Worst...call...ever

[Reaser]

Big gamble, I wonder if thought process was run a rub route, hope rookie CB gets confused and Lockett is open, but rookie looked like he and 39 were in lock m/m and both played it perfectly. Maybe Belichick can teach coverage after all.

Browner definitely deserves credit, too.

Play call (coaches), decision to throw it (Wilson) and all that noise aside, the issue I have is with ball placement. Of course the only thing Wilson and I have in common is that we were both HS QB's at one point, I was only good enough to get to the JUCO level and I'm not even close to in his league (literally), but I have to assume he went to the same types of QB camps, learned the same things from college coaches which would be the same for passing at any level ... and maybe I had a bonus growing up one street over from a Rose Bowl winning QB, but - and for brevity sake skipping through coverages, QB 'rules', different scenarios/situations, etc - on the goalline I was always taught to put that ball 'on' the receiver or with that type of pass (with no trailing defender) aim at the 3 (of #83)

I wish he would be asked how and where he's coached to put the ball and what he saw pre-snap (just to confirm - middle of the field open, obvious man, best guess Hightower was spying him and he was opposite play anyways) and what he was looking at.

It's a quick throw, only one defensive player can make the play and he's either going to be trailing (in which case with what you see pre-snap you can lead WR - though I'de still aim between the numbers because you're still throwing inside on the goalline) and if he was trailing he was off so he wouldn't have been anywhere near the play anyways, and if he's not trailing and you account for the possibility that he won't get 'rubbed' then it's a race to 'the spot', which means throw it at the 3. Don't lead the receiver (and I'm basing off broadcast, coaches film when i watch this week may show a better angle) ... the only negative throwing to the 3 (jersey number) would be that he could get tackled before the endzone which at the one yard line there's a better chance he gets in than not and if he doesn't - situation - you still have 3rd and 4th down from the 1-yard line.

At least that's how I look at the play/throw.

[26554]

I said earlier I would've still been breaking stuff if my team had been in the Seahawks position. On the flip side, I can only imagine the gauntlet of emotions NE fans went through. Elation after Brady engineered the go-ahead drive followed by feeling like throwing up after the Kearse catch (same building as the Tyree helmet catch, no less) followed again by elation and probably disbelief after the Butler int.

[Jay Z]

From what I gather, Bevell was blaming Lockette after the game for not fighting hard enough for the ball. What nerve.

I felt the play was slow in developing. Lockette was too slow on his break. Once the ball was in the air it was too late.

As far as the timeouts go, it looked a little weird, but I get the reasoning on both sides.

Seattle figured the second down pass play would either score or be incomplete. If it's incomplete they've run the clock down as far as they can and still have a timeout left. Then they can call any play on third down, call a time out if needed, and call any play on fourth down. But second down has to be a pass.

The Patriots only had two time outs left. So they couldn't keep Seattle from running down the time unless Seattle scores. If the Patriots take a time out after first down, then Seattle doesn't need to use their pass strategy, since even if they run on second down, they would have had time to set up again, run any play on third down, time out, run any play on fourth down. Ironically, I think if the Patriots had called a time out Seattle would have run the ball on second down.

I don't see what the downside would've been to using them. If he burns one after first and goal and the ball goes to Lynch on 2nd down as it should have and he scores, Brady would've had around 50 seconds to at least get the team in FG range.

But if Lynch doesn't score on 2nd down, then the Pats have to take another TO. And if he doesn't score on 3rd down, then Seattle can run the clock all the way down.

By the same token, the Seahawks could have let less time run off and called a running play. Then the Patriots would have taken their time outs and some time would be left on the clock. But it would have opened up more of the playbook. That throw is not really Wilson's forte, the receiver is an average one, and Seattle executed poorly.

[Jeremy Crowhurst]

When the Pats don't take the timeout, they're basically saying "We can stop Lynch, go ahead and try". They'd certainly had their share of successful plays against him. I don't see a pass play as grounds for dismissal. They could call two running plays before time expired, or three passing plays. In retrospect I tend to go more with Hoodie & Carroll's reasoning than Cris Collinsworth's knee-jerk reaction.

Gotta say also, I would have expcted a more nuanced opinion than "they shoulda runnit" from final 10 HoF candidate Tony Dungy.

[Reaser]

In retrospect I tend to go more with Hoodie & Carroll's reasoning ...

... I would have expcted a more nuanced opinion than "they shoulda runnit" from final 10 HoF candidate Tony Dungy.

Yup, arguably the two best coaches in the NFL with one arguably at/near the top of the list for best coach ever. They know what's going on.

It's about players and players executing. On the failed to execute side there's bad ball placement (throw back number) and not a particularly great effort by the receiver (though ball placement outweighs that) and on the great execution side there's multiple but specifically Browner was key and Butler made one of the great end of championship game plays to date.

In that situation with the Colts, it would have likely been Manning making the decision and not Dungy - and even if Dungy said anything Manning could have waved him off and done what he wanted anyways.

[Rupert Patrick]

The more I watched this play, the more I think this will be remembered as this generation's version of the Bill Buckner play. I never held Buckner responsible for the play, I held Red Sox Manager John McNamara responsible because he should have pulled Buckner for a defensive replacement, yet Buckner was unfairly blamed by the public for the miscue. Like the play we saw this evening, it turned out to be a total disaster. I think Carroll is a great coach, but this mistake is what he'll be more remembered for, I think. Russell Wilson will not get much of the blame for what happened.

[LJP]

Just idiotic play calling. The Seahawks ownership and GM have to be seriously annoyed at Carroll and Bevell for that one. The latter should be fired, at least.

If you are going to throw in that situation, at least call a play where your receiver is the only one going to catch the ball. A fade route or jump ball (6'5" Chris Matthews) in the corner of the endzone would have been better options.

You have time, you have a timeout, you have Marshawn Lynch and the very mobile Russell Wilson. Run the damn ball!!!

[John Grasso]

I'll add my two cents worth -
I thought their call at the end of the first half to go for the touchdown
rather than the field goal was an exceptionally bold one. Had they taken the
conservative route as most would have in that situation, especially since
they were receiving the next half opening kickoff, the second half might be
have been quite different.

But yes, I've always felt that a team on the one-yard line should run,
regardless of the score or time left.

[Evan]

Some quick recollections of historically criticized calls that worked out well ...

1958 Colts vs. Giants - Unitas's pass to Mutscheller was thought to be extremely risky, but as Unitas said, something to the effect of "It's not risky if you know what you're doing."

1967 Ice Bowl Packers vs. Cowboys - Starr's plunge on 3rd down was criticized as the clock would have run out if he didn't get in.

1974 Raiders vs. Dolphins - Stabler's pass into a Sea of Hands worked out in legendary fashion, but Stabler himself was quoted after the game as highly criticizing himself, saying "It was 1st down and we had plenty of time ... 35 seconds and two timeouts. It was a great catch but a dumb play."

Remember the sound bite of Walsh saying to Montana on the sideline to "throw it away if it isn't there" before the third down play that became "The Catch"? Some people still think Montana was doing that and Clark just stretched to catch a ball being thrown away. Either way, the ball was not going to be intercepted.

In watching the play last night, I yelled "He's throwing the ball?!?!?" as Wilson set up, and then yelled in shock with the rest of America when Butler made the pick. If you could pick one player in the NFL to get the ball in that situation, even with the defense stacked for a run, I would say Lynch would be unanimous. To his credit, he said he wasn't surprised he didn't get the ball, because "football is a team game." Well said Marshawn, that's a helluva touch of class there in an extremely raw and painful situation.

[Veeshik_ya]

Good points, all. But remember, Carroll/Bevel also threw the ball with six seconds left in the first half that resulted in a touchdown when almost any other coach would've kicked a field goal. Not too many complaints about that one.

The "bad call" at the end of the game is all 20/20 hindsight.

Bad call? I don't know. Bad result for sure.