PETE CARROLL, SEAHAWKS HEAD COACH

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(On returning to New England)
"I like coming back. I had a good time there. It's kind of fun, you guys have so much good stuff. It's kind of an honor to have a chance to play."

(On whether he discusses politics with his players)
"We've always addressed whatever's at hand, going on around the country in all different areas and ways, to some extent. Not always in great detail, but we try to stay up with what's topical and what's current."

(On the Patriots not having thrown a pick yet this season)
"Turnovers are a huge element and issue in this game. Whenever you can control that in your favor, it makes a huge difference and generally leads to winning. It's interesting that New England over the years has done such a great job taking care of the football, particularly in fumble situations, is not turning over to interceptions and throwing a shut out. That's a big time factor that leads to winning. It's one of the most important issues that you can stress. They do a fantastic job of it, we've always stressed it, we've done a really good job of it over the years and we share that concern."

(On how similar this matchup will be to the Super Bowl 49 matchup)
"Everything that you go through gives you a chance to learn, so we certainly go back and watch all that stuff and how they looked at us and how we looked at them. Just like we looked at all the rest of the games, we pay a lot of attention to what's going on now and some of the names and the faces are the same but quite a few of them aren't. We have to figure all that out, but everything is important in terms of evaluating what it takes to get a game plan ready."

(On how they plan on getting takeaways from the Patriots offense)
"When you're playing a really good quarterback it takes everything. It takes rush, it takes terrific coverage and then hopefully your matchups work in your favor at times. It's not going to be a sloppy game, neither one of us are going to play that way. It's going to be really sharp football and you're going to have to make your plays happen. It starts with the quarterback and if we can keep him uncomfortable at times, we have a chance to make some plays on him."

(On whether he thinks remembering emotions from Super Bowl 49 might help the Seahawks players)
"No. We never do. I never ever use the matchup or the build up or the hype or whatever. Every game to us is absolutely the most important game we ever play. It might be the only one we ever get to play and that's the way we focus. Every game is a championship game to us. We've never altered that thought. I don't want to play up to a team, I don't want to have to figure out some way to get them fired up about a team. Every game to us is the most important game in the world, and that's what this is to us again."

(On whether his philosophy of treating every game like a championship has been with him his whole coaching career)
"I've been committed to that thought for a really long time. I don't remember when it started, but it's been years and years. It's really been more important to me to find a high level of performance and maintaining it over a long period of time than trying to show some flashy game, hit something here or there, win something and then you fall off. We've always been really dedicated to the mentality to maintain a consistency over a long period of time. That's the way that we discipline ourselves to do that."

(On his emotions of returning to Foxborough for the first time as a coach since coaching for the Patriots)
"That was a long time ago. There's been a lot of games. It'll be fun to go back, it'll be fun to see the place and see the area and all that, but as far as being emotionally connected to it, that's not going to be part of the experience."

(On how his experience as Head Coach for the Patriots helped shape his general coaching philosophy)
"That's a good question because when I went into New England, I was really committed to being able to bring the philosophy and do it exactly the way you wanted to do it and be in control of it. It didn't really work out that way, the way I hoped, until I went back to USC and when I got a chance to be in charge again and be a head coach, I got to see the philosophy through, from the head coach throughout. I thought that was really important, I had learned that along the way. It's proven really true to me that at USC I had a chance to do it really the way I wanted to do it and make all the calls and you win or you lose, you fail or you succeed. I felt like that was a really learning illustration for me, coming out of there. When I got the opportunity, I thought I would be at USC forever, because I would never have a chance to have that much control, then when we came up to Seattle, I was thrilled to see that we were able to take the philosophy from one place to another and go for it in that manner. It worked out. I think it's really awesome to watch New England. When Bill [Belichick] got the job there, Robert [Kraft] gave him the chance to take that thing over and run it and do it exactly the way a football guy sees it and the rest has been a great history and a great success story. I couldn't have agreed with that approach more and I was thrilled to see it happen. I think it's good for football coaches that we've had a chance to show that when a coach runs the whole program and takes charge of it, it's the best way to do it. That's a big takeaway and it was a great reinforcement and illustration to watch how Bill did it there. It's been historic and awesome to watch and I couldn't have more respect for a guy running a program like what he's done."

(On whether he expected to have more control when entering his role as head coach for the Patriots)
"I know I was really naïve to think that based on the way it ended, but I really came in there with that thought. I thought I was going to bring out ways from San Francisco and do all that kind of stuff. It just didn't quite work out right and I wasn't on my game enough to pull that off. It was a great lesson learned."

(On whether he has kept in touch with the Krafts)
"They've been tremendous since and I have great respect for their family and their connection to putting that program together and how important it was to connect with the community and how they've done it. Just the extraordinary success. My hat has always been off to Robert [Kraft] to give Coach Belichick the chance to do it the way he did and to watch him put together a great program, a championship program."

(On Malcolm Butler)
"He's a really good player. He's a good ball player. He seems really instinctive and aggressive and confident. He does a nice job."

(On Tom Brady's long, successful career)
He's been all part of this great story that you guys have written. I ran into Drew Bledsoe at the Buffalo game here the other night and brought me back, knowing that we're going there next week and all that, and how that whole thing took place. It was an amazing story and it's a great history that you guys have written. Tom has really been the center piece to all of that."

(On the Jamie Collins trade)
"I'm sure there's no uncertainty. They know exactly what they were doing or they wouldn't have done it. He was an excellent football player and guys who come through there play their best football when they play for you guys. That's always been clear." 

(On whether Michael Bennett has a chance to play this weekend)
He is still in rehab. He will not make it back."

(On whether the Jamie Collins trade changes the way he might expect the Patriots to defend Jimmy Graham)
"No, I didn't even think about that. He's gone. No."