Why was Pete Carroll so mad after loss to Atlanta?

If you watched the thrilling Seattle-Atlanta playoff game Sunday, which ended with the Falcons kicking a game-winning field goal to salvage a 30-28 victory over the Seahawks, you probably wondered what Seattle Coach Pete Carroll was so mad about after his team called a timeout to ice the kicker.

TV replays showed him yelling at the official standing next to him, with TV commentators speculating that he was saying no one called timeout. Turns out he was mad about something else.

Even though the whistle was blowing for the time-out, the Falcons center still snapped the ball, allowing Matt Bryant a free kick, which he missed wide right. Carroll thought referees should not have allowed him to kick the ball.

Carroll said he was mad because of a pregame conversation he had had with officials, who warned him that kickers wouldn’t be able to take a practice kick.

“The officials told us before the game that nobody’s going to get a chance to do that,” Carroll said. “I asked them pregame what if somebody does, and they didn’t know what the answer was, obviously. I had never heard that before, so I was just challenging it.”

This was one of the topics covered in this week’s “NFL Slam with Mark and Sam,” starring Times NFL columnist Sam Farmer and Mark Thompson of “Mark and Brian” radio fame. You can watch a replay of it above.

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