Curran:Super Bowl's final minutes may unravel Carroll's Seahawks

[rochrist]

Carroll inherited a New England Patriots team that had just lost a Superbowl, but should have won it. That team was almost completely intact, though losing Curtiss Martin was a hit. Still, Robert Edwards looked to eclipse Martin here, and had it not been for that freak injury, he'd have likely been a potential Hall of Fame guy.

But Carroll took that bunch, who had learned some discipline under Parcells, and with his "Surfer Dude" attitude, let them slide. He mismanaged games that he should have won, and had everything he needed to get that team back to the Superbowl, but crashed it. In my opinion, he was lucky to get that USC job afterward.

Yet, at USC, Carroll again took a laid-back attitude to recruiting and when the NCAA was ready to bring down the hammer on them, he managed to quit the team and look for better pastures, leaving others to clean up the disaster he left the Trojans in.

Now he's ready to lose the Seahawks locker room too, judging from comments by players and whispers in the media. Yeah, it's a tough loss for Seattle, and it's easy to start pointing fingers. But in this case, there's some truth behind those accusations. Players have to trust their coach, and right now, that faith in him is more than a tad bit shaken. He had the talent, but the culture he brought along with him, that baggage of "The Dude Abides" isn't what an NFL team needs, and especially not what these young men need. That team deserves better than Pete Carrol and his clown-car surfer posse.

They need a real coach.

I just have to say....Robert Edwards, HOF? Seriously?? He averaged 3.8 yards a carry in ONE year. How do you get from there to the Hall of Fame, let alone better than legit Hall of Fame guy Curtis Martin?

 

[Gwedd]

I just have to say....Robert Edwards, HOF? Seriously?? He averaged 3.8 yards a carry in ONE year. How do you get from there to the Hall of Fame, let alone better than legit Hall of Fame guy Curtis Martin?

It was his first year and he'd already been selected to the pro bowl. It isn't a stretch by any means to consider that he had HOF potential. He stepped into the New England offense and played so well that Martin's absence was relegated to yesterday's news.

Could he have ended up a JAG? Sure, and he might have ended up a bust as well. But he also might have done very very well. We'll never know, now, thanks to that idot game in the sand and a freak injury that almost cost him his lower leg.

I prefer to dwell on the positives. Yeah, only 3.8 a carry, but that number is only a part of what makes up a running back's record.

Anyway, it's the offseason. It's time for speculations, projections, and memories.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

I agree with everything you said except this one. Had Seattle snapped the on second down at 0:45, they had plenty of time to run on all four downs. Instead, they allowed the clock to run all the way down to 0:26 (either intentionally or because they expect Bill to call TO) which forced them to pass on a down or risk having only two cracks at it.

I actually don't mind the play call as much as everyone else, the time management (two timeouts when the clock had already stopped!?) was the bigger mistake, IMO.

My point was they didn't lose because they ran out of time, and it's not entirely obvious to me that Carroll didn't want to run the clock down. It's also not obvious to me that he was planning on running four straight running plays even if he had time. Or that 4 straight runs is the best option in that situation.

In fact, I'd say it's probably more rare to run 4 straight goal line run plays, then to run a 3-1 mix so it's a bit of MMQBing to say he should have planned the clock to run the plays in this manner rather than that manner when there's no obvious advantage either way. (Without hindsight)

While there's different ways to manage that time, it's arguable whether he should have left more time on the clock. Let's say he left 1min and ran it in. Now he gets criticized for leaving Brady enough time to score. So I think it's a trade off, but a point that became moot because they lost with an INT and plenty of time to run more plays.

 

[Oswlek]

My point was they didn't lose because they ran out of time, and it's not entirely obvious to me that Carroll didn't want to run the clock down. It's also not obvious to me that he was planning on running four straight running plays even if he had time. Or that 4 straight runs is the best option in that situation.

In fact, I'd say it's probably more rare to run 4 straight goal line plays, then to run a 3-1 mix so it's a bit of MMQBing to say he should have planned the clock to run the plays in this manner rather than that manner when there's no obvious advantage either way. (Without hindsight)

While there's different ways to manage that time, it's arguable whether he should have left more time on the clock. Let's say he left 1min and ran it in. Now he gets criticized for leaving Brady enough time to score. So I think it's a trade off, but a point that became moot because they lost with an INT and plenty of time to run more plays.

Given three tries from the 0.5 yard line and a great short-yardage back at your disposal, the only pass plays that should be used involve play action or some sort of QB read. The fact that they went with a quick slant screams, "TD or stop the clock!" to me.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

As BB said to Edelman, it's a player's game.

Pete will regret that call for the rest of his life, but he's done a heck of a job with that team and I have nothing but respect for their program. Wilson is a great young QB who had won his previous 10 games against QBs who had won a Super Bowl. Nobody goes undefeated forever.

Yes, they made some mistakes. So did Brady. One play different and we're talking about BB botching the clock by letting it run down and Brady's two picks costing us the game.

Pete and Russell will learn from it and be better for it. I don't know if they'll be back any time soon because it's really tough to get there, but Brady and BB have made plenty of mistakes and recovered from them. It's foolish to think this one poor two-minute drill is the start of a massive downward spiral for either of them.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

If I remember it correctly we couldnt kick the FG because of a 10 second run off on a penalty. Big difference.

Also you cant just add 3 points to the end result and claim that the rest of the game would have been the same if we get to kick the fg.

Who is the "you"?
I never made such a claim.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

May? They already did IMO

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Given three tries from the 0.5 yard line and a great short-yardage back at your disposal, the only pass plays that should be used involve play action or some sort of QB read. The fact that they went with a quick slant screams, "TD or stop the clock!" to me.

I saw Ninko on espn at the gym last week and he said he was playing Wilson to do just that. Was defending on him rolling right towards Ninko at LDE , running or throwing depending on the read.

 

[RobertWeathers]

http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/super-bowls-final-minutes-may-unravel-carrolls-seahawks

I agree carroll and wilson have escaped even worse criticism about their time management due to the call in the end.

Thanks for sharing. Poor Pete. The more things change- the more they stay the same

 

[RobertWeathers]

That is just too bad... How many months are allotted for practice?

On a side note, someone claiming to be Layne Staley posted this moronic piece below the article:

Considering Staley died several years ago we can be sure it was not him.

 

[Oswlek]

Considering Staley died several years ago we can be sure it was not him.

Yeah, you would hope someone riding Alice's coattails would come up with a more creative handle, "Junkhead" or "BleedtheFreak", perhaps. But not just Layne's name. {shakes head in disappointment}

 

[Bruins29]

If your team unravels because you lose on the last play of the Super Bowl than your team was not wound that tight to begin with.