The final play shows the genius of BB

One Patriot told me a couple of things that made sense. He thought Belichick bypassed the the timeout because the coach was comfortable defensively—as comfortable as he could be with who was on the field trying to stop Lynch—and that a timeout would have given Seattle a chance to stop and consider different plays, and why give the enemy more time to think?

In the end, Seattle could have had either two or three shots with Lynch. Instead, Wilson passed.

Click to expand...

Patters said:

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.

Click to expand...

Patters said:

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.

Click to expand...

Oswlek said:

Bill Barnwell totally misses the point:

If Belichick had really wanted to let Seattle score and conserve as much time as possible, he would have also used one of his final two timeouts after the first-down run. It was downright baffling that he chose not to do so. Given that Seattle had the ball inside New England’s 1-yard line with a minute left, extending the clock mattered far more to New England than it did to Seattle; that’s why the Seahawks were milking as much clock as possible.

Calling timeout could have changed things dramatically. If Seattle then ran the ball on second down and Lynch scored, the Patriots would have taken over with about 50 seconds left and a timeout. In reality, with Belichick not calling timeout and the Seahawks running the clock down, a Lynch plunge would have handed New England the ball back with about 15 seconds and two timeouts to go. Even if he’s not trying to let the Seahawks score, Belichick has to use his timeouts in the hopes of conserving time if they do punch it in. If the Seahawks score, we’re all writing about how Belichick’s mind went blank at exactly the wrong time.

Not that I wasn't as baffled in real time, but it took all of 5 minutes afterward to recognize why Bill let the clock run. I'm impressed at how far Bill's come since leaving footballoutsiders - a little jealous, even - but if this is what he comes up with after 10 hours of consideration, he's still got a ways to go.

Click to expand...

dex13 said:

When Butler stated that he knew what was happening because he had been beat on that exact play in practice.....that summed up the genius of BB

Click to expand...

SVN said:

Well..BB made a gamble really . It worked out. Not really a percentages call .. He let the clock run to stop seattle from thinking it over or putting their TE set in and go heavy run package .But if lynch had run it in yesterday with 20 secs left , we would be debating about bb not taking time out. In fact BB said he would taken a timeout if they ran lynch on second down and not made.

Click to expand...

Oswlek said:

Sure, but it isn't as befuddling as Barnwell claims when you step back a little. It killed any chance of NE being able to score, but it also made Seattle uncomfortable and lowered their chances of scoring.

Click to expand...

Mack Herron said:

Fans are notoriously reactionary. In 109 passes from the 1 yard line in the NFL this year, exactly none had been intercepted. The Seahawks have enjoyed success with that low-risk play. On 5 carries from the 1, Lynch has scored once. With 29 seconds and 1 time out remaining, Carrol is planning a four down series and wishes to preserve the TO (runs using more time are weighted toward the end of the series). The Pats D load up with their goal line package going heavy against the run. Carrol has 3 WRs and would prefer to sub blockers if running. The call is a safe pass against an UDFA with zero career INTs. Had he scored (or even an incompletion), nobody would have criticized the call. The outcome was the result of meticulous preparation and extraordinary execution. Tip of the cap to BB and Butler.

Click to expand...

SVN said:

Agree but if you look at this way that if the seahawks had scored, taking a timeout with 1 min left wouldve looked more logical. But if bb took the timeout it wouldve been imperative the pats let them score otherwise it wouldve been useless.

Click to expand...

Mack Herron said:

Fans are notoriously reactionary. In 109 passes from the 1 yard line in the NFL this year, exactly none had been intercepted. The Seahawks have enjoyed success with that low-risk play. On 5 carries from the 1, Lynch has scored once. With 29 seconds and 1 time out remaining, Carrol is planning a four down series and wishes to preserve the TO (runs using more time are weighted toward the end of the series). The Pats D load up with their goal line package going heavy against the run. Carrol has 3 WRs and would prefer to sub blockers if running. The call is a safe pass against an UDFA with zero career INTs. Had he scored (or even an incompletion), nobody would have criticized the call. The outcome was the result of meticulous preparation and extraordinary execution. Tip of the cap to BB and Butler.

Click to expand...