There's Absolutely No Excuse for Pete Carroll's Explanation Regarding Seahawks' Delay of Game Penalty

The closing minutes of Sunday night's showdown between the 49ers and Seahawks were ludicrous, as Russell Wilson brought Seattle back from a 26-14 deficit with less than four minutes remaining.

Trailing 26-21, Wilson conducted a picture-perfect drive that eventually saw the Seahawks set up with a first-and-goal on the one yard line in the final seconds. However, Pete Carroll's bunch took an indefensible delay of game penalty before they could, presumably, hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch.

The penalty ultimately proved to be Seattle's downfall, as tight end Jacob Hollister was stuffed inches short of the goal line on the final play of the game.

It simply never should've came to that, and Carroll didn't exactly reassure the hearts of Hawks fans with his explanation of the costly penalty.

"Yeah, we were in no backs the play before," the HC told reporters after the game. "And we called the personnel and just didn’t get it communicated with the backs, and we were just late. We were late getting in there, and we just didn’t get it done. We didn’t function playing, sometimes you can relax like that’s a timeout, on the sideline, it felt like that’s what happened. We didn’t get the substitution done properly, and we were late, and there wasn’t enough time to get the play off."

Sorry Pete, but we don't buy that.

There's just no justification possible that could defend a delay of game in that situation. Carroll put forth a a piss-poor game management display, and it cost Seattle a home game in the playoffs.

Now, they'll have to travel to Philadelphia to take on a resilient Eagles team in a hostile Lincoln Financial Field environment in the Wild Card round.