Pete Carroll didn't just lose Super Bowl XLIX when he let Russell Wilson throw the infamous goal-line interception, he also lost his grip on the Seattle Seahawks' budding dynasty and locker room.
"I do think that the team would have bought in more to what Coach Carroll was saying instead of going the opposite way of, 'Hey, this is what we thought the foundation of the team is and that's not what happened in that particular play," former defensive end Cliff Avril told Dave Dameshek of Sports Radio 950 KJR.
"So I think guys started questioning him a little more, instead of following his lead if we would have won that Super Bowl."
The Seahawks' decision to try to make Wilson the hero in the dying seconds versus the New England Patriots instead of simply handing the ball off to Marshawn Lynch remains one of the biggest head-scratchers in NFL history.
Avril, who spent another three years in Seattle following Super Bowl XLIX, believes Carroll's decision to abandon the team's run-first identity in that defining moment was a turning point for the franchise.
"If we win that Super Bowl, I think we probably would have won another one within the next two years that went by," Avril said.
Had Lynch gotten the ball, the Seahawks may very well have successfully defended their Super Bowl crown. Instead, they immediately began crumbling from within.
"We were so close and we weren't able to get it, so I think a lot of guys got turned off by the message," he added.
Oakland Raiders linebacker Bruce Irvin, who was also on that Seahawks team, concurred with Avril's assessment:
Big facts! https://t.co/3nHWRmNVim
— Bruce Irvin (@BIrvin_WVU11) May 26, 2018
