Great breakdown. I watched this play in a loop last night and noticed:
1. The combo of play fake and blocking to the left ate up the Pats' DL. After Wilson quickly rolled back to his right, he had all the time in the world to make his read.
2. The TE coming back in motion to the right, stopping in front of Cunningham, then staying in to block was brilliant. Cunningham half-heartedly engaged the TE, likely expecting the run to the opposite side. After the fake and Wilson's roll back towards him, he appeared to be hesitant to continue his rush because he was probably concerned about the TE releasing for a pass in an area with few defenders. Once it was clear the TE was comitted to blocking, Cunningham amped up his rush, but by then it was too late.
3. The left wideout did his job drawing Ebner to his side of the field, opening up the middle for Rice.
4. Tavon clearly got caught flat-footed on Rice's break back towards the inside.
5. Wilson made his throw the moment Rice broke back inside and made a beauty of a throw: 55-57 yards in the air.
It's sad that Seattle won the game on a 2-person route with a throw to the primary receiver...executed exactly as drawn up, but the play call was perfect against the D it was up against. It also shows that Tavon got schooled. Hopefully he and the rest of the secondary learned from this.
Regards,
Chris