The Seattle Seahawks are 10-2, they lead the league in elaborate, choreographed touchdown dances, they have the oldest coach in the league – who still acts like a man in his 20’s – and they intentionally cleaned out some players who had reputations as being locker room issues.
So it’s no surprise to hear coach Pete Carroll emphasize having fun as a crucial part of the culture of his team, and a big reason for their success.
“It’s always been – you ‘play’ football,” Carroll said on Wednesday. “I like to go back to that thought. You don’t ‘work’ football. You don’t ‘drudgery’ through football. You play it. These guys love to play this game. They’ve grown up as kids loving it. I don’t ever want them to lose connection with that. If having a good time doing it, figuring out how to lighten up the atmosphere while we work really hard and maintain standards, I’m going to find a way. If we’re not having fun, I feel like I’m screwing up, to tell you the truth. It should be a good time. We should be practicing with great energy and juice and hauling butt around here in everything we’re doing, but you can have a good time doing that, too. It’s just the way we do it.”
Of course – it’s a lot easier to have fun when you’re winning games, even if they all seem to be close, heart-attack inducing battles.
The Seahawks have positioned themselves to earn a first round bye, and have all but assured themselves a playoff spot, which they can clinch officially in Week 14.
So much of this success has been because of the play of quarterback Russell Wilson, who is maintaining an MVP caliber pace through the team’s first 12 games.
However – while Carroll hesitated to admit it – Wilson’s role on this team doesn’t extend to ensuring the team is having fun on or off the field.
“Russ isn’t going to like this, but I don’t think of Russ as being like the fun maker,” Carroll continued. “I don’t think of him that way. He is just so dead on consistent and so beautifully competitive regardless of wherever we are, whatever we’re doing for whatever. He likes to see the fun happening and he’ll take part in it and all that, but he’s more about the drive and the work and making sure that everyone is on it and he’s on it and doing the best he can possibly do…I’m more of the guy worrying about the fun and he goes along with it more so.”
However the Seahawks are balancing their competitive drive and their fun seems to be working, as they’ll head to Los Angeles to take on the Rams on Sunday night with a guaranteed playoff spot on the line.
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