When Pete Carroll addressed the media a few days after the Seattle Seahawks' season-ending loss to the Atlanta Falcons in mid-January, he began, as he is wired to do, with a soliloquy of optimism.
"By the time we walked out of that locker room," the coach said, "because of the year that it's been and the things we've gone through and the things we overcame, the connection of the players was unbelievably tight. As much so as any team that we've had in the time we've been here."
One has to wonder, however, how much of that declaration by Carroll was mere wishful thinking, or him willing it to be true. Four and a half months later -- and 3 1/2 months before the season opener in Green Bay -- the tightness of those connections are very much in question after a tumultuous offseason.
An ESPN article last week highlighted the tension that has long reverberated among three key figures of Seattle's would-be (but not quite) dynasty -- Carroll, quarterback Russell Wilson and cornerback Richard Sherman.
In light of those dynamics, coupled with the ongoing drama over Sherman's future with the team, one thing is certain: This coming season will be the most delicate, most difficult and most important coaching challenge of Carroll's career here.
How successfully he can resolve the issues roiling under the surface -- and increasingly spilling over into public view -- will provide strong evidence on whether Carroll's coaching ethos of allowing players to express their personalities is a sustainable model.
It's hard to argue with the Seahawks' overwhelming success under Carroll -- two Super Bowl trips, one title and five consecutive playoff appearances. Yet two nagging questions are haunting the team as it tries to belie the NFL's institutional barriers against maintaining perennial success.
One is whether there is a statute of limitations on Carroll's manifesto of positivity. Many have pointed out that his style might be better suited for the college game; not because it isn't effective with professionals -- it demonstrably is -- but rather that the constant turnover in college allows his message to resonate freshly with an ever-rotating group of players.
Certainly, NFL players tend to have a relatively short shelf life, but the Seahawks' decision to lock up their core players has led to an astonishing and atypical amount of continuity, particularly on defense. Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, DeShawn Shead and Jeremy Lane all remain from the Super Bowl teams (and in some cases well before) -- and all would have graduated and moved on by now based on the timetable of a college program.
One has to wonder if Carroll's exhortations continue to resonate with them, or if, as the ESPN article suggests, they've begun to not only wear thin, but grate. His ability to keep the Seahawks buying into what he's selling will go a long way toward determining whether these fractures are repairable.
The second question, inextricably linked to the previous one, is whether the franchise's trajectory toward dynastic achievement was irretrievably thrown off track by the most devastating loss in NFL history in Super Bowl XLIX.
If there's one takeaway from Seth Wickersham's ESPN piece, it's that the deep-rooted pain from that game -- particularly the shocking interception of Wilson's pass intended for Ricardo Lockette from the 1 -- is the conduit of all the lingering grievances.
That's hardly a shocker on the surface, considering that Sherman made his ongoing discontent crystal clear with his sideline tirade after a Wilson pass in Week 15 against the Rams was almost intercepted at the Los Angeles 1. Sherman didn't mince words in linking that play to Seattle's ill-fated decision to pass rather than hand it to Marshawn Lynch in the Super Bowl against New England.
But what was revelatory was how the fallout from the interception highlighted divisions within the locker room between offense and defense, as well as isolating the perception that Wilson receives favored-son treatment from Carroll.
That's an awful lot of tangled string to unravel for the coach, who characteristically seems energized to tackle the job. Perhaps getting it all out in the open will facilitate some soul-searching meetings that allow all the parties to heal and move forward.
It's going to be fascinating to see it all unfold when training camp commences in late July. No doubt it's going to be a circus. The only question is, which kind?
Sports on 05/30/2017