Pete Carroll was smart to wait for a week after Russell Wilson played well to address the issue of the quarterback's offseason contract extension's effect on his play.
The Seahawks coach said his quarterback, who signed a four-year, $87 million contract extension before the start of the season, was entering a different dynamic with his teammates because of that newfound fame, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) reported.
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And that could be having an effect on what was considered a subpar season for Wilson before his sterling performance against the struggling 49ers.
"I think when guys sign their contracts, and it's their time, it's recognized by the players around them as well that they just got paid," Carroll said this week, obviously interested in the issue. "And how they handle that and how they deal with it, the players are going to watch them and they see them. Not that they're trying to find out something wrong, but the dynamics shift.
"So there's a responsibility on both ends of that: For the player who just got paid to understand, OK, you've done something that a lot of other guys wish they could do, too; and then for the players that haven't had their opportunity, to respect the guy and his good opportunity and good fortune that came his way. So there's a lot to that.
"And you don't always know how that's going to work out."
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It hadn't been working out well before last week for Wilson and Seattle. The Seahawks were 4-5, and were leading in the fourth quarters of all five games they lost.
Carroll criticized Wilson for missed opportunities the previous week in a 39-32 loss to the Panthers.
To that point of the season, the quarterback had his the lowest quarterback rating of his career. His 260-yard, three-touchdown effort against San Francisco raised his rating.
But Carroll, who has presided over several of his players getting big raises since Seattle's Super Bowl XLVIII victory, acknowledged that failures have accompanied big contracts.
"There's a lot of guys -- I know in baseball -- that get paid hitting .320 and then they never see .300 again. It happens. So hopefully our guys can make it through it," Carroll said. "I think it does take a lot of support, and direction, and counseling to deal with that well. Because the last thing we want to do is have a guy get a big contract and then he can't play very well anymore."
Wilson must be ecstatic to hear those kind words.
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