Long time lurker here. I appreciated Willson's being candid about that play. The play is water under the bridge and there were a ton of things that could have been done differently. Butler was just beaten on two plays earlier and he was the third corner back on the field on that play. He was a rookie and his spirit should have been broken.
After watching the play it was a bad read, bad throw, and the worst route I have ever seen. It took Lockette far too long to get to his spot and he never sold the play to get free from Butler. Butler just ran where he thought the ball was going to be. Good guess. To be honest though, I have more problems with the earlier play. Okung totally wiffed on his block. If he seals the defensive end, Seattle is up by 3 with a minute to go. We may have watched Brady march right down the field and break our hearts or lose in overtime. It would be ironic to win the NFC championship in OT and lose the same way the next week.
I will always watch a video of the final play. It allows me as a fan to heal. This is a video I watched in the last week that I never saw before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeNYQaS3rZI
Grant it, it is easy for New England to say these things after the fact. But, I believe their rationale. It was said the Pats knew the play was coming. Well, they did know it was coming. This video shed light on that play for me. Butler was beaten over and over again. Lockette never made a legit football move and ran a pattern like a high school receiver. The scout team ran it better than he did.
Another poster said we ran the same play out of that formation and it had no chance of fooling them. I agree 100% with this comment. Bevell ran a simple route tree. That could be by design. However, that makes Bevell a mediocre play caller too and he should have been shown the door after that game.