Graham, like many new arrivals, was taken aback, too. This is a league, after all, that in recent years has determined that one team was operating a bounty system that rewarded players for hurting opponents and in which several members of another team harassed a teammate so much that he left the sport.

“Football has an old-school mentality: We’re going to grind you into the ground, we’re going to make men out of boys, and when you do something bad, we’re going to demean you,” Graham said. “But here, they feel like you guys are already men and we’re going to treat you like men. It’s literally all positive reinforcement.”

That philosophy will be put to the test this season as never before as Seattle tries not only to get back to the Super Bowl but to rise from one of the most deflating losses in the game’s history. With the Seahawks poised to win in the closing seconds, an intercepted pass at the goal line sailed into football’s Hall of Fame of flubs and handed a 28-24 victory to the New England Patriots.

“I couldn’t be more excited for the challenge of winning and coming back again and going again,” Carroll told reporters during training camp, still answering for the loss. “How hard could it be? We’re going to find out.”

The road back, he added, rests on “our beliefs, and we’re going to bring them to the front and see if they can stand the test, and if we do, we’ll be stronger and tougher than ever.”