Seahawks' legend Pete Carrol reacts to strange Lumen Field homecoming

The vibrant, gum-chomping, 73-year-old legend is coming home Thursday night. But don't expect too much sentimentality from Pete Carroll.

Sure, it's only a preseason game - and an opener at that - but the only Seattle Seahawks head coach to win a Super Bowl coming back to Lumen Field is a big deal. Whether he wants to admit it or not.

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"It's the only game we got," Carroll joked this week to the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week. "It happens to be in Seattle."

After 14 mostly glorious seasons with the Seahawks, Carroll returns as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. Instead of pumping up Russell Wilson or energizing the Legion of Boom, this time Carroll will be evaluating Raiders' rookies such as No. 6 overall draft pick Ashton Jeanty and overshadowing the return to Seattle of another former Seahawks' star: quarterback Geno Smith.

"I loved my time in Seattle, loved the fans and the people that we met, and dealt with, and competed with," Carroll said. "But it's a game for us. We're going to go play ball."

With the Seahawks from 2010-23, Carroll went 137-89-1 and won Super Bowl XLVIII at the end of the 2013 season. He had mutual parting with Seattle after the 2023 season and served as a "senior advisor" with the organization last season. Away from football only one year, he returns to football for his 19th season in the NFL.