It was the middle finger seen around the world.
During Sunday night’s game between the Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle safety Earl Thomas suffered a leg injury and had to be carted off the field. As he was heading to the locker room, cameras captured Thomas giving a not-so-friendly gesture toward his own sideline.
While the optics of the gesture aren’t great, head coach Pete Carroll didn’t offer any criticism when asked about the occurrence.
“People that are criticizing whatever happened don’t understand. This was an earth-shattering moment for a kid. He’s trying to play this game he loves and all of sudden this happens again,” Carroll said, via ESPN. “He knew exactly what happened to him so he went right to what it’s going to take to get back.
“He had it all just totally figured out and was as emotional as you can get. … Give him a little slack. This is a very, very difficult moment that most people wouldn’t understand what that was all about.”
The safety was hoping either for a long-term contract with the Seahawks or to be traded before the season began, neither of which happened. So Thomas’ frustration is understandable considering his value may be considerably lower heading into free agency next year.
