Seattle made correct call?

During the NFL season (prior to the Super Bowl):

There were 66 passes thrown from the 1-yard line:
0 passes were intercepted.

Marshawn Lynch had 5 carries from the 1-yard line:
only 1 touchdown scored.

However, I agree Seattle wins if they run, instead of throw.

It's been a long, long time since I played high school football but when the ball is on the 1 you don't pass it. The QB hands off to a running back who only has to fall over forward.

I wonder if clock control was a consideration? If Lynch gets the ball and is unsuccessful, would the Seahawks have had enough time to regroup for another play? And then what if he wasn't able to score on that play? At some point, a spike or toss out of the end zone would have to be made to stop the clock, so why not save your time out, and use that clock stopping play to take a shot at the end zone?

I don't blame Pete Carrol for calling the play. It was an excellent defensive play that did them in.

Quote: AlanMendelson

It's been a long, long time since I played high school football but when the ball is on the 1 you don't pass it. The QB hands off to a running back who only has to fall over forward.

Exactly and that won't change.

You know I am in the emergency response haz-mat spill clean up business. Almost all of our business is as a first responder with State Police, Heavy Wreckers and other transportation related matters regarding tractor trailers and railroads, etc. There are just certain things, protocols and 'well laid past experienced situations' that are proven and dedicated for years. There are things I would never ever change in my business everyday scene operating agenda and then there are things I have. But none of them involve the set up and initial response because they have not failed in the past. And I am sorry, I relate my personal work situation to that of the passing versus running the ball in situation that took place. I wholeheartedly believe in any profession (pro-sports included of course) you abide by what is fundamental and proven. Sorry, it was just plain wrong and showboating, kind of slightly reminds me the way Vinnie Testaverde used to want to always throw the ball in from the <10 yard line, etc.

I will go out on the limb here and second guess what was going through a coaching mind. 'Headlines tomorrow: Seattle wins SB with spectacular last second throw into crowded end zone'.

It was, without question, the worst call made in Superbowl history! The only thing worse that could have happened is for the QB to take the snap and then run in the wrong direction!

Quote: Riva

It was, without question, the worst call made in Superbowl history!

Is this an empirical fact? I'm no expert on sports history, but surely there must have been a worse call at some point in the last 48 Super Bowls, no?

Quote: reno

Is this an empirical fact? I'm no expert on sports history, but surely there must have been a worse call at some point in the last 48 Super Bowls, no?

Man, I don't think so. This is the one call in Super Bowl history where nobody but Pete Carroll thinks it was the right call.

The Patriots Knew Exactly What Was Coming

Quote: HowMany

Seattle made correct call?

No, no, a thousand times no. This is not a time for stats, probabilities, or other numerical tomfoolery. This is one shot. One moment. One chance to make a stand and be a Warrior.

It's the Super Bowl. It's 3rd and 6. There are multitudinous plays you can call. But when that play is called, and that play fails, and the only option is a 37 year old man with no knees and a forty time of a lunar month is your only hope, it's time to be a Warrior. The throwaway, the "smart play", does not apply. When that man hobbles over scrimmage and is met by two angry, youthful linebackers looking to end his soul, the QB slide, the "smart play", does not apply. And when that geriatric bag of bones hurtles himself skyward, gets pummeled by 500lbs of meat, and helicopters over the first down line, men and boys separate with the force of righteousness that is created when a Legend comes into being. We look back at the Class of '83 and see failure; a man who threw for six million miles - a failure. The man who went to four straight Super Bowls - a failure. Only the man who stood as a Warrior, only he is Legend. Because when the time came, he stood in the face of challenge, and challenge fell before him.

So you let that time tick, tick it off until the Pats have no hope. Then you come to the line, and come as Warriors. You stuff that pig into the hole with everything you got. If you fail, you line right back up, quick snap, and you do it again. And if that fails, you line right back up and you do it again!

You may fail to score, but you did not fail the game. You met the challenge and you met that #$%^er#$%^er head on. You gave no quarter and you fought. Win or lose, live or die, you leave the field a Warrior.

364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 20 seconds of blood, sweat, and tears, all in the pursuit of leaving a Warrior. And 40 seconds of forgetting that lesson caused them to leave as Clowns.

And remember Michelle Tafoya reporting on the coaches' halftime comments? Belichek said that it was going to be a player's game decided on the field, and she reported that Carroll said basically the same thing. So, it would have been, if the coach hadn't decided to get cute.

I think that what pisses most of us off is that it should have ended with strength against strength. Beast vs the Patriots' eleven. There was that great catch to set it up, there was some botched clock management to put it at 30 seconds, 3 plays, and one time out.... It should have been BOOM! BOOM!<time out>BOOM! Or even the read option, and let Wilson try to run it in.

Props to the Pats kid who made the pick. If you read the article I linked above, he explains why he made the play. Good, heady decision. Too bad it's overshadowed by the sheer boneheadedness of him being in that position to begin with.

Quote: Face

So you let that time tick, tick it off until the Pats have no hope. Then you come to the line, and come as Warriors. You stuff that pig into the hole with everything you got. If you fail, you line right back up, quick snap, and you do it again. And if that fails, you line right back up and you do it again!

You may fail to score, but you did not fail the game. You met the challenge and you met that #$%^er#$%^er head on. You gave no quarter and you fought. Win or lose, live or die, you leave the field a Warrior.

364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 20 seconds of blood, sweat, and tears, all in the pursuit of leaving a Warrior. And 40 seconds of forgetting that lesson caused them to leave as Clowns.

And you know, even if the Seahawks had failed by an inch at the last second -- the game would have been likely considered an EPIC Super Bowl.

And the shouting would only just be dying down about now.

The only downside might be all the heart attacks.