Worst...call...ever

[26554]

It was one of the greatest games I've ever seen...no exaggeration...until the last minute took a lot of the gloss off of it with the clock running, the pass and then the embarrassing brawl.

I'll give you the brawl, but otherwise I thought the final minute was exciting as hell. Belichick made a decision to gamble on his defense stopping Seattle and not needing the timeouts -- which in fact is exactly what happened, so I hardly see any reason to criticize him for that. I think it's very safe to say he knows more about football than just about anybody, and it's usually an extremely good bet that whatever he chooses to do makes sense.

That was impressive how he used some kind of Jedi mind trick to temporarily turn off Carroll and Bevell's brains.

[26554]

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

[conace21]

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

Nobody should be fired over the one call. Carroll and Bevell have been a little more successful than Bob Gibson and John McVay were with the Giants.

Has there ever been a more amazing play that was forgotten so quickly than the bobbling catch? Everyone in the room was yelling, so I couldn't hear the TV, but it seems the announcers were comparing it to the Helmet Catch. Al Michaels, who's usually pretty sharp, should have pointed out that it was more reminiscent of Antonio Freeman's "He did what?" catch on MNF.

[JohnTurney]

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.

[26554]

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

Nobody should be fired over the one call. Carroll and Bevell have been a little more successful than Bob Gibson and John McVay were with the Giants.

Has there ever been a more amazing play that was forgotten so quickly than the bobbling catch? Everyone in the room was yelling, so I couldn't hear the TV, but it seems the announcers were comparing it to the Helmet Catch. Al Michaels, who's usually pretty sharp, should have pointed out that it was more reminiscent of Antonio Freeman's "He did what?" catch on MNF.

As it turned, Kearse should probably be criticized somewhat for not having the awareness that Freeman had on that earlier play.

I'd bet $ that Bevell's gone. It's not just that play, he has a history of "being cute". For example, how about that call on 3rd and 3 earlier in the 4th quarter?

[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.

[26554]

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.

Wilson hasn't shown to be that great on short slants. One reason why that play call was so brain dead. The defense adjusted and he didn't . Should've audibled but, either out of arrogance or ignorance, he decided to go ahead and run it as designed.

[JohnH19]

Has there ever been a more amazing play that was forgotten so quickly than the bobbling catch? Everyone in the room was yelling, so I couldn't hear the TV, but it seems the announcers were comparing it to the Helmet Catch. Al Michaels, who's usually pretty sharp, should have pointed out that it was more reminiscent of Antonio Freeman's "He did what?" catch on MNF.

The Freeman catch was the first thing I thought of (some wounds never heal) because the play was so similar. I assume Michaels was alluding to the fact that this play was another miracle Super Bowl catch that seemed like it was going to cost the Pats another championship.

[conace21]

Has there ever been a more amazing play that was forgotten so quickly than the bobbling catch? Everyone in the room was yelling, so I couldn't hear the TV, but it seems the announcers were comparing it to the Helmet Catch. Al Michaels, who's usually pretty sharp, should have pointed out that it was more reminiscent of Antonio Freeman's "He did what?" catch on MNF.

The Freeman catch was the first thing I thought of (some wounds never heal) because the play was so similar. I assume Michaels was alluding to the fact that this play was another miracle Super Bowl catch that seemed like it was going to cost the Pats another championship.

Very true, and it very nearly did.

I guess the coaches and/or Wilson deserve as much blame for being forced to burn two timeouts as they do for the play call.

[26554]

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.