The final play shows the genius of BB

What a fascinating end to the Super Bowl. Butler deflects a 33 yard pass, only to have it somehow land in Kearse's hands anyway. Then Lynch runs for 5 yards and it's second and one for a td. It's a disaster for the Pats.

So, what does BB do? With 74 seconds left on the clock and two time outs, he does not take a time out. If the Pats had lost, that might well have been the storyline. But I think BB understood the tendencies of Carroll and baited him into clock management issues. With the clock ticking down to a likely Seattle victory, BB had given Carroll two big decisions. BB leaves Carroll with 26 seconds to achieve two goals -- give the Seahawks 3 chances to get a td and try to leave the Pats as little time on the clock as possible.

Carroll took the bait. The choices weren't easy. If Lynch had run it and not gotten in, Carroll would have had to use his final timeout. Then without timeouts he'd either have to make another run the last play of the game or throw a pass, knowing that if it was incomplete it would stop the clock, and give Lynch a final opportunity. Add to that the fact that according to ESPN, Lynch only scored one td from the one yard line in five attempts this season.

Thus, Carroll reasoned his best use of the clock and downs remaining was to go with the pass. Carroll has Wilson throw a low risk pass to Lockette, a pass they've used before with success.. The play unfolded in a split second, but miraculously Malcolm Butler reacted and intercepted that pass. Or was it miraculous? According to Garrapolo, the Pats practiced that exact situation and Butler got beat. This time he didn't. Neither did the Pats.

The Pats won that final play because of absolutely brilliant coaching by BB and outstanding execution by the players. BB's decision not to call a timeout was the riskiest play in the game and one of his most brilliant in his coaching career.

I agree. I was screaming for a TO, but it seems this is exactly what Carroll and SEA expected, and by not calling it obviously sent them for a tactical loop. You could see them scrambling. Good analysis on the TO ramifications. It helps explains possibly the root of their hesitation and confusion. And wow, if BB was two moves ahead... just wow. Next time I'll tell my inner voice, shut up and have a glass of Kool-aide.

Patters said:

...The play unfolded in a split second, but miraculously Malcolm Butler reacted and intercepted that pass. Or was it miraculous? According to Garrapolo, the Pats practiced that exact situation and Butler got beat. This time he didn't. Neither did the Pats.,,,

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First time I'm hearing of this. Must have been an RZ play the Pats saw on film. Helps explain why Butler got such a great break on the ball. brilliant.

As I said on another thread it took me a while to figure it out. But, yeah, by running the clock (which I I HATED at the time) with Seattle only having one TO and putting the goalline defense in Seattle was faced with, if they didn't make it, almost having to throw against non goal line defense. Glad I'm not a HC having to make those decisions.

Outstanding analysis.
Illustrates how well prepared the GOAT HC prepares his team.

Once again we see that only fluke* plays stand the chance of beating this squad.




* no insult to the Dolphins intended

Uncle Rico said:

First time I'm hearing of this. Must have been an RZ play the Pats saw on film. Helps explain why Butler got such a great break on the ball. brilliant.

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It was indeed a tendency they saw on film because they practiced defending this very play, this past week.

And as irony would have it, Butler was the man who got beat in practice on this exact play.

People are hanging Seattle's coaches out to dry without realizing how much work BB put into film, as far as identifying what tendencies are most likely to play out on the goalline in the closing seconds of the games that Seattle plays.

No matter what, the penny-ante NFLN and BSPN crowd will never willingly give the greatest HC of all time any credit for his genius...they'll merely lay the blame at Carroll and his OC. They can simmer and stew in their childish hatred...that's fine by me. We'll exult in our World Champions, baby!

People are missing the other incredible play that showed great coaching - that hard count on the following play. That was a huge play. To go from the 1, where you really can't take a knee, to the 6 was the other game winning play.

It took brass gonads to pull that off... fansoften take the GOAT HC of the NE Pats for granted. Easily criticized by many as he does not fall for the bait or better still not care... but during that 60 minutes of play time, no one is even close to how good he is and how well prepared this team is..

Given the choice of stopping the Seahawks from getting in from the 5 vs letting them score and then trying to get into field goal range (just to tie!) with like 45-60 seconds I would rather try for the goal line stand.

Marshawn Lynch was not overwhelming us last night, he was good but not unstoppable. Even if they run it, I like our chances of stopping him with a goal line defense.

The letting them score scenario only works if the other team only needs a field goal and can milk the clock down to 5 seconds left. When they have to score a touchdown it changes things and limits what they can run.

Belichick as usual was way ahead of us and way ahead of Carroll.

bresna said:

People are missing the other incredible play that showed great coaching - that hard count on the following play. That was a huge play. To go from the 1, where you really can't take a knee, to the 6 was the game winning play.

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I said that in another thread, what a brilliant decision that was, and in the upcoming days we will invariably hear how that the Pats practice for that eventuality... think Brady referred to is as a "triple head bob"...

If Lynch runs it in with under 20 left on the clock BB is the goat for not calling the TO. But the Pats had their heavies in there and your analysis is spot on, Belichick was all but goading the Seahawks into doing exactly what they did...BB alluded to it in his post-game interview, that the Seahawks have some different tendancies on the goal line so they were trying to take advantage of that.

It's why Belichick is instead the GOAT, and why it can be so difficult (and usually faulty) to criticize him--win or lose--for some of his controversial calls over the years. I'd say he's forgotten more about the game of football than we know about it, but the truth is he doesn't forget anything, and once again he ingeniously outmaneuvered another coach brilliantly (and, of course, Butler executed perfectly).

Well..sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. Lynch getting in was a bigger probability than the whole scenario playing out as BB might have envisioned. Dont know if BB baited carroll but it worked out in the end. But I wouldve called timeout with 1 min left and have them score so we still have 1 timeout and 1 min or less to go and get a FG. BB said if they had run lynch in the next play he would've called timeout which makes no sense.
Iam not afraid to say that BB maybe ,just maybe ,got away with it. But the jumbo goal line package with 3 corners messed with carroll and he had no time to substitute late to bring in his TEs.

hambone1818 said:

If Lynch runs it in with under 20 left on the clock BB is the goat for not calling the TO. But the Pats had their heavies in there and your analysis is spot on, Belichick was all but goading the Seahawks into doing exactly what they did...BB alluded to it in his post-game interview, that the Seahawks have some different tendancies on the goal line so they were trying to take advantage of that.

It's why Belichick is instead the GOAT, and why it can be so difficult (and usually faulty) to criticize him--win or lose--for some of his controversial calls over the years. I'd say he's forgotten more about the game of football than we know about it, but the truth is he doesn't forget anything, and once again he ingeniously outmaneuvered another coach brilliantly (and, of course, Butler executed perfectly).

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As I mentioned, once the smoke clears, I believe that the genius will show through.

Just need to let calmer heads prevail and for the PFT ****bags to shut the **** up.

The kneel-down was a genius play. I mean, there isn't much time on the clock and the 'Hawks gave you 20 yards for free. Why not take a knee and run out the clock? Brilliant call right there.

It's not whether to call a TO or not. It's not clock management. You make sure you score and that's it. The hell with the clock.

Butler sees a two man set and understands that the play is probably a slant route to Lockette off a rub. So Butler jumps the route because he knows that is the only way he can defend on the play and not allow a TD.

Because this play is a known part of Seattle's arsenal, they practiced it. Josh Boyer probably went over this thoroughly with all the corners. This is especially important because that's a timing play. So Butler was taught, prepared and so he was in a better position to execute. That's good teaching and that's good coaching.

This was one of several examples from the Belichick years of me screaming at them about a play call...

Only to see it play out and go "Well... Ok then."

bresna said:

People are missing the other incredible play that showed great coaching - that hard count on the following play. That was a huge play. To go from the 1, where you really can't take a knee, to the 6 was the other game winning play.

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This. That truly epitomizes the definition of "playing for 60 minutes".

Belichick did not make a split second decision on this. He prepared for this through situational football. believe me - the coaching staff would have made a pre-decision earlier in this week, i.e., If they have the ball within the 5 yard line with 30 seconds left and 1 TO, this is what we are going to do....

"Russell, this is Pete. I want you to pass it."