Pete Carroll shoots down reports of discord in Seahawks’ locker room
These are not the finest of days for the Seattle Seahawks. The team is 4-3, which compared to last year’s dominating run is downright pathetic. The locker room may be a roiling mass of racial dissension, the quarterback may be a teacher’s pet, the running back may be pouting, the problematic receiver definitely is gone.
At his Monday news conference, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll shot down any idea that Marshawn Lynch could be dealt on Tuesday. And, in response to a question about whether he and Lynch were on speaking terms, Carroll said, “At this point I don’t think it behooves us to try to respond to all of these things. Our players have told you how they feel, our coaches have told you how we feel about it and we are in a really good place right now,” he said.
“There is nothing to that report. I don’t know where that came from.”
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Carroll is a master of the news conference, of saying what needs to be said in the way it needs to be presented. In that way, he’s the anti-Belichick. Even if stories are out there, by meeting them head-on Carroll doesn’t let them fester without comment. Maybe it’s a coating of icing over stale fish, but Carroll can blunt at least some criticism this way.
“Our locker room is solid,” he said. “They are together. They are really determined. I don’t think you can get any other thought than that. And they are surprised as we are as coaches that you guys have these questions about us. But we understand it’s part of it and we are not going to get frustrated by it. We are just going to keep working our business.”
Carroll’s made the point to the media and fans. Does he need to make the same point to the anonymous sources in his locker room?
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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