Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was a guest on the “Seahawks Man 2 Man” podcast with Mike Dugar and Christopher Kidd earlier this week. One of the most interesting portions of the interview was when Dugar asked Carroll to explain his affinity for the run game.
Carroll answered at length, occasionally rambling but eventually landing on his philosophy for running the ball. To hear him tell it, it’s about having a complete team and being able to close games out with a lead by running the ball, especially in the fourth quarter. Here’s a portion of his answer:
“If you wanna win games, sometimes your quarterback’s not gonna be there. Sometimes the weather’s gonna factor in. Sometimes the wind is gonna blow. There’s gonna be issues that won’t allow you to win that way. But what way is it that you can’t win if you can control the football and outlast em’ and wear em’ out and win in the fourth quarter. … Our numbers aren’t out of whack. They aren’t. I’m trying to build a mentality that is complemented by excellent special teams work, excellent play on defense, and close it by — the phrase is to close the circle of toughness of our football team by running the football. And if I were to finish that line for you which I don’t is to run the football in the fourth quarter. That’s really what it’s about. It’s about controlling the game, finding your way in the lead and then getting in position where you can finish the game effectively — and that is not throwing the football and stopping the clock and throwing incompletes and taking chances of getting sacked and taking chances with the ball. … That’s not the way to do that.”
You can watch the full conversation here:
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