Is anyone else backtracking about the "worst call ever"?

[nanomoz]

No. See Kearly's post in the Barnwell article thread.

 

[NorCalHawk12]

Wilson put it where it had to be. The defense knew the play was coming and broke on it. Very similar in concept to the play Sherman made against the Texans....

That's exactly the play I thought of when the Patriots were explaining that they saw the play coming. They said they practiced for that scenario, just like Shoeless Dick said after he broke on the ball against Houston.

 

[Ramfan128]

Wilson didn't put it where he had to be.

He threw it a second early and too high.

A throw to his stomach and chest and were re-pete champs.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

As Pehawk says, the timing of the throw is designed and Wilson executed that timing exactly as planned. Wilson said himself he thought it would be a touchdown, and it would have been if not for the DB knowing it was coming and making an awesome play.

The location was perfect. It led the receiver and he would have caught it in stride if the safety doesn't gamble.

Even if Wilson knew what was going to happen and threw the ball a bit inside, Lockette probably doesn't hold on (he got drilled), and if he does, he'd down in bounds at the one yard line. No way he scores there. Watch that play and tell me how Lockette scores. Not possible. Maybe Dez Bryant or Gronk could score after taking a hit like that, but that's about it.

Are you suggesting that on this play, Wilson was essentially instructed to pay no mind to what defense the Patriots were in, and just snap and throw??? I understand the concept of a timing route, but you don't really know what a defense is playing until the snap....so I guess my question is what if a defensive lineman just stood up on a zone blitz and the ball was thrown right to him in front of the WR?? Would this be on Wilson then??

Steve Young I believe said last night that "Wilson has to see that color flash" (referring to Butler).

I thought it was a good play call. With the Patriots blitzing so many players, Wilson wasn't throwing into a crowd. People saying they wanted a fade and that it was safer - that kid made an amazing play, and an amazing play can be made on a fade route as well.

A play call is never the cause of a lost football game. OC's do not throw interceptions. IMO, this one was on Wilson. And props to him for owning up to it.

I've seen the stats about how poor the Pats run d has been from the goal line....but I really don't think Lynch gets in on that 2nd down play. I would have called a pass play as well, and based on the zero blitz that the Patriots brought, a slant with a rub is a great call - just poor execution by the players. I realize that the Patriots knew what play was coming, so obviously in hindsight maybe not....but if my team is getting zero blitzed in man coverage, give me a short slant every time.

 

[nepahawk]

Maybe what everyone is upset with, is not the call but, the result of the call.
If it was a completion, it would have been the greatest call ever.
Running would have been an afterthought.
And we would be celebrating b2b championships and looking to 3pete.

Still don't like the slant but it is what it is!

 

[HawkFan72]

Show me a worse play call in the Super Bowl and maybe we can talk. But it's going to be hard to find.

 

[brimsalabim]

Bad play call at that particular down & distance yes.

When you factor in to account Brandon Browner's familiarity with the play, the formation, how to recognize it, how to stop it, and the time we allowed him to diagnose it and tell Butler.... well then this was most assuredly the worst call in ever!

 

[Sgt. Largent]

A play call is never the cause of a lost football game. OC's do not throw interceptions. IMO, this one was on Wilson. And props to him for owning up to it..

It's 80% on Bevell, 15% on Kearse for getting bitch slapped off the line and 5% on Lockette for not doing better to at least knock the ball down.

Wilson saw the defense, and it was a goal line D, so he's not going to audible out of it, he's going to run the play as called.......and he threw it to the spot he's suppose to, just as he's done in practice 1,000 times.

So how is that on Wilson?

 

[Hawkee]

You can explain it however you want but stats about Pats goaline defense against the run says otherwise.

So what, EVERY team that plays us plays to stop Lynch and our run game. How has that worked out for other teams?

It's about situational play calling, not going with some broad stats or personnel logic. Lynch had been going off the entire 2nd half, and just ran for 5 yards. The Pat's line was gassed and we had all the momentum.

You give him the ball with one timeout...........and you give it to him 100 out of 100 times. End of discussion, no more excuses or rationalization.

Even Brady knew this. Just look at his facial expression during the last minute of the game. He had a sinking feeling. And against this defense it he knew would be nearly impossible to get within FG range in less than 25 seconds.

 

[HawkFan72]

You can explain it however you want but stats about Pats goaline defense against the run says otherwise.

So what, EVERY team that plays us plays to stop Lynch and our run game. How has that worked out for other teams?

It's about situational play calling, not going with some broad stats or personnel logic. Lynch had been going off the entire 2nd half, and just ran for 5 yards. The Pat's line was gassed and we had all the momentum.

You give him the ball with one timeout...........and you give it to him 100 out of 100 times. End of discussion, no more excuses or rationalization.

Even Brady knew this. Just look at his facial expression during the last minute of the game. He had a sinking feeling. And against this defense it he knew would be nearly impossible to get within FG range in less than 25 seconds.

The Pats knew they had lost. Even their fans did.

I had so many Pats fans tell me after the game that they thought it was over when Kearse caught that ball.

Brady got the ball in our 2012 game after the Rice TD, remember? The Pats knew they had lost so they barely tried with their last couple plays. It would have been the same thing. With only 20 seconds left, they would have given up.

 

[hangumhi]

Yes. Wilson put it in pretty much the only spot it could have been picked off.

Bevell can't be scapegoated for everything. Players have to execute.

Bevell called a slant to the middle of a goal line defense, end of discussion. He's not a scapegoat, he IS responsible for the worst play call imaginable in that situation. Why would I backtrack?

 

[lukerguy]

No. It was still the worst call in history. I can't argue with the idea of passing. They had a strategy to get 3 more plays, but you have to do a lower risk pass. Spider 2 y banana or PA TE like Moeaki in KC in the corner wide open. You can't run that play, you just can't. It was awful.

I also read a stat today that the NE patriots had faced 6 running plays from the 1 yard line and 5 of them went for TDs...

 

[StorytellerMatt]

What bugs me about it is when we had that set up, and the clock ticking, I went back to Baldwin saying how the team wanted Marshawn to win the MVP, and how all the talk this week was about Marshawn being the heart and soul of the team, and I thought, “This is perfect. What better way to end this game then for Marshawn to punch the game winner into the end zone.”

When Russell went up to throw the ball, I thought, “What the hell? This is Marshawn’s moment? Why are you taking it away?”

Then I saw the ball slip out of Lockette’s hand, and I thought, “Okay, incomplete, stop the clock. Now, dance with the one that brought you here and pound it over the goal line with Beast. That’s the way this game should end, the way it HAS to end.”

And then I hear Al Michaels cry, “Intercepted!” and I collapsed on the floor. My wife started crying. Even if Lockette comes down with that ball and falls into the end zone, it would be fantastic, but in the back of my mind, this was Marshawn’s game to win, and he didn’t get a chance to win it.

 

[Bluesbro]

I find myself to be a relatively rational fan when it comes to how a game is called (I'm a huge incompetent fool elsewhere).

However, that was clearly A) the wrong play call at the worst time and B) a horrible decision by Russ to throw it where he did.

When you're on the 1 yard line in the closing seconds of the Super Bowl and you have the best back in the NFL and you decide to get cute and try to trick someone -- you've made the worst call in the history of the NFL.

You don't pass there, you have enough time to run the ball 3 times in the face of a defense that hasn't stopped Lynch for a loss yet. This isn't rocket science. You lose or win with what got you there.

That is the point right here. They did not have enough time to run the ball 3 times, with only 1 timeout. How about the burned timeouts earlier in the drive ... that was a huge issue in the play calling decision at the end.

 

[AK Hawk]

Bevell was trying to keep his options open for 3rd and 4th down. A pass play either wins or stops the clock which keeps all options open for 3rd and 4th down. A run play forces you to use a TO and then you are forced to pass on 3rd or run an hope you get in because the clock will most likely run out before you get to 4th down.

Bevell worried too much about preserving the clock and forgot about the risk of an int. The risk of an int on an inside slant is very low but probably the highest of any play in that situation. There is maybe a 1% chance that gets picked off. I agree it was a bad play call but I can see what he was thinking and why he did it.

I think blame should be shared equally between Wilson, bevel and Lockette. All three made mistakes that could have prevented the int.

Before the play I said they should give it to Lynch and they should have. I don't think there is any doubt if you give him 2 cracks at it he gets in. The blunder in play calling isn't necessarily a pass as much as its a quick timing pass inside where a pick is more likely than almost any other passing play in that area of the field.

Listening to one of the talking heads today and he had some interesting stats. He said that in the 2014 season there were 114 slants attempted from the 1 yardline or less. 66 of those attempts were TD's and only 1 was an INT, ours in the SB last night. I'm starting to understand the reasoning of the call and the need to either throw on 2nd or 3rd to allow time to run all 3 downs if needed.

I still hate the call, but maybe I'm hoping I hear or see something about that play that makes me feel a little better.

 

[dumbrabbit]

Pete Carroll said that play was supposed to be a wasted play. Why not spike the ball instead? No risk of a pick.

 

[KatarHol]

Anyone who thinks that is the worst call in the history of football is not thinking rationally. Interceptions occur at about a 1% rate on the one yard line. That means an int there is 20 times less likely than an onsides kick recovery.

 

[Cyrus12]

no...worst call in pro sports..

 

[Hawks46]

Nope.

Read this from a Pats fan on another board: "Patriots opponents ran the ball from the 1 yd line 5 times this season and scored a TD every time."

According to Football Outsiders, Lynch had gained positive yardage on 22 of 24 rushes in the game.

There's no way we shouldn't have handed the ball to Lynch.

This. They weren't going to stop that play. We had 40 seconds and 2 time outs. You run Lynch. Then you either try at RO keeper (which the Pats aren't good at stopping, and their OLB's couldn't contain Wilson all day) or like another poster said, a roll out to Matthews' side. There's literally no way they can stop Wilson from getting into the end zone there.

Here's another example why this is, actually, the worst call ever. Let's say this play works. Let's say we get the TD. Now we're up by 3 points, Brady gets the ball back with 2 time outs and he's been slicing the defense apart. All they need is a FG.

You run the f*****g ball, punch it in, and leave them with 10 seconds left. That is, if you really want to actually win the SB.

 

[NorCalHawk12]

Removed by poster, NM.

 

[hawk45]

Show me a worse play call in the Super Bowl and maybe we can talk. But it's going to be hard to find.

Garo Yepremian, Super Bowl VII

He said playcall not play.

Yepremian had a FG blocked and did something dumb, that had nothing to do with a coordinator.