PHOENIX -- Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll spent a large portion of his media session Wednesday morning answering the question he has answered so many times before: How do you get over the heartbreaking loss in Super Bowl XLIX?
"I'm over it, I'm way over it,"' Carroll said. "But I'm still answering questions about it and we have to be prepared to do that. So as we revisit the memory, we have to put our toe in the water and get going."
Wednesday was the annual NFC coaches' breakfast as part of the NFL owners meetings. In his one-hour interview with reporters, Carroll was asked about the Super Bowl loss 18 times in one way or another.
He cordially answered every question about the infamous moment, the shocking second-down interception by Malcolm Butler at the New England 1-yard line in the final seconds that preserved a 28-24 victory for the Patriots.
"I know you guys want to make this like it's different than something else, but it's the same," Carroll said. "What's happened, happened. What's coming up is what you deal with.
"It's always understanding that it's not about what you just did, but what you are going to do next. Hopefully, that discipline we use at all times will again come into play and we'll show that we can figure out how to go through this and play really well."
Carroll said he approaches the situation the same way he approached the 43-8 Super Bowl victory over Denver one year earlier.
"Last year coming off the Super Bowl win, everybody thought it would be such a difficult task to get back," Carroll said. "But we put it in the right perspective to play the type of football we're capable of. This is exactly the same kind of challenge at the other end of the spectrum. It's very similar in that there's something that just happened that you have to deal with.
"We dealt with all the questions last year about trying to repeat. I think we showed, against most people's opinions, that we could. This is another great opportunity to show we have the makeup and mentality to do the things we need to do to be our best next season. We'll try to make the most of it. Hopefully, we'll surprise you again."" Pete Carroll
"For a long time, we've had a language and a dialogue that allows us to get to the end of a game and the end of a season and put it in proper perspective. It's just memories. You call them up when they best suit you."
Of course, the questions were asked about why the Seahawks threw the ball on second down with 20 seconds remaining instead of running it with Marshawn Lynch.
"I wish the play would have turned out differently," Carroll said. "The next time we're there, it probably won't be that exact same play, but it's all part of the process. We knew we were going to throw the ball down there and that was because of the clock situation. We've prepared for that for years.
"The fact that all the focus goes to it, yeah, I've gotta live with that. We'll look back someday and we'll see what this time period meant. That game is going to be a marker, as [Super Bowl XLVIII] was a marker. We'll see what it all means when we add it up. But that play was the play. It was the result that wasn't good."
Carroll also said he has no worries about how quarterback Russell Wilson is handling the disappointment.
"Russell has a great mindset," Carroll said. "He does feel the burden, but he is so strong in his convictions. I don't think he's going to have a problem. It won't hold him back. I know him so well. We communicate all the time. He's always been about projecting forward."
Carroll knows these questions will continue throughout the offseason, but he's looking forward, not backward.
"Yeah, there's this story, but that's done," he said. "I can't wait to get going and that's what I'm hearing from all our guys. They're chomping at the bit to get back.
"We dealt with all the questions last year about trying to repeat. I think we showed, against most people's opinions, that we could. This is another great opportunity to show we have the makeup and mentality to do the things we need to do to be our best next season. We'll try to make the most of it. Hopefully, we'll surprise you again."