Pete Carroll
Twenty years ago Pete Carroll was the head coach of the New York Jets and he started the season with a record of 6-5 which had the Jets thinking about making the playoffs. In their next game against the Miami Dolphins, the Jets had a 24-6 lead in the second half and things were looking good. But the Dolphins had quarterback Dan Marino who rallied his team and it was capped off by the infamous “fake spike” play as the Jets lost 28-24. The Jets would not win another game that season and Carroll was fired. After two seasons as the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers, Carroll was hired as the head coach of the New England Patriots. In three seasons with the Patriots, Carroll never had a losing season which included two playoff appearances. But Carroll’s record got worse in each season with the Patriots and he was fired in 1999.
After spending nearly a decade in college as the head football coach of the USC Trojans, Carroll returned to the National Football League in 2010 as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. In his time in Seattle, Carroll has built his team in the same mold that he did at USC with speed, depth, toughness, and intelligence. Last year the Seahawks won the Super Bowl as they defeated the Denver Broncos and they did it at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey which is the home of the Jets as it was a parking lot for Giants Stadium at the time of Carroll’s termination there. The Seahawks are heading back to the Super Bowl this season and the only thing that stands between Seattle and a consecutive Vince Lombardi Trophy are the Patriots who were the last organization to pull of that feat 10 years ago. This is also the same Patriots organization that parted ways with Carroll in 1999.
When Carroll was fired by Patriots owner Robert Kraft in 1999, he was replaced in New England by Bill Belichick. In Belichick’s first five seasons with the Patriots, New England won three Super Bowl Championships and they have gone of to be the most consistent NFL team of this era. At first Carroll was just looked at as the head coach that was sandwiched between Bill Parcells and Belichick who both have had the greatest success of any head coaches in Patriots franchise history. But with the Seahawks things have changed for Carroll as he came in with less expectations than he did when he joined the Patriots as he inherited a team that was coming off of an AFC Championship in New England while Seattle was in search of a slight rebuild. But as much as Carroll would like to downplay it, there has to be a dose of the revenge factor on his mind heading into Super Bowl 49 as his Seahawks are set to clash with the Patriots.
Robert Kraft
It’s been over 15 years since Kraft gave Carroll his walking papers, but like any relationship you never want to see your ex upgrade. But Carroll has upgraded as well as he has a team filled with bullies. Bullies such as strong safety Kam Chancellor, cornerback Richard Sherman, middle linebacker Bobby Wagner, and running back Marshawn Lynch as they have left their opponents black and blue over the past few seasons. These are the same bullies that made Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning look mortal last year in the Super Bowl and they will look to the same to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady when they face him in Arizona. But when you have two dominant teams like the Patriots and Seahawks who both have something to prove led by head coaches such as Carroll and Belichick who himself is trying to navigate through the deflated ball controversy, the ultimate winner will be the fans and we should be in store for a terrific Super Bowl.
Leave A Comment