Pete Carol is energetic but positive. The drill sergeant/take no prisoners approach wears thin quicker. I have to say though, if Russell Wilson wasn’t Seattle’s quarterback, I don’t know how long Carol would’ve lasted. Wilson is his mouthpiece.
Carroll is very energetic, very enthusiastic, he's frequently "fired up" about one thing or another, but he also is hyper competitive and has a very clear vision
I was skeptical of the hire, but his early press conferences provided some calm and he wasn't talking about biting knee caps
He was clearly laying out his vision
One of those is that you have to have a QB - they cycled a few and let them compete for it, Hass transitioning to a group that included Jackson, Whitehurst, Flynn and Wilson
Carroll let them all compete until he found his guy - even in that he was criticized at first for saying Wilson would be in the competition from the first rookie camp to keeping the competition at 3 through the early preseason with equal practice reps when it was clear Jackson wouldn't be winning it
In the early part he was linked to every USC guy that became available - the big talk of that 2010 draft was Seattle grabbing Taylor Mays, Earl Thomas wasn't on the radar
Other USC guys who didn't complete got cut
Guys like TJ Houshmandzadeh who tried to big time a little bit got cut, guys like Mike Williams who couldn't stay focused to work got cut. They traded for LenDale White at the desert and cut him before OTAs finished.
It is a pretty cutthroat environment. People confuse giving players latitude to be expressive, communicative, music playing, etc means it's a non-structured players run the show environment - it's not.
It's Pete's show and expectations and demands are high
These are some of his quotes from his first press conference - for better or worse this is still a big part of the philosophy today
"You're only judged by perfection ... I hope that it can be done better than it's ever been done before around (Seattle) ... I love setting our standards so high that maybe it doesn't even seem feasible and that's okay with me."
"As a defensive background guy, knowing we can call on the 12th man on third down, we need to take advantage. We need to make sure that we speed this thing up on the edge."
"If you watch our team play, you're gonna see great effort. If you watch our team you're gonna see great enthusiasm. We're gonna play this game the way it's supposed to be played, like you love the game of football."
"I wanna see a very, very tough football team. From the word 'Go' .. And I want you to see a team that plays smart."
"It would be wrong for me not to mention that in our football .. We have to run the football to be successful, in our division first, and in the NFL ... It'll effect defense, it'll effect passing game, it'll help our quarterback ... You'll know more about that in the days to come, you'll understand what I'm talking about."
"We have to embrace and understand the fact that the way you practice is what makes you ... It is what gives you the chance to be a champion from now on ... Fundamentals ... "
"This program is about competition. You'll see in all aspects of the work that we do that we will be in a relentless pursuit of a competitive edge in everything we're doing."
"That is one of the key elements ... you gotta have a quarterback."
Over the years it's honed more - it's all about the ball, can only win in the 4th quarter, always compete, have to execute and control the ball, have to run effectively, have to play with toughness and versatility, have to take the top off a defense
He's hardwired into his philosophy to the point where it's almost stubborn when it isn't working or playing to the current strengths and circumstances
He doesn't rah rah or just cheerlead - he'll fluff players and position groups for sure, but it's too help keep the energy high so they can get back to working towards goals
Not the perfect coach, but I was happy to be wrong about him and the culture and thoughts of the organization have been reshaped
Can Campbell do that in Detroit? Who knows. I'd love to see a competitive Lions team over a competitive GB team.
I think it's fine to want to change how people think about your city and your organization - I think it's fine to talk about toughness...... But tough alone is not a philosophy of a plan and you'll have a lot of tough
Tough also needs to be how you approach the hard stuff within the organization, deal with the misfires, make the hard decisions and the work to find the little competitive edges
We'll see how the work compares to the talk
