If you were hoping Pete Carroll would somehow dismiss Monday night's victory, or admit his Seattle Seahawks didn't earn what came their way against the Green Bay Packers, think again.
In an NFL Network interview that aired Tuesday on "NFL Total Access," Carroll offered no apologies on how the game's final seconds played out in Seattle.
Asked by Lindsay Rhodes if Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate really caught that ball, Carroll provided a response that could melt Cheesehead Nation.
"Yeah, and I think it's cool that the league thought that, too," he said. "It's very questionable, it's a very questionable call to make. But it's simultaneous when they hit the ground. Up in the air, it looked like the DB had the advantage, but when they got to the ground, it's a matched-up catch, and it's a very hard one to call.
"We were fortunate the call went our way. But you've got to say the league reviewed it and said they agreed with what was called on the field, they just missed the pass interference."
Carroll doesn't believe it's fair to write off the game's final play as controversial only because replacement officials were involved.
"I think that's real easy to go that way, but I think it would have been a difficult call no matter who is looking at it," he said. "We heard one of the officials in the booth look at it right after the game, and he agreed that the issue they had was they didn't handle it right in terms of talking and sharing it with the referee, but that it was a difficult call, and you have to rule if it's simultaneous and all that."
"If I was on the other side, I would be saying the same kind of stuff," Carroll added. "I would totally understand, although we all gotta move on, and that's what we're doing here."
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @danhanzus.
