The Seahawks are trying to become the first team to repeat as Super Bowl champions since the Patriots in 2003 and 2004, and coach Pete Carroll said Monday they won't change anything from what they did last year at the Super Bowl when they thumped the Broncos 43-8.
"There's an opportunity here that's really exciting, to see if we can play another good championship ballgame," Carroll said during his media availability. As for the talk of building a dynasty, he said, "That's something you look back at after the fact."
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Carroll said Patriots coach Bill Belichick has built a dynasty in New England. Belichick has led the Pats to six consecutive AFC East titles and 12 division championships in his 15 years. The Patriots are also in the Super Bowl for the sixth time under Belichick, winning in the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons.
"It's ridiculous the numbers they've put up," said Carroll, who coached the Patriots from 1997 to 1999 and took New England to consecutive playoff appearances. "Nobody has ever done that so consistently."
The Seahawks have built a championship contender because of what Carroll called "difficult roster decisions" using "long vision." Part of that vision was selecting a short quarterback from Wisconsin named Russell Wilson in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft a month after signing Matt Flynn to a three-year contract.
General manager John Schneider had a feeling that Wilson "could be a special player and he wasn't wrong," Carroll said. Wilson beat out Flynn and incumbent starter Tarvaris Jackson for the job and the Seahawks haven't looked back. The only knock on Wilson was his height (5-11). After Wilson led the Badgers to the Rose Bowl in his lone season at Wisconsin after transferring from North Carolina State, that was "easy to overlook" because Wilson "was special in so many other areas."
Carroll has more control over the roster than when he was coach of the Jets in 1994 or the Patriots in the late '90s. He credited his nine years at USC with helping him figure out how to build a program.
"I had the opportunity there to make every decision from recruiting to academics," Carroll said. "You're responsible for all of that. It gave me an opportunity to be at my best. When this opportunity came here, it was expressed and clearly laid out that I could have the same responsibilities and same kind of approach.
"It's been really instrumental because the way we do things isn't the way a lot of people do things. We need our own way to do it. It's made all the difference in the world for us. It's what every coach needs, I think, to be at his best. The format and structure that is generally accepted in the league is not that.
"Football has to be run by the football people," Carroll continued. "I feel very fortunate and felt that this was an extraordinary opportunity from the day I arrived in Seattle to prove that. We've set out to show that this is the way organizations can be run. I'm excited to be here today and where we are. This has been the best format for me."