HAUNTED LOUSE

Who ya gonna call? — Super Louse Pete Carroll’s Super Bowl Super-Blunder comes back to haunt him in his very next game, as this time, down by 3 in Overtime, he louses it up by calling Marshawn Lynch’s number on 4th and 1, but EVERYONE knows it’s coming, and Seattle wasn’t dominating the line of scrimmage, so Lynch is stopped and the Seahawks are upset by the Rams

In February, disgraced ex-trojan coach Pete Carroll made arguably the Worst Call in the History of Sports, when he called a pass instead of giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch when the Seattle Seahawks were 1 yard away from winning Super Bowl 49.  A Patriot intercepted the pass, and New England became World Champions, while Carroll became a National laughingstock, the butt of jokes, and the subject of so many memes that it almost broke the internet.

It was the kind of monumental screw-up that you never live down, and can never get out of your mind.  So the whole World KNEW that the next time Carroll had to make a similar decision, there was NO WAY that he would not give the ball to Lynch.  It’s just that no one knew that the situation would come up in Carroll’s very next game.

Carroll’s Seahawks went into St. Louis as heavy favorites yesterday, but the Rams’ Defense held Seattle in check for most of the game.  It was 10-10 at Halftime, and the Rams took a 24-13 lead in the 3rd.  Then Seattle finally got hot, scoring 18 straight, with a Sack/Fumble Return for a Touchdown making it 31-24.  The Rams, though, drove against Seattle’s vaunted Defense, with help from Carroll, who called a Time Out right before the 2-Minute Warning, giving the Rams an extra play, on their way to notch the tying score with a minute to go, forcing Overtime.

That’s when Carroll made another bonehead call:  He decided to try an Onside Kick.  St. Louis recovered it, and drove the short field to kick a Field Goal.  So Seattle got the ball, with a chance to tie it and prolong the period, or to win it.  But it came down to a 4th and 1.  Every single person in the stands, watching on TV, in a Rams uniform, and on the Rams’ Coaching staff was completely sure that Carroll was going to try to make up for his Super Bowl debacle, and NOT neglect his star player this time, DESPITE THE FACT THAT SEATTLE WAS NOT CONTROLLING THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE LIKE THEY WERE AGAINST NEW ENGLAND.  So the whole Ram team KEYED on Seattle’s Beast Mode, and totally stuffed Lynch before he had even a remote chance of gaining a First Down.  When he failed, the game was over, the Seahawks had lost 34-31, and the TV cameras zoomed in on Carroll’s face.  It was a similar look to the one he wore in February, when he knew that his lack of smarts and play-calling prowess had cost his team EVERYTHING.

Let’s submit a new word to the Oxford English Dictionary, or at least to the Urban Dictionary:  “Carrogant” — Adjective; “Describing someone who has unmitigated arrogance, despite having no reason whatsoever for possessing high self-esteem.”