Pete Carroll has 2 words for critics of Earl Thomas for his middle finger at Seahawks’ sideline

Do you think the coach of a team whose sideline Earl Thomas flipped off would be mad? Would want to suspend the player? Would publicly denounce his act and attitude?

Then you don’t know Pete Carroll.

Not only does the Seahawks’ coach justify Thomas’ way the All-Pro safety left the field Sunday in Arizona after breaking his leg late in Seattle’s win, Carroll has two words for Thomas’ critics.

Back off.

“He knew where he was going. He knew exactly what the injury is. I’m sure it’s flashing in his mind it’s going to take this long, how can this happen...you know, all of the stuff that’s going through his head. I mean, you’ve got to give anybody a break,” Carroll said Monday after the team’s return home from desert with a 2-2 record and a daunting NFC West test against the undefeated Los Angeles Rams ahead this weekend.

“You can have the expectations from people to exactly as you think they should do, but until you are there doing it and understand it, you’ve got to give guys some room. That’s exactly how I feel about it. I know that probably some of our other players know that, people who have been in the situation, you understand.

“I get it when people want to pass judgment and try to cast dispersions and all that about something. But in the heat of the moment, with all the emotional part of this—and the injury, and the pain, and the discomfort, you know, all of that—shoot, man, give the guy a break.”

Carroll confirmed the obvious, that the 29-year-old Thomas is out for the rest of the season. He said the broken left tibia is the same lower-leg break Thomas got in December 2016 when he collided with fellow Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor trying to intercept a pass by Carolina’s Cam Newton in a game.

Thomas returned the following summer for training camp, eight months after the injury.

His four-year, $40 million contract extension he signed in 2014, when Seattle made him the NFL’s highest-paid safety, expires after this season. Lacking the rich third contract Thomas has demanded and held out for, or the trade the Seahawks aren’t going to make now and likely never were at the price they were seeking, he has almost certainly played his final game for Seattle.

Thomas got hurt and broke teammates’ hearts diving over Arizona’s Chad Williams in the end zone after Williams caught a tying touchdown pass with 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter of Seattle’s 20-17 win over the Cardinals Sunday. Nine fellow Seahawks, led by fellow All-Pro Bobby Wagner, each took one knee and held hands in a circle around Thomas while a team doctor and trainer put an air cast over his left leg.

As the cart took Thomas off the field injured, he sat on the back of it. He raised his right hand in the direction of the Seahawks’ sideline across the field. And he unmistakably extended his middle finger at his team.

Carroll said he hasn’t talked to his players about Thomas’ gesture, nor does the coach see the need to do so.

Fellow All-Pro Bobby Wagner has been supporting Thomas’ demands for guaranteed money beyond 2018 since this spring. Wagner said Sunday after Thomas’ season- and likely Seahawks-ending injury “if I was him, I’d be pissed off.”

Carroll confirmed another obvious on Monday: 2017 draft choice Tedric Thompson becomes the starter at free safety for Thomas, beginning Sunday against the Rams.

Los Angeles play caller Sean McVay and quarterback Jared Goff are going to be targeting Thompson early in often in what will be the former University of Colorado cover man’s first NFL start.

This story was originally published October 1, 2018 at 4:05 PM.