Three years later and Cliff Avril is still wondering, “What if?”

The former Seahawks defensive end is still haunted by Pete Carroll’s decision to throw the ball at the goal line near the end of Super Bowl XLIX, a decision that resulted in a game-clinching interception for Malcolm Butler and the New England Patriots.

“You think about what could have happened,” Avril told the Dave Dameshek Football Program on Thursday. “If we win that Super Bowl, I think we probably would have won another one within the two years that went by.”

For all intents and purposes, the Seahawks’ title window looks closed after missing the playoffs last season. The team cut Richard Sherman and Avril, two pillars of its vaunted defense, this offseason and traded Michael Bennett to the Eagles. Chemistry issues seemed to crop up on Seattle’s defense in the years following Butler’s interception, which some tie back to the play.

Avril is not the first ex-Seahawk to criticize Carroll this offseason as both Sherman and Bennett have taken shots at their former coach. Sherman accused Carroll of “devaluing core players” and Bennett suggested Carroll was redundant and easy to tune out.

“I do think the team would have bought in more to what Coach Carroll was saying instead of going the opposite way of, hey, this is what we thought the foundation of the team was, and that’s not what happened on this particular play,” Avril said. “So I think guys started questioning him more, more so than actually following his lead if we’d won that Super Bowl.

“… The situation sucked regardless of who took the blame. It’s just the fact that we were so close and we weren’t able to get it, so I think a lot of guys got turned off by (Carroll’s) message.”