One has to look into the state of mind of Pete. There is a lot of history between him and Belichick and NE. And then you have to look at the reasonable gamble at the end of the first half. Pete did roll the dice and the “worst call” in the history of the SB was really NOT that bad when weighing all the possibilities. If the call worked (which had an extremely high possibility to be successful or not relevant) Pete would have been hailed as the new coaching God and for having outsmarted Bill and his goal line defense.
The reality is that the call was negated by a truly poor execution by almost every Seattle player. The receivers played it poorly. Lynch was confused – and perhaps pissed off. Wilson threw the ball too high. A normal execution of the play would have resulted in a TD or an incompletion.
One has to look at the alternative: running Lynch on second down with the sole TO and 20 some seconds. If there a chance he does not get in? Heck, look at the formidable line of Stanford that could not get a yard at Notre Dame (well, they did get in twice, but that is another story) and the chances for a disastrous fumble. You also look at the distinct possibility of receiving a bad spot from refs who mostly missed the right placement all day long.
If Lynch does not get in, your odds are pretty poor and the next play (not two of them) is for all the marbles. Chances are that Lynch does NOT get the ball and that the game is placed in the hands of Wilson.
And we all witnessed that the best laid out plays do not always work with the pressure and the nerves. Fwiw, if there was ever a “proof” needed that Seattle NEEDS a better group of receivers, you had it on that play. Swarpoel and Kroes might have ran a better route on that last Wilson pass!
^^^^You eventually get over it. I remember when Pittsburgh came from behind to beat Dallas in the Super Bowl with the help of an amazing catch by Lynn Swann, people here were pretty bummed. My 6 year old brother sobbed all day afterwards.
True, but to be fair, Tom Brady thought it was over too. His expression after the Kearse catch was “Well, that’s that.” And no one was more surprised than Brady at the interception.
I’m sure those few I referred to don’t represent the total team attitude. But they do stand out and reflect upon the whole group. And the behavior I referenced was way before that last drive.
And yeah, I think EVERYBODY but Bates was surprised at the interception!
I have never been to Seattle, though I hear it’s a nice place. These kinds of posts are are somewhat eye-rolling. You do not paint Seattleites well. I imagine they’re not all that condescending.
But I don’t like to see just one singer to sing the national anthem. The national anthem should be sung by a group of people. I think we should select HS students and other people to sing the national anthem at the big ceremonies.
"The mood in Seattle today is very dour. People are usually smiling and friendly, but everyone looks cranky and unhappy. People are driving more aggressively than usual, running lights and not letting you merge. Almost like living in a normal place.
I have never been to Seattle, though I hear it’s a nice place. These kinds of posts are are somewhat eye-rolling. You do not paint Seattleites well. I imagine they’re not all that condescending"
Was that condescending? I didn’t intend it to be. I have lived so many places in the US, moving constantly with the military and the airlines, and Seattle really is abnormal in how people are polite and friendly. It’s a shock when someone is rude or honks at you. People are so overly polite, it can be a little obnoxious if you aren’t expecting it. I don’t think that is condescending, it’s just reality. Not sure why that would reflect poorly on Seattleites. Though, if you have the wrong political sticker on your car during election time, all bets are off.
I’m not gloating. I’m not in your face saying neener, neener, neener. I know which teams the Pats play are truly excellent teams. I am just no longer willing to invest even a smidgen of effort in good cheer towards the NFL or the NFL media or the other NFL teams.
At this point, my ONLY positive thoughts about the NFL are towards the New England Patriots. I have no use for the rest of it.
My over-riding feeling last night and today is happiness for Tom Brady getting a fourth. It’s been a pleasure watching Tom Brady’s career. He is everything the NFL should want to have in their legends. What the NFL and the NFL media did to him last week was disgusting. I guess they’d rather have their stars beat women in elevators. I’m done with 'em.
I am a huge sports fan and was fine five minutes after the game even through my Seahawks lost. It was a great game with am amazing catch on offense followed by a good play on defense. It was a fun ride, but life goes on. Everything will be back to normal around here tomorrow.
I’m going to get a Seahawks Frappuccino this afternoon
My litmus test that it was a great game at the end is that I really didn’t care which team won (no investment or connection to either team) but I was glued to the set and watching the game more than the commercials
The call to throw the ball in that situation cannot possibly be defended. It didn’t work, end of story. Even if had worked (it didn’t) the play call would have been questioned, why take that risk? Are you going to deny Marshawn Lynch the end zone from the 1 yard line on two successive carries and maybe three? Not at all likely.
When a team deviates from their strength or plays cute or scared it rarely ends well.
Doing a pass for that down does have some justification for clock management and to spread out the defenders for the next play, if needed. The Patriots were lined up to put a wall in front of Marshawn. (I personally think that he still could have found a way into the end zone, though.)
BUT, making that pass to a not-great receiver was a mistake. Lockette was not the person to put there. I don’t blame him, like the Seahawk offensive coach did in a particularly unclassy moment, I blame the coach who put him there.
The prevailing sentiment “on the street” is that the offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, who was already on thin ice with the fan base for similar deviations from the core strengths, needs to move on. This sudden abandonment of all that got you where you are is not new for him. They have played wacky quarters where everyone is scratching their heads over play selection and targets, then they get their act together and play normal and do well. Bevell has been strangely inconsistent the past 2 years and has been on the hot seat for it.
Passes from the 1 yard line are nearly always successful. If Wilson had thrown the ball lower and on his hip, Butler couldn’t have exploded to the ball and everyone would be saying it was a great call given NE was set to attack a run.
Nerves might have played a role as well. Wilson had a bit more time to throw the ball, and it seems (not totally clear) that the ball might have hit a Patriot defender and caused it to deviate a bit away from the receiver. However, it remains that the pick route was not the best from both receivers.
Second-guessing is the domain of the Mondays, and the difference between a great call and a horrible one is extremely small.
Speaking about coaching. Bill might be a genius or a really lucky fellow. The Pats did not use timeouts to protect the clock at the way end, and this might have confused the Seahawks who expected a timeout. The pass play was rushed … for no good reasons.
