You know, usually I don’t reshare stupid little internet memes, but this explains the final play better than anything I could possibly come up with on my own…
Pete Carroll's phone pic.twitter.com/DFT3uYMgsQ
— Umang Dua (@umangdua) February 2, 2015
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LMAO!!!!!!
I’m mostly with you, but Carroll’s explanation actually makes a small amount of sense. And kudos to Belichik who saw their WRs in there and left in his CBs instead of automatically putting in a goal line defense in that situation.
what was his explanation. I didn’t even watch his postgame interview… I mean, I imagine his thoughts were “clearly they were expecting us to run Lynch up the middle, so we thought we’d surprise them.” Which… ok… sure… there’s some logic to that… except… NO! You’re twenty seconds and one yard from winning the fucking Super Bowl and you have the best TD running back in the league and you have one timeout… Who cares if they know the run is coming? That is where you have faith.
He took the team approach. That was the play WE called blah, blah, blah.
yeah… screw that… no I in team… but there is one in WIN
Essentially: we have 2 TOs. We can run three plays if ones a pass. Everyone expects run, pass, run. We can catch them off guard passing first. Odds of a pick are vanishingly low (there were zero in 111 plays inside the 2 all year). Pass, run, run will be surprising enough to be better odds.
I don’t necessarily agree, but it’s not as insane as I thought at first.
the quote of the evening was ‘pete carol finally won the patrots a super bowl”
yeah… I’m a no there… again… best rusher in the league… you pound at the line… twice in a row… if you somehow get knocked back a couple yards, you consider a throw for that last shot… then you say fuck that and you take your chances on the run again…
They call it Beastmode for a reason. If the Pats can stop Lynch 3 times in a row on the goal line they deserve to win. You have to have faith in what got you there.
yeah… I’m a no there… again… best rusher in the league… you pound at the line… twice in a row… if you somehow get knocked back a couple yards, you consider a throw for that last shot… then you say fuck that and you take your chances on the run again…
They call it Beastmode for a reason. If the Pats can stop Lynch 3 times in a row on the goal line they deserve to win. You have to have faith in what got you there.
Also you should see the all 22 pic off the play. I’ll post it when I’m in front of a computer; that play looks like it goes for a TD 80% of the time. Thank God the Pats had planned for it and Butler got the jump (bias disclosure: I grew up in Maine, Pats fan).
When Marshawn Lynch is in your lineup ready to play, and the game is on the line a yard out… Your first option better not be pass.
In real time I thought it was dumb, too. You might be right, I’m still not sold on it, but I’m not sure it’s as clearly idiotic as I thought at first.
everyone here is aghast carol did not run it; then we remembered his two years coaching the pats
I have no horse in the race. I wasn’t rooting for either team. I enjoyed it because it was a solid 60 minutes of football. With the exception of that play which was just stupid…. I mean he’s literally the best rusher in the league for TDs. If you’re seven yards out with twenty seconds, then you talk things over. if you’re on the goal line with only 20 seconds between you and a ring, you say “oh my god, this is literally the best thing we could hope for” and you ground and pound.
I was going for a tie so both teams lost..
during the third quarter, that is what i was irrationally hoping for
Here’s the all-players look. The Hawks have what is from Wilson’s POV a wide open player running a slant; Butler happens to time the jump perfectly and get the pick, but I think most O-Coordinators would salivate at the chance to have this play as it looks here:
Unfortunately for them, the Pats had run exactly this play in practice, and Butler had gotten burned by it. FO’s Aaron Schatz writes: “Christopher Price told me after the game, he talked to Jimmy Garappolo in the locker room and Garappolo told him that the scout team beat Butler with that exact play in practice. So he knew how to read it and he knew what to do. And unlike in practice he did it.”
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/audibles/2015/audibles-line-super-bowl-xlix
If that’s true, great planning by Belichick.
A final thought before I crash, from ESPN’s Mike Sando:
• Precedent is on the side of Seattle offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. This was the fifth time since 2001 that an NFL team faced second-and-goal from the 1 with between 20-40 seconds remaining while holding one timeout and trailing by 4-8 points. Two teams ran the ball, gaining zero and minus-2 yards (including once in 2003 when Indianapolis ran Edgerrin James for no gain against New England). The two teams that passed the ball in that situation scored touchdowns. Dallas trailed Kansas City 28-24 during a 2005 game when Drew Bledsoe connected with Dan Campbell for the winning 1-yard score. In 2002, Drew Brees helped San Diego beat San Francisco, 20-17, with a 1-yard scoring pass to Fred McCrary.
Of course, not all running backs are Beast Mode. But Edgerrin James wasn’t chopped liver. Probably way too small a sample size to merit serious consideration, anyway.
(Sando should probably relax the constraints enough to get a reasonable number of plays into the picture. “faced second-and-goal from the 1 with between 20-40 seconds remaining while holding one timeout and trailing by 4-8 points” seems awfully specific).
And I’d say in the Ed James scenario, running the ball was he right decision then too. Maybe it didn’t work. Fine. But like I said, if you can stop Lynch a the line 2 or 3 times in a row to protect your 4 point lead, you deserve to win.
I mean, like him or hate him, this story had been boiling down towards it being Lynch’s game for the last 2 weeks… it’s the Hollywood ending. Maybe he makes it. Maybe he fails. But going with the throw was trying to be sneaky…. which, sure if it had worked, everyone would be praising him (but me… I’d have said it was a stupid risk and he got lucky). And there was no need for sneaky BECAUSE YOU HAD MARSHAWN LYNCH RIGHT THERE!!!!
One receiver open, 2 defenders that could arguably make that play is what I see.
If you could run Lynch 3 times I totally agree. With only 1 TO and the clock winding, you have to pass at least once to get 3 plays in; 2 stuffed runs = time expires, in all likelihood. So the question isn’t should you try a pass play, it’s when should you try the pass play–or are you going to risk losing a play.
Like I said, I’m not convinced but it’s less stupid than it seems at first blush.
I’m going to risk losing a play. I have Marshawn Lynch.
That’s an entirely defensible position.
I stand by my previous post.. If Lynch is in your lineup ready to go, pass should not be your first option. I honestly can’t understand a scenario that Lynch isn’t given the ball. Are you seriously going to tell me Lynch gets stuffed two times in a row 1 yard out, game on the line?? I’m not buying what you are selling on that line of thought. I’m the opposite of a Seahawks fan. I am was a Niners fan before York lost his mind. I don’t want a Seattle win. But, I’ve seen how Lynch rips up defenses. As horrible as sf was this year, their D was ranked 5th and Lynch ate them up. Anyone else I agree with the pass as a serious option.. Lynch is a game changer and has single handily won several games for Seattle this year. You don’t suddenly back off the guy the biggest game of the year, and title on the line. The odds of him not gaining that yard is astronomical at best.
that’s my point exactly. if the game is on the line… especially THIS GAME… you go with your best option.
yes, 99% of the time most teams have to make a coaching decision in that spot… But If you have Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, TO or Cris Carter then you’re going to throw. And if you have Emmit Smith, Ladamian Tomlinson, Marshaul Faulk or Marshawn Lynch, RUN THE FUCKING BALL.
“I can’t believe the (play) call,” Collinsworth said in his distinctive Florida drawl. “You have Marshawn Lynch. You have a guy who’s been borderline unstoppable. … If I lose this Super Bowl because Marshawn Lynch can’t get into the end zone, so be it. So be it. I can’t believe the call.”
did he actually say that on air last night? I don’t remember him saying it… but I totally agree.
It’s a quote from a USA Today post. I’m assuming he said it some point post game the way the article read.
My take on it is that they should have run the ball(obviously), but NE drove down field and got the go ahead score, they earned that IMO. Seattle got a crazy gift from the football gods to get to the 11 yard line and should have won that game, but as much as I hate the Pats, they did what they needed to do in the 4th quarter.
But that’s the thing… For all the talk of them maybe being cheaters, New England is an incredible football team. Brady and Belichik have proven time and time again that they know how to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Seattle was given the greatest gift in the world. They were in position to put the game in what, for them, was the best possible way. Absolute worse case scenario, you were going to have 11 guys trying to stop Lynch from running 1 yard in two tries…
I still give him even money there.
Let’s be honest, there was no way they were stopping that score if Seattle runs the ball.
right. that’s the problem. As Sumner points out, if you run, maybe you only get 2 chances instead of 3… but you only need to score once.
Here is that article http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2015/02/01/super-bowl-tv-al-michaels-cris-collinsworth-president-obama-deflategate/22716657/