Pete Carroll: 'I don't care about' Seahawks rift story
Pete Carroll dismissed a Sports Illustrated story published Friday that suggested his perceived favoritism towards quarterback Russell Wilson has been a large factor in creating a fractured locker room in Seattle.
Greg Bishop and Robert Klemko's story cites anonymous current and former Seahawks who believe the team's refusal to hold Wilson accountable led to a rift between the passer and the vaunted defense, an issue that caused an incident in which Richard Sherman and Michael Bennett "nearly came to blows."
Carroll said all he took from the story was that he can improve his coaching methods.
"Only that obviously I didn't do a very good job of teaching, because one of the main principles in our teaching is that we're not going to worry about what's happened; all our focus goes on what's coming right now," Carroll said, according to ESPN's Brady Henderson. "And so that's a discipline that we learn, and I just haven't taught it well enough. Whether you win or whether your lose or whatever happens, you need to move forward and leave stuff behind and go. So other than that, I don't care about it."
A similar behind-the-scenes look at the Seahawks' divided locker room was published by ESPN's Seth Wickersham in May 2017, though the likes of Bennett described it as "trash."
Carroll said he's never seen anything to suggest some players have ill-feelings toward Wilson.
"No. No. I haven't," he said. "I don't even know what that would mean."
Sherman and Bennett both left Seattle this offseason, while Cliff Avril and Kam Chancellor were forced to retire due to injury, leaving only the likes of Earl Thomas - who returned to the team Wednesday following a lengthy holdout - and Bobby Wagner remaining from the team's dominant championship-winning defense.
Meanwhile, Wilson is coming off a 34-touchdown campaign and is expected to be the team's driving force in what appears to be a retooling season for the longtime Super Bowl contenders following the departures of so many franchise stalwarts.