Pete Carroll Made all the Right Calls Against Carolina

Pete Carroll was right to not “take the points” against Carolina in last week’s Divisional game.

I’ve seen/heard some comments about Pete Carroll leaving points on the field during the Divisional Round against the Carolina Panthers last week and I’m here to tell you that notion is nonsense. Every time a coach goes for it on 4^th down deep in enemy territory, armchair coaches go nuts. Going over each Seahawks drive against Carolina, Pete Carroll made the right calls at every juncture.

With 2:22 left in the first half, Pete Carroll kept the field goal unit on the sideline to go for it on 4^th and 5 from Carolina’s 18 yardline. The Seahawks already trailed by 31 points at this point and this was the first time in the game in which they had a chance to get on the board. Before Russell Wilson threw to Doug Baldwin for four yards to come up just short, consider the game situation.

The Hawks were down by five possessions at this point. If they kick a field goal, they cut the Panthers’ lead to 28. The probability of making that field goal try was pretty high for Steven Hauschka, but Pete Carroll realized that his team wasn’t going to come back by making 11 field goals. To go for it in this situation was absolutely the right call.

More from Seattle Seahawks

• Seattle Seahawks: To rest or not to rest, that is the question
• Seattle Seahawks: 12s still waiting to exhale
• Seattle Seahawks: 4 Takeaways from 26-23 Loss to the 49ers
• Seattle Seahawks: Four Takeaways from Week 14 21-7 victory
• Seattle Seahawks: Three Takeaways from the Week 13 43-16 victory

And yet Twitter briefly blew up with boobirds saying Carroll should have taken the points. Wrong. Even if Hauschka makes the field goal from the Carolina 18 on 4^th and 5 and hits the desperation 55-yard attempt at the end of the first half, the Seahawks still lose by one. Carroll was forced to try for a field goal late in the fourth quarter because it was 4^th and long and they needed to recover an onside kick and score anyway. Russell Wilson came within one yard of picking up the first down on the 4^th down try in the second quarter. If the Seahawks score a touchdown on that possession, they tie the game with that fourth quarter field goal. Get it?

Pete Carroll was giving his team, led by Russell Wilson, (who is probably still clapping and encouraging his teammates even now to come back in this game) the best chance to put up as many points as possible. In a game that got out of hand fast, it was a necessary desperation play that came one yard from possibly changing the outcome.