In his presser this afternoon, Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll reacted to the news that he and the team had been docked two practices in 2015 for what the league had deemed overly physical practices in minicamps back in June. He was not happy with the decision.
As Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times transcribes, Carroll said:
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"The first year (2012, when the Seahawks were also docked for overly physical practices), they had some question with how we worked, and then we had a great year last year. And we took from last year and tried to do things better than last year with the same tone and the same thought. They decided otherwise when they looked at the film or something."
"We had a couple instances that they took note to. But we're always competing here. That's how we do this."
This is exactly what we've heard from players time and again -- that Seahawk practices move at a higher speed and with greater intensity than most, if not all other, NFL teams. For Carroll, it's intentional and methodical. It comes down to the goal that each player ends up playing in practice as hard or intense as he does during a game - this is meant to diminish pressure to perform under the big lights and in front of huge crowds, it's about muscle memory and as Carroll often says, it's about playing with the absence of fear. By practicing like this, on game day, players are loose and confident in themselves, or that's the goal, anyway.
Carroll talks about practice, above, and it's pretty interesting. He explains in some detail the method in which they design their practices - it's a disciplined, specific, and intricately choreographed system.
Which is why he says he's upset with the decision.
"We're trying to do things exactly right," Carroll said today. "We're not trying to push it over the top. We're trying to do things exactly right. After the year before and at the halfway point of camp we heard we got a really good report about the way we're working so we stayed with it. And then in our mini camp there was an incident that they took note to. I'm really disappointed because I don't want to be doing things wrong. I want to be doing things right. I want to show exactly how to do it. When we're competing like we do, we're trying to do things the best you can possibly do it. Unfortunately this decision makes it look otherwise."
Carroll continued, "I think that we practice in a manner that draws attention, and we have for a long time. And I go back: A year ago and halfway through this camp, when they observed what was going on, they said everything was just fine so we kept going and just kept working. I was really pleased with that but unfortunately it went otherwise when we got to mini camp."
Regardless, it's media fodder and the Seahawks will miss out on a few practices next year, but apart from that, to me this is a non-issue. The Seahawks should and do take pride in the way they practice, so I doubt that Carroll will change all that much about it.