After getting the bird from Earl Thomas, the Seattle Seahawks shrugged off his gesture — which is fitting considering they don’t care.
If Earl Thomas played his last game for the Seattle Seahawks Sunday evening, he surely went out in an unconventional style.
The star safety suffered a lower leg injury in the second half of the Seahawks matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. As Thomas was carted off the field, he appeared to stick his middle finger in the direction of the Seahawks sideline.
While of course, the gesture isn’t surprising, to say the least, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and linebacker Bobby Wagner spoke on the incident, keeping it all in context.
“I don’t know anything about that,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said when asked about the gesture, via Brady Henderson of ESPN. “It’s a big stadium. I don’t know where it was aimed at. Earl was extraordinarily poised on the field. For what just occurred to be so clear and so resolved to — he knew what happened.
“I think we play a very, very emotional game, and I think sometimes you’ve got to allow people to have their emotions, have their feelings,” Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner said.
Thomas frustration with his organization obviously comes from his training camp holdout situation. Thomas reluctantly would show up in time for the start of the season, but his intentions behind that were perhaps, to prove a point.
If he decided to continue to hold out, he would be looked at as selfish. If he showed up, as he did, late, he would be seen as the black sheep. Now with Thomas hurt and his career in jeopardy, the Seahawks got what they wanted, and didn’t have to pay a nickel over their means. The Seahawks saved money and will move on. Thomas gained no additional dollars, while his value has eroded. Seahawks win, Thomas loses.
Is Thomas right for behaving that way? Depends on who you ask. But, what it does bring to light is why NFL players are fighting hard to get the correct compensation when NFL teams have no problem moving on from players when their time is up.