truly) will never buy the logic of throwing with the NFL's toughest rusher in the backfield salivating to pound the football into the end zone.

More importantly, a slew of Seahawks players feel the same way.

The quest to justify such a baffling decision has led to mistrust and conspiracy theories. One of them was spelled out Thursday by ex-Seahawks wide receiver Ben Obomanu on Seattle radio station KJR-AM. Obomanu said some Seattle players have told him they believe Bevell called a pass because the Seahawks wanted Wilson to win Super Bowl MVP honors rather than Lynch, whose antisocial antics would have made it awkward for the NFL to present him the award.

"With the whole thing with Marshawn and not giving interviews and the MVP conversation and cars and all those things that happen on the field, the guys have expressed ideas of it being easier to handle Russell accepting those kind of things and having that thrust upon him as opposed to the possibilities that are unknown with Marshawn," Obomanu said.

"I don't know if guys actually believe it. I don't know if they're hearing it from family and friends ... but that's one of the craziest kind of things that I've heard in my conversations with guys trying to process this whole thing."

That's where Carroll comes in.

He will help the healing process by getting the 2015 Seahawks to focus on the future and not the past. Carroll already has tried to rally the fan base by recently tweeting a photo of mail stacks supporting the team post-Super Bowl and expressing that he was "so humbled by and grateful for all the love" given by the team's ballyhooed "12th Man." Team leaders like Wilson, safety Earl Thomas and cornerback Richard Sherman can do their part by helping their peers ignore the outside noise that will continue to enshroud the Seahawks after Second-and-Dumb. (Carroll already has gone on the record to deny the claims that the team didn't want Lynch to be the hero.)

 "What we hope to do is not let what just happened affect our ability to produce at a really high level as we move forward whether it was a win or loss," Carroll said. "This is one of those challenges. We're a very unique team right now for people to watch. You saw us win it all (in Super Bowl 48) and now you saw us go all the way to the last moment and not get what you want.

"What are we going to do now? Wait and see."

The entire NFL is doing exactly that as Carroll tries to prove his football genius in a different way than Xs and Os.

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