Pete Carroll says troubled Seahawks need to 'figure it out'

The Seattle Seahawks kicked off OTA’s on Monday with a big speech from coach Pete Carroll to the team about … staying out of trouble.

That’s because the Seahawks have been in the headlines for the wrong reasons of late. Defensive end Bruce Irvin was suspended for the first four games of the season last week for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

Then, news broke Monday that backup quarterback Josh Portis was arrested May 5 for suspicion of drunken driving. According to the Associated Press, Portis was cited for driving 80 mph in a 60 mph zone and the arresting officer smelled a “strong odor of intoxicants.” Portis gave breath tests that register .092 and .078 with the legal limit being .08. Portis has an arraignment hearing scheduled for next week.

But the bigger issue is that Irvin is the sixth Seahawks player to fail a drug test in the last two years with cornerback Richard Sherman avoiding a suspension by winning an appeal.

“It's a very important opportunity for us to go ahead and figure it out and to help these guys so they can get what they deserve," Carroll said. "Unfortunately, you go wrong, you get popped, and that's how this thing works. I'm really disappointed we have to deal with anything like this, but there (are) going to be other issues too, and we're going to have to deal with them.

“We all know that there are big issues. It's not just here it's not just in sports. It's in schools. It's everywhere. We have to try and figure it out and help through education and all of the ways that we can and we'll always compete to try and find more creative ways to make the message clear."

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune

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