While the San Francisco 49ers were battling their own injury issues, the Seattle Seahawks got hit with a devastating blow, losing safety Earl Thomas to a leg fracture. Thomas was defending a touchdown pass before he went down.
The injury itself is awful for the Seahawks, but it gets interesting with what happens as Thomas was carted off:
Earl Thomas’ reaction after being carted off the field. pic.twitter.com/Lpqgu7rJJ9
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 30, 2018
That would probably be unsportsmanlike conduct, but it wasn’t aimed at the Cardinals. As he makes the gesture, the cart takes him by the Cardinals sideline. It was in fact directed at his own team, and appeared to be toward Pete Carroll.
Thomas held out 2018’s training camp and didn’t report in Seattle until Week 1 of the NFL season. He wrote a candid article explaining why he was holding out and asking the Seahawks to trade him. The Seahawks didn’t budge and Thomas caved right before Week 1. The fact Thomas injured himself harkens back to why he wanted to be traded or extended in the first place.
The injury is awful, the reaction is something else, but what’s flat-out strange is what Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said in response, or rather what he didn’t say. All Carroll said was, “It’s a big stadium.”
Get your popcorn everyone, this isn’t the end of it.