PATRIOTS AT SEAHAWKS
Belichick, Carroll meet as Pats visit Hawks
SEATTLE — When Bill Belichick replaced Pete Carroll as head coach in New England 20 years ago, neither could have guessed two decades later they’d be viewed as two of the better coaches during that span.
Yet here they are, leading their teams into Sunday night’s matchup between Belichick’s Patriots and Carroll’s Seattle Seahawks. It’s a prime-time showcase featuring two of the league’s premier franchises, directed by two of the league’s most respected coaches.
“You can’t sustain this long and be consistent and win a lot of games for this long unless you got your act together, your game, how you play this game, how it works and all,” Carroll said.
“Neither one of us are fly-by-night guys. There’s a real fundamental connection that we were raised right by the people we grew up under. But I do think also it’s a lot easier to stay with it when you win. It’s hard if you get your butt kicked week in, week out. Hard to hold onto your jobs and these opportunities.”
They may be separated by 3,000 miles and have met in the regular season just twice since Carroll returned to the NFL in 2010. But the admiration is obvious for what each has accomplished in their tenures with their current teams.
And while that admiration was clear when their teams met in the Super Bowl nearly six years ago, it seems to have only grown since.
“You’re just trying to do a good job in the situation that you’re in. The fact that we’re still coaching and our paths are still crossing, I guess we’ve done pretty well or somebody would have replaced us,” Belichick said. “I have a ton of respect for all that Pete’s accomplished, both at Seattle, USC, and other places in his career as well.”
Sunday’s matchup between the 69-year-old Carroll and 68-year-old Belichick will bring together the two oldest coaches currently in the NFL and teams both seeking 2-0 starts after each had impressive debuts in Week 1. Seattle rode the arm of Russell Wilson in one of his best career games, throwing for 322 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-25 romp over Atlanta.
New England leaned on the legs of Cam Newton and a refreshed run game in a 21-11 win over Miami.
“Everybody’s talking about me and Cam. I’m thinking about coach Carroll and coach Belichick,” Wilson said. “Two of the oldest guys in the game 69 and 68. That’s the interesting matchup here.”