NFL

Seahawks’ Carroll feels bad for Sanchez, says Tebow ‘disruptive’

Now, the Jets are getting pity.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he feels bad for Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, his former pupil at USC. Carroll, appearing on 710 ESPN Seattle, said Tim Tebow is a “distraction.”

“I think he’s in a very difficult situation,” Carroll said. “The whole emphasis of the two quarterback thing is really hard. You saw it yesterday. It didn’t get much for them. It’s got to be a little bit disruptive. I feel for him.”

Carroll had nice things to say about Tebow as a player and said he thinks the Jets are doing the “right things” with how they’re using Tebow. But he believes it has caused the fans to be harder on Sanchez than they normally would be.

“It’s just a distraction,” Carroll said. “It’s mixed signals that go out. Their fans are torn up. If they didn’t have a situation like this, they wouldn’t be hooting and hollering probably the way they do at him, so it wouldn’t be as difficult. That’s just part of it. I do feel for Mark and anybody that would be in that situation.”

Carroll and Sanchez remain close after spending four years together at USC. Even though Carroll criticized Sanchez’s decision to leave school early for the NFL, the two have remained friends.

Carroll said he and Sanchez spoke on the field before Sunday’s 28-7 Seahawks win. Carroll said Sanchez has a good attitude about Tebow’s presence, but it’s clearly a sticky situation.

“This whole factor has been really hard on him,” Carroll said. “I’m sure that it’s been confusing to their fans. That part at home has got to be hard. I don’t know this because I haven’t seen a game there but I think they’re hard on him at the stadium, too. So, it’s as hard as it can get.”

Tebow played eight plays in the game against the Seahawks, throwing three passes.

The Seahawks coach also had some interesting things to say about the Jets defense. Asked about the Jets’ early success stopping the Seahawks running game, Carroll said the Jets were so slow getting off the ball that it messed up Seattle’s zone blocking scheme.

“They weren’t coming off the ball well. We were, so we were out ahead of them,” Carroll said. “I thought maybe they were doing it collectively. … It was really them not playing great technique up front.”