HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Seattle represents a proving ground for Pete Carroll and Geno Smith.
Carroll, especially, left an indelible mark on the Seahawks by coaching them to their only Super Bowl title. Smith quarterbacked the franchise to winning records the past three years.
Now Carroll and Smith head back to the Pacific Northwest, returning to their former home Thursday night representing the Las Vegas Raiders when they open their pre-season schedule against the Seahawks.
Carroll took over the Seahawks in 2010 after winning two national championships at Southern California as part of a seven-year run of double-digit victories.
His return to the NFL was a little bit of a leap of faith for Carroll after previous stops in which he went 6-10 in 1994 with the New York Jets and 27-21 in 1997-99 at New England.
“It was an experiment coming out of USC to go to the NFL and see if the way we had developed, the culture we had created, the concept of competing the way we did would carry over,” Carroll said. "Mostly, it was the way we treated the people in our program. I wasn't sure. I had an inkling it would be OK, but I didn't know and a lot of people probably questioned it as well.
“We didn't change anything. We maintained the philosophy. We adapted to the players and, of course, the game. After it's said and done, I feel really good about the time we spent there, that we were able to stay with what we believed in and make it work out all right.”
Carroll went 137-89-1 in 14 seasons in Seattle, putting together double-digit victories eight times over a nine-year stretch. That included consecutive Super Bowl appearances, winning the championship in the 2013 season with the dominant "Legion of Boom" defence.
“I loved my time in Seattle and loved the fans and the people that we met and dealt with and competed with," Carroll said. “But (Thursday's) a game for us. We're going to go play ball.”
Carroll declared that every Raiders player was “live” for that game, but what that meant exactly was hard to say. That especially leaves open the question of whether Smith will take snaps other than in warm-ups in his former home stadium.
Seattle is where Smith turned around his career when he signed in 2019 as the backup. He had lost his starting job with the Jets and spent one season each with the New York Giants and Los Angeles Chargers.
But it wasn't until 2022 that Smith became the starter — and he made the most of it. He led the league by completing 69.8 per cent of his passes while throwing for 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. Smith was selected as the AP Comeback Player of the Year.
“It means a lot to me as a place where I called home for six years, was able to have a son there, and I was able to really just kind of turn my career around,” Smith said. "Met some really cool people, got to know a lot of great people there, a lot of great teammates over the years. Just really special things, special thoughts that come to my mind when I think about it.”
Carroll said safety Lonnie Johnson Jr., who broke his right leg in Saturday's mock game, will have surgery soon and could return in the next couple of months.
Johnson competed on the second team in practices, but was with the starters when the Raiders went to nickel defences.
“I think we recognized Lonnie in a way that he hasn’t been recognized in the earlier parts of his career,” Carroll said. “We’re really going to miss him. We had a number of things that especially he could do well in contributing to the defence, so we have to work a little bit to figure out how other guys take these kinds of concepts.
"These five weeks here are hugely important to him so he can get back three or four or five weeks into the season.”
The Raiders announced their trade Monday night in which cornerback Jakorian Bennett went to Philadelphia for defensive tackle Thomas Booker IV.
Booker was fifth on the Eagles' depth chart, but could have a great opportunity in Las Vegas.
“(Booker) plays really hard and he’s really consistent in his effort,” Carroll said. “He’s big enough and flexible enough to play a number of spots for us. He looked really good in their rotations and that’s a heck of a defensive line over there. It keeps him from playing and getting his numbers up, but we see a lot of positives.”
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Mark Anderson, The Associated Press
