~Pete Gent

NFL wide receiver, novelist (including North Dallas Forty)

(1942-2011)

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Pete Carroll  now a baseball fan     Dave Newhouse

Pete Carroll can't wait to hear bats rattling around the bat rack, and baseballs shuffling in the ball bag. Baseball is just around the corner, and Carroll is its newest most devoted fan. 

Spring training starts this month, though not soon enough for Carroll, who's looking for anything to deflect attention from his Super Bowl meltdown, the worst football meltdown, pro or college, ever.

That's a huge statement, but the magnitude of it can't be overstated. This Super Bowl was the most watched television show in history. And with that large an audience, the controversial play call that determined the game's outcome quickly expanded in scope into the "unforgettable" category.

I have covered sports as a journalist for 57 years, and I can't ever remember a worse play call in football at any level than the one sent in from the Seattle Seahawks sideline that turned defeat into a 28-24 victory for the stunned, but grateful, New England Patriots.

The immensity of Russell Wilson's ill-fated pass will make it difficult for the Seahawks to recover for a number or reasons, some obvious, some hidden. But let's get started.

It's nearly impossible for one NFL team to make it to the Super Bowl three successive seasons. Buffalo is the only team to have done it, and the Bills actually pulled off that feat four straight years - although they lost all four games.

There's too much parity in football these days, thus too many surprises. For all we know, Arizona may play Indianapolis in the next Super Bowl.

Even if Seattle had won its second straight Super Bowl, its dynasty hopes may have ended. Players come, players go, players grow old over the offseason, and player contracts become an issue. And not handing Marshawn Lynch the football from the 1-yard line will have far-reaching complications.

Carroll is taking full responsibility for that illogical pass play, when he's more likely protecting his offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, who actually made the call. Bevell, ironically, has a proven track record as an excellent play caller. But in the heat of the moment, he had a brain freeze and succumbed to coaching over-think.

Bevell has the best power runner in football in Lynch, plus there were 26 seconds left on the clock, with Seattle still possessing a timeout. Thus there was time for three more plays, and the shortest, safest choice from the 1-yard line - actually 2-foot line - was a running play.

The worst choice was a throw over the middle. Here you have 22 football players compressed in an 11-yard area, from the 1 to the back of the end zone. So why throw into a crowd? Any number of things could go wrong: The pass gets tipped, the receiver either trips or gets bumped at the line of scrimmage, the quarterback gets sacked, or his pass gets intercepted. Right, Malcolm Butler?

Only a pass into the flat makes sense; that's how the Seahawks scored in the closing seconds of the first half, knowing there would be one-on-one coverage. A pass over the middle makes absolutely no sense. Carroll can explain that call until he's blue in the face, but I haven't heard one football coach yet who has agreed with his decision.

And that decision isn't going away anytime soon. Doomsday has descended on Seattle. Carroll and his staff can utter all the "We'll be back stronger than ever" declarations they want, but don't think the Seahawk players haven't lost confidence in their coaching staff. A second Super Bowl victory paycheck was in their pocket, barring a Lynch fumble, the only risk with running the ball. But after that stupefying pass call, how can the Seattle coaches face those players again?

Look, they went to training camp in July, they started off the season in a rut, then they caught fire and made it back to the Super Bowl - barely. If a Green Bay player hadn't fumbled that onside kick, the Packers would have played the Patriots. The Seahawks were lucky; now their luck has run out.

Not only their players, but their loyal "12th man" fans, and even general manager John Schneider and owner Paul Allen may question Bevell's returning as offensive coordinator after losing so much respect so quickly. Carroll may have to fire him just to save face.

For the Seahawks didn't just lose a game; they lost their way. They should worry about Lynch, too. He rushed for 102 yards against New England, but he wanted that 103rd yard most of all, and he was denied the opportunity. Perhaps now he would prefer employment elsewhere. And he's the linchpin to Seattle's success.

Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson attempted a one-yard TD pass to receiver Ricardo Lockette but was intercepted by New England Patriot Malcolm Butler. The most dominant runner in the NFL, Seattle's Marshawn Lynch, did not have his number called.

The Seahawks will be a different team in 2015, a team that may be on the downslide. The window of opportunity just started closing. And we'll find out, win or lose, if they carry themselves with class.

If they don't cut wide receiver Doug Baldwin, they're devoid of class. In the most pitiful example of on-field behavior at a sporting event, Baldwin caught a touchdown pass against New England and then mimicked pulling down his pants over the football as if going to the toilet. NBC-TV refused to show that mindless act, thank goodness, and Baldwin was flagged 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, when he should have been kicked out of the game.

If Paul Allen is any kind of owner, or Carroll any kind of coach, Baldwin should be kicked off the team. He embarrassed the Seahawks, and the NFL, not to mention his family, and his school (Stanford). And, clueless, he doesn't yet believe he did anything wrong.

Bringing back Baldwin would make Seattle's Super Bowl meltdown complete.

Hurry up, baseball. 

 Retired Oakland Tribune columnist Dave Newhouse will have two books published this year: Founding 49ers: The Dark Days before the Dynasty, coming out in late-August, and an as yet untitled Hoosiers-like basketball book,

due out mid-fall.

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