It was as much BB's genius as Carroll's stupidity

[sambam94]

pass was too high..needed to be lower for a sliding catch

 

[DarrylS]

People are assuming Lynch scores yet he was 1/5 from the one yard line this year. What if they run it into that defense and somebody shoots a gap and knocks Lynch back to the 5 yard line? Now you're almost committed to passing on 3rd down after using your last timeout.

The best argument I heard was the pass call should have been a roll-out for Wilson where you can either throw if somebody is open, run it in if there's a hole, or just chuck it out of the end zone. I think this may have actually have been the best option.

Coupled with this information from the same interview, that this pass had been tried 108 times in the NFL and never been intercepted.. it was a safe pass, but the combination of Wilson's being a little of and Butler a lot on created the interception..

I cannot find Volin's source, but assume that it is true.. if it was incomplete they would still have time on the clock, they were not counting on the brilliance of Browner/Butler..

When I watch any NFL game everyone pales at clock management compared to the Patriots.. that is a real strength of these coaches and this team..

 

[NYCPatsFan]

a great breakdown by Brady Quinn:

http://www.footballbyfootball.com/column/inside-look-at-butlers-super-bowl-sealing-int

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

It wasn't a crazy play call. It was risky, but in line with how Pete Carroll coaches.

Pat Riley once said "If you stick with your principles in making a play call, even if it doesn't work out, you are not making a mistake, you are making a decision"

This was Carroll's decision, and it was not odd for him. Would most coaches do it? Probably not. he takes risks.

Seeing the personnel match-up, they were not going to run it, unless they called a TO first to get in their goal line O. But they only had one TO. So the next best thing was to throw what they thought was a low-risk/low-reward pass. All three WRs should be single-covered, as only 3 DBs were even on the field for the Pats. They could win it with that play, but most likely they'd just stop the clock, "wasting a play" as he called it, which means saving a TO.

Wilson just failed to deliver a low risk pass. I would think he was told to throw it away if not 100% sure.

The safer option would be to call TO, run it, and (if stopped) run or pass again if you have the time. That has risks too, though, in getting the second play off with a running clock.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

50 seconds and 1 time out should be enough time to run 3 running plays..no??
Lynch was tackled at the 1 with 1 minute to play..the mistake was that SEA didn't snap the ball again until 25 seconds left...they should have lined up quickly and gotten the next RUNNING play off at about 40 seconds to play. If stuffed, line up quickly again and run the next play with about 15-20 seconds left. If stuffed again, call your last time out. That leaves 4th down with under 10 seconds to play.

The issue is that Seattle didn't make the snap decision to get their goal line offense onto the field.

After that decision, your hurry-up-and-run-it-twice plan means running from a passing set 2X against a stacked jumbo run defense.