RENTON, Wash. -- Defensive end Cliff Avril has been with the Seattle Seahawks since 2013 and is one of the defense's most consistent players.

I caught up with him this week about a variety of topics, from what it takes to calm down teammate Michael Bennett to the defensive-line dinners on the road.

You have pledged to build one house in Haiti for every sack this season. Give me a number. How many houses are you going to be building?

Cliff Avril: Regardless, I plan on building more than 10 houses anyway. But hopefully the sacks correlate with that.

Pete Carroll said during the bye week he thought this group had a chance to be the best Seahawks team he's coached. You were on the 2013 team. Do you agree with him?

CA: I think we have the potential to. But the difference is that team did it, and this team has to do it. The one thing on our side right now is experience. All the core guys are guys that have been there and know what it takes to get there.

Ahtyba Rubin told me you guys go on D-line dinners on the road. Who picks the restaurant? Who pays?

CA: Mike B. [Bennett] picks the restaurant because he's a restaurant guru. And then we just rotate on who pays.

Are rookies invited? Or is it a veteran thing?

CA: Everyone's invited, but rookies are afraid to go because they think we're going to leave them with the tab. So they usually don't show up. But for the most part, we'll have Quinton Jefferson, or Frank [Clark] will show up from time to time.

In the past couple years, I've noticed that when Bennett gets really riled up, you are the only one who can calm him down and doesn't have to fear that he might go at you, too. Is that a fair characterization?

CA: That is very much a fair characterization. Even the coaches [laughs] feel the same way. It's very, very accurate. When he spazzes out at practice, the coaches come to me, like 'Hey, can you calm him down?' I don't know why, but we have that kind of rapport where we respect each other enough to not go at each other, but we can calm each other down.

What's the angriest you've ever seen him, either in practice or a game?

CA: I remember him during the Carolina game last year, I got hurt. I'm on the ground, and I can hear him cussing the ref out, cussing one of the players out because they wouldn't let him come over and talk to me.

What's the best method for calming him?

CA: I just talk to him calmly. I think sometimes when you're trying to stop or de-escalate a situation, a lot of times, we'll get hyped, too. I think just being calm and telling him the right things. Depending on the situation, you've got to know how to handle it, but just talk to him calmly.

There's so much talk about the future of football. You have two boys ...

CA: Nope.

No? You wouldn't let them play? Do you want them to play?

CA: I don't care for them to play. They don't have to. If they do, I could see my oldest one wanting to play because that's all he knows right now. Daddy's been a football player his whole life. But I definitely won't force it on them, and I won't push it on them.

Who is the most underrated player on this team?

CA: Tony McDaniel.

Why?

CA: Because he does everything right. He shows up on game day, balls outs. Nobody really speaks or says anything about it other than the coaches from time to time or us.

Actually, I'd say Tony McDaniel and Ahtyba Rubin for the simple fact that they take on double-teams, their stats aren't the greatest, but without those guys in the middle, we can't do anything that we're doing.

Speaking of stats, when I re-watch your games, I see a lot of times you get initial pressure but somebody else gets the sack. What do you think of "sack assists" as a stat we should start tracking?

CA [very into it]: I would probably have won that six of the nine daggone years I've been in the league.

OK, so you're on board if I push for that?

CA: Let's do it [laughs].

The league is clamping down on taunting and celebrations. Your thoughts?

CA: I've heard a lot of people, just listening to fans and family, they feel like they're trying to make the game boring in a sense because at the end of the day, we're entertainers. Yeah, we're playing football, but it's entertainment for people. People like that stuff. I think they're just trying to dumb it down for whatever reason. I like it. I don't celebrate that much, but I think it's cool. I know growing up, I couldn't wait to see what Chad Ochocinco was going to do. So I think they should back down on some of that stuff.

Last thing: There was the story last year of Carroll attacking a whiteboard during a team meeting. What's the strangest thing you've seen him do in a team meeting?

CA: Probably that. He jumped into a daggone whiteboard because he got so hyped. I'm like, 'You're going to regret that in the morning. You probably blew your hip out.' But I think it's so cool that he goes over and beyond to show you his passion for the game. If your head man is doing that, then obviously he's going to bring the same type of people around him to go do that on the football field.