Pete Carroll Professes His Love For Mark Sanchez

Nov 23, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll celebrates after a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals during the third quarter at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 23, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll celebrates after a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals during the third quarter at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

When the Philadelphia Eagles host the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon, Pete Carroll and Mark Sanchez will get the chance to come together again. 


Former USC Trojans head coach Pete Carroll and former USC quarterback Mark Sanchez get to meet on Sunday afternoon, when Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks travel to Lincoln Financial Field for a Week 14 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles.

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In anticipation of the meeting between two NFC playoff contenders, both men are making it clear that they are fans of each other.

In fact, Pete Carroll has gone as far as to profess his love for the Eagles quarterback.

I love Mark,” Carroll said, via the News Tribune.

When Sanchez left USC early, however, Carroll was critical and said that he didn’t believe Sanchez was ready to make the jump to the NFL. Sanchez struggled early on during his career with the New York Jets, but now Sanchez is in the middle of a career revival.

Carroll also spoke out about the difference in opinion he and Sanchez when the quarterback declared for the draft, but he says that had no impact on their relationship.

“We just had a difference of opinion at the time, in that regard. I wasn’t going to hold him back,” Carroll said. “He was awesome with us, had a great career. Kind of grew up with us, was there even before he came to school.

“His family was close to the program. I was very, very close to the family during that time — and felt like I was representing an opinion that was coming out of the household, too, because they could see reasons why they wanted Mark to stay. The main thing was, he was really forthright and he was very determined to take on the challenge. . . . But that had nothing to do with our relationship or anything.”

It is great to see the two men maintining a solid relationship and it is clear that Carroll was just trying to provide Sanchez with advice he thought would help his career moving forward.

But now that is all in the past, so the two men can look forward, focus on helping their teams on Sunday and hug it out on the field.

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