Passing or running in red zone?
Here is the stats:
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/53865/nfl-run-pass-ratios-for-red-zone-and-closer
Teams with great QBs have more passes than runs.
@hayden I see your point. What if Wilson had thrown toward a receiver in the back corner of the end zone, erring on the side of throwing it over his head if he were covered? That would have accomplished the goal of running down the clock a little. And on the next play, it would have forced NE to think about the pass, taking a couple of defenders off the goal line and giving Lynch a little more room. I think that would have been a defensible pass play in that situation.
I can see a back corner pass. BTW, I see a big difference between passing from 10 yards out and passing from 1 yard out. The difference is like a funnel, and the Seahawks threw into a really, really small window. But a back corner pass would have made sense.
Another problem with firing the pass into the middle was the possibility of a Pats lineman deflecting it with their hand. The pass gets deflected and it’s anyone’s ball before it lands. But we are all Monday Morning Quarterbacking now.
I thought I read somewhere that Lynch did not score touchdowns the majority of the time from close to the goal line? He was stopped for no gain a few times and tackled for a loss a few times.
Yes, some comments on Bleach Report says he only made 1 out of 5.
I don’t know why people give him too much credit.
Too bad the Seahawks defender didn’t hug Butler as he came down; they’d have gotten credit for a touchdown. #packerfanstillenragedaboutfailmary. 
“I hear what some of you are saying or repeating about the validity of the pass call, with the D-line massed against Lynch. I am not persuaded, though. That pass was the equivalent of a Hail Mary into a crowd of players, half from your team and half from the defense. As with a Hail Mary, throwing into a crowd was not just a risk with a regular interception, but also a risk from being caught if it were deflected, just because there were so many players there. The odds were terrible. With 20 seconds and 2 time outs (was it 2?) left, they could have tries the riskier pass on the second play”
Exactly!! Throwing into a crowd of players, what do you have, a 50/50 shot that it might be caught by someone on the opposing team? What are the odds a player isn’t going to be well covered, in the last twenty seconds of the Super Bowl, against a great team? It’s not like they are all spread out.
For anyone still suffering Super Bowl withdrawal, I recommend you do what I did. Get out of the rain, and go somewhere sunny, where nobody is talking about football! No blue and green, no long faces, no precipitation. San Francisco is the best!
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Exactly!! Throwing into a crowd of players, what do you have, a 50/50 shot that it might be caught by someone on the opposing team? What are the odds a player isn't going to be well covered, in the last twenty seconds of the Super Bowl, against a great team? It's not like they are all spread out<<<
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Humm? Have you seen the still images? That Hail Mary is pure non-sense in comparison to the Wilson pass. No crowd involved and plenty of open space. The crowded part is the line of scrimmage. Draw a ten yards circle around Butler at the time the ball is snapped and count the players.
Issue is the same. Bad route and horrible throw by Wilson.
There wasn’t a crowd of players because of the play design. It was a straight 2 receiver stacked pick play where the QB reads the defensive setup. In this case, the 2 WR’s were set up 1 on the line and 2 behind and offset to the outside. The defense mirrored - 1 up and 2 behind - that rather than line up both DBs on the line because both up would make a pick easier. Wilson read the setup before the snap. The 1WR drove forward with the goal of shielding the movement of the 2WR who cut behind. The idea is to either make it hard for the 2DB to see the play or to reach the play.
Seattle executed the play fairly well. Problem is NE executed extremely well because Butler reacted so fast he wasn’t picked at all. Because Butler reacted so fast, the pass needed to be down and in on the receiver’s body but it wasn’t, probably because Wilson was in the act of throwing as Butler was coming forward.
The only other risk is the ball bounces off the receiver and to a defender. But that risk is why you practice the play so much.
So, Brady gave his MVP truck to Butler. Good idea.
Fwiw, formations dictate the plays. Dallas lost in Green Bay on a short yardage play. They went for a long ball to Bryant. It worked until it was overturned. The Cowboys had the best back and a top OL on the field.
Passing instead of running into a brick wall is more prevalent.
The phrase “Monday morning quarterbacking”, which originated with American football but is now used broadly, was invented for a reason: to heap appropriate scorn on critics who wait for the benefit of hindsight before rendering judgment. Had Mr Lockette secured the ball, Mr Carroll would be the toast of the town, praised for thinking outside the box and being bold enough to call a pass when everyone expected a run. And if the play had ended with a garden-variety incompletion, it still would have served its purpose, by establishing the pass as a meaningful risk and increasing the odds of Mr Lynch fighting his way to a touchdown on a subsequent down. The only reason Mr Carroll is being raked over the coals is because the play happened to end in an exceedingly improbable interception. Not one of the previous 106 passing plays that NFL teams launched from the one-yard line in 2014 was picked off. Moreover, the odds of a turnover on a pass were no greater than on a run: in the 2014 regular season, 1.5% of Mr Wilson’s pass attempts were intercepted, while Mr Lynch fumbled the ball on 1.4% of his carries. There was nothing wrong with Mr Carroll’s play call. It just didn’t work out.
Partly due to diligent preparation, but clearly with a generous dose of dumb luck, Mr Butler made a good guess and a great play. Maybe he will turn out to be as good a cornerback as Mr Carroll is a coach.
The truck is just a small token. It’s also used for Chevy advertisement.
Butler will probably make millions per year and he can buy tons of truck.
^^^^Yeah, but still it’s nice to be acknowledged by one of the most prolific QBs in the history of the sport in your rookie year, I would imagine.
^ True.
The most valuable gift each of them gets is the experience gained from being trained together. Brady learned to avoid interceptions. Butler had the opportunity to work with a great QB.
Butler has 2 more years on his rookie deal, which pays about $500k/year.
I hope next year he can be a starter along with Revis so they can play Browner more at what used to be called strong safety. I think Browner would do very well there.
Arther Blank, owner of the Falcons, admitted his team has been pumping in artificial crowd noise to gain a competitive advantage (a.k.a. CHEATING), an offense far worse that deflated balls since crowd noise is known to disrupt the offense:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/blank-says-falcons-wrong-add-fake-crowd-noise-195550967–nfl.html
Funny - there’s no article on MMQB, no front page article on SI.com, not even an article on the NFL page. Nothing on ESPN… where did all the talking heads go? Where’s the outrage? Where’s the demand for a lifetime ban?
Huh.
I’m expecting a $500,000 fine and loss of a first round draft pick. This is far worse than taping from the wrong spot, right? The penalty has to be at least as severe.
Wait. NFL team owner acknowledges that his team cheated to get a competitive advantage. That had to bo the lead story on the major networks, right? 24/7 on CNN? Live press conferences with Matty Ryan? What do we tell the children? The integrity of the game?
Meanwhile, it turns out that Ryan Grigson, GM for junkie Irsay’s Colts, spent the first half of the AFC Championship game starting Deflate gate. Quite the resume for Mr. Grigson. He was with the Rams when the Pats beat them in the 2001 Superbowl. He was with the Eagles when the Pats beat them in the 2004 Superbowl. And, he’s been GM of the Colts for the last four butt-kickings by the Pats. Oh, and he’s the idiot who traded a first-round draft pick for Trent Richardson. Seems to me that he probably should worry a lot more about the Colts and a lot less about game balls. Maybe Eric Mangini can hire him at his next head-coaching stop.
Weren’t the Colts also thought to be pumping in fake crowd noise in their dome as well? Since their GM blew the whistle on the alleged deflate-gate, pot, meet the kettle.