The Seahawks vowed to stick together after a brutal Super Bowl loss on Sunday, but certain postgame comments made by offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell about Ricardo Lockette's inability to make the catch continue to linger.
"Yeah, I would be lying if I said it didn't bother us," Doug Baldwin said Tuesday, via The Seattle Times. "He's a coach and so you take that criticism or whatnot and you look in the mirror and figure out what you could have done with it. It's harsh.
"But in the reality of it, it's in the heat of the moment right after the game, people may say things or do things they may have changed or would like to be interpreted differently. However, at the end of the day, like I said, we're going to stick together and move forward so none of that matters now."
Baldwin, one of the emotional lynchpins of the Seahawks, knows this team better than anyone else, and predicted they would come out of their mid-season slump just a few months ago, so his opinion should not be taken lightly.
But based on the absolutely crushing way in which the loss happened, is there any way Bevell doesn't make it through this issue without sitting down and apologizing to his players?
For now, Bevell has the benefit of a head coach who is taking responsibility for the play call, even though Bevell also said postgame that it was his fault.
His problem was obviously saying that Lockette could have put himself in a better position to make the catch. That is best saved for July or August, once the scars from this season have healed.
Instead, Lockette had to go home that night wondering how he could have altered history instead of wondering why Marshawn Lynch wasn't high-stepping into the end zone.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast recaps Super Bowl XLIX, including Malcolm Butler's game-sealing interception, Tom Brady's legacy and more. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
