I'm a huge Patriots fan and I'm very very happy that they won, especially considering the fluke play they lost on at least one of their two previous Superball appearances (helmet catch? Huh?) and actually considering the fluke catch that led to the last play of the game as well. After the game my friends and I sacrificed much of our 3rd legs' (among other things) in favor of the great UTR Goddess of Fairness who seemed to know best how to balance things out 
Forever a good sport, especially on such a sporty day, she made sure that after the game some of her positive energy rubbed off each and every one of us. Hooray to the UTR Goddess of Fairness and to her generous husband! Hooray!
But... I feel very sorry for the Hawks in regards to that last play that they called and not because they found themselves on the short end of it but because the way they seem to be taking it, especially taking it out on Pete Carroll, the man that basically got them there.
Monday-morning quarterbacking galore notwithstanding I believe that the last play call of the game for Seattle was a good one. Whether he was in his Beast Mode for this game or not, all throughout Pats defense had no problems with stopping Lynch. They stuffed him over and over again. His success rate with carrying for over 2 yards was probably no more then 30%. In fact at some point Russell Wilson began passing more and carrying himself more then handing it out to Lynch and I'm sure that Pat's success against Lynch contributed to those decisions. Moreover Pats practically stopped Lynch on the play before. Everybody were readying themselves for Lynch trying to bulldoze his way into the end zone and I'm sure that Seattle's coaching staff realized that in the nose to nose encounter there is no way Lynch would be overpowering Wilfork. With Pats defense gearing up for one type of play and one type of play only, and getting ready to push Seattle's offensive pile back, and with 20 seconds and one Seattle's timeout at hand and reasonably thinking 2 more plays to go, why not try something different? After all football is a game of trick plays.
I think the responsibility for the play's result lies squarely on the receiver who instead of placing himself in front of the ball and forcefully pulling it close to his chest and letting his comrades push him into the endzone, put his hands out in anticipation of catching it. That's the way I probably would've tried to catch the ball and that's why I'm not a football player Butler just pushed his way in front of the receiver and grabbed the ball.
In fact the only blame that I can reasonably assign to the Seattle's coaching staff is that this play was designed not for one of their more experienced receivers like Baldwin or Kearse or for the hot hand like Mathews or tight end Luke Wilson but for Ricardo Lockette (who?! R u sure we're talking about the same type of football and not the soccer-football?)
If Hawks plays allow themselves to blame the coach for what I believe was basically a good call, there'd be a while before they see themselves back in the Superball no matter how many great players they'd have on their team. If in doubt, look at the 49ers. The Seahawks are still a great team with enormous future potential but Pete Carroll is one of the main reasons they're so great too. Ruining him will only ruin themselves.
One more thing. While I'm happy for Brady getting his 4th ring, especially considering the rage it often evokes from those not in NE, I can't agree with him being chosen as an MVP of the game. If it would be MVP of the tournament, sure, if for nothing else but for his out-of-this-worldly performance against the Ravens.
Yet as for this game, Malcolm Butler is the main reason that Pats are Superball champs so whether it would be for one play or many, he is the MVP of the game. Not the quarterback who throws two dubious picks.
Now, I'd like to discuss one more topic: Atlanta's hiring of the Hawks defensive coordinator as the head coach. No that I care all that much but I think this was an error. This is not Dan Quinn's defense. "Legion of boom" culture was instilled in Seattle way before Dan Quinn showed up there. This is not Dan Quinn's defense, this is Mike Holmgren's defense. Personnel might've changed some but I think in case of Seahawks the culture is more important then personnel. Just a thought.
-- Modified on 2/2/2015 12:51:40 PM
-- Modified on 2/2/2015 1:20:59 PM
Bottom line. If it was a decent pass it would have most likely been a TD. bigdell
While you can make a justification for Seattle throwing the ball on 2nd down, you CAN NOT justify the pass play that they called. You NEVER NEVER throw the ball from that close right in the middle of the field. NEVER. Running a play from the one yard line, do you realize how many defenders are right there? It is way too crowded inside the box and there is almost no window for Wilson to get the ball in there.
There is a reason you see a great many fade passes to the corner of the end-zone with teams inside the 5 yard line. It's a SAFE throw. Either the WR makes an over the shoulder catch, or the ball goes harmlessly out of balance. It's very difficult for the defender to get his body around and actually make an interception. It's too fast of a play; defenders are lucky to get a hand in there to knock it a way. A second SAFE pass is that you aim for the "crossbar" in the back of the endzone. Again, you throw it high, such that your WR is going to make a leaping catch in the back of the endzone, or it sails over his head and out of balance. Again, minimal risk of being intercepted. Heck, even throwing a sideline out (where the WR is running towards the pylon) would have been safer than what Wilson did...most QB's have the arm strength to get the ball there.)
And, if you are ever going to throw the ball like Wilson did (short and in the middle of the field), you AIM LOW (I mean REALLY LOW). Let your WR make a shoe string catch in that spot. What Seattle did was mind boggling...They called about the riskiest pass play they could have from the one yard line.... A slant, thrown in the middle of the field, chest high, with 8-9 defenders in the box. You want to try that throw in the first quarter of week 2? Fine. But with the SB on the line, to make that call and that execution is mind boggling. There is ZERO justification for that play selection. It is why fans/media, etc. are universally shocked at the call.
Here is what I would have done: Give the Ball to Lynch on 2nd down. If stopped, call time out. Then try a fade to Mathews in the corner on 3rd down. Then on 4th down, give it again to Lynch and see if he can get a yard and a SB championship.. If they ran those three plays, and New England stopped them, NO PROBLEM. You tip your cap to the Patriot's defense.
As far as the SB MVP, I have no problem giving it to Brady. He executed two great 4th Quarter drives against what was suppose to be an all world defense (we can now put to rest any comparisons of this Seattle defense to the best in history....Great defenses hold 10 point leads in the 4th quarter). My other choice for MVP would have been Julian Edelman. He played great and made many key plays to keep drives alive. While Butler made the game saving play, his play as a whole was not MVP worthy.
On Atlanta hiring Dan Quinn, he's as good a selection as any other top assistant. It's all a crap shoot. You have no idea how these first time head coaches are going to pan out. Sure, most of them fail and get fired. But then you have guys like Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh (two virtual unknowns at the time of their hiring) who end up leading their teams to SB championships. Quinn has as much chance as anyone else to succeed.
-- Modified on 2/3/2015 3:31:24 AM
I was listening to Randy Cross on an Atlanta sports talk station the next morning and he said they'd received some stats from the NFL that showed that pass play had been run 24 times by teams this past season from the one yard line. The result was 24 touchdowns. If Russell throws the ball just 6 inches to the right, game over.
