Seth Wickersham’s fantastic ESPN.com feature on Richard Sherman and the Seahawks included a whole host of Patriots-related nuggets, most notably that Seattle has yet to fully recover from Malcolm Butler’s Super Bowl XLIX-sealing interception for New England.
Butler’s iconic pick drove an even larger wedge between Seattle’s offense, led by coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Russell Wilson, and its Sherman-led defense, which has been among the NFL’s best for the past half-decade. Sherman and many others believe Carroll should have simply handed the ball to running back Marshawn Lynch at the 1-yard line rather than try to beat New England through the air.
What’s funny is that, according to Wickersham’s piece, that wasn’t the first time Carroll had made that mistake.
“When Carroll was a quarterback at Redwood High in Larkspur, California,” Wickersham wrote, “his coach, the late Bob Troppmann — Coach T, Carroll calls him — ordered him to run the ball late in the fourth quarter of a game seemingly in hand. Carroll instead called a pass, which, you guessed it, was intercepted.
“To this day, he remembers Coach T’s fury. More than that, he remembers that Coach T quickly believed in him again, a forgiveness that allowed Carroll to forgive himself.”
Sherman has been far less forgiving. As recently as last season, the star cornerback continued to bring up Seattle’s goal-line gaffe, even engaging in a sideline shouting match with Carroll after the coach chose to throw from the 1 during a game against the Los Angeles Rams.
The Seahawks openly considered trading Sherman before the 2017 NFL Draft, and there’s a chance he still could be moved before the regular season begins.
Thumbnail photo via Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports Images
