Random Thoughts on the Denver game

[bandiger]

This is the one that still eating at me despite the win:

4. What was up with the personnel groupings in 4th quarter?

After the Broncos scored a touchdown in the aftermath of Wilson's interception to pull the score to 17-12, the Seahawks offense took possession with 9:15 left to play and a chance to move down the field and re-take the lead.

The possession seemed to be a fairly critical at the time. Seattle was nursing a five-point lead and had struggled to move the ball in the second half. A safety, a Wilson interception and the Broncos touchdown had all of a sudden made the game interesting and the Seahawks had a chance to score and put the game back out of reach.

Who touched the ball on this critical drive? Bryan Walters, Robert Turbin and Derrick Coleman.

On a 3rd and 9 from the Seattle 42-yard line, the personnel grouping consisted of Walters, Turbin, Ricardo Lockette and Paul Richardson. The play fell incomplete on a pass to Walters and the Seahawks were forced to punt.

The biggest third down of the game and there was no Marshawn Lynch, Percy Harvin, Doug Baldwin or Jermaine Kearse on the field. The Seahawks top four offensive weapons were standing on the sidelines.

It will be something to ask head coach Pete Carroll about on Monday.



Read more: http://www.sportsradiokjr.com/articles/ ... z3E1902BtE

What is the logic in having none of the regular guys in an important drive like that?

 

[WilsonMVP]

I didn't really see anything wrong with Bevell's playcalling. I just think Denver's defense really stepped up in this game and made some terrific plays in the 4th quarter. Other than maybe the drag routes at the end of the game, Bevell never felt predictable, and it's okay to be predictable on drag routes when they get you 7 yards every single time.

Wilson's feet saved the day in the end, but let's not overlook that the playcalls Bevell made helped set up every one of those QB scrambles. Whether a QB has the opportunity to scramble or not is often dictated by what the other 10 players on offense do to manipulate the defense. It's always seemed to me that certain pass plays seemed designed to set up QB runs almost like an assigned checkdown. Those runs by Wilson seemed designed to me, it's not like he Houdini'd his way to miracle gains every time he pulled down to run.

My only real issue with Bevell this season is that he needs to go deep a lot more for the sake of toxic differential and to keep a defense honest. Even if it means taking an extra sack here and there.

I think Pete would have been crazy not to play for the FG and clock milking with two minutes left. If Seattle throws an incomplete pass, Denver has almost 2 full minutes to tie the game (throwing the ball also has a higher chance of resulting in a turnover too). With the rush attempt, Manning had to go 80 yards and convert a 2 pt. conversion just to tie, and only had 59 seconds to do it with no timeouts. His win probability at that point was probably less than 10%. If you can't trust your defense to win the game for you in such a favorable situation at home, that's just a slap in the face to the D.

Ya I think Pete said something like that in the Rams game last year when we were all wondering why he didnt call timeout and that last pass was the ballgame if they scored a TD. Trusted the D to get it done.

 

[WilsonMVP]

The fact that we shut Denver down to 3 points in 3 quarters speaks for itself. The Super Bowl was no fluke.

That we left the building with the W, again(!), makes me wonder what any haters have to complain about at all.

Face it Tony Dungy, the Donks lost... fair and square. There are no "moral" victories. That's bullshit.

From my humble point of view, the only reason Peyton Manning didn't leave this game on a cart was the blatant holding allowed on Cliff Avril all day. Michael Bennett would also have added to the strip sack / turnover action, (at least once, if not twice), if not for blatant holding. The ref didn't just swallow his whistle today; he ate his flag. For example, the late developing 42 yard wheel route to get their last gasp drive going would have been nullified by the obvious holding on Avril actually being called.

I mean, I know the whole league revolves around Peyton Manning like the Sun goes around the Earth, but come on. The man is a statue. A figurehead. Like Fat Old Elvis, or a reincarnated Johnny Unitas. The truth nobody in the media ever mentions is he has no mobility, throws ducks under pressure, and sucks in big games. The reversal of ET3's strip fumble is the only way this game wasn't another avalanche/tsunami of Blue & Green.

Its time to pass the MVP torch. Russell Wilson is 7-0 against the 'BIG4', including the playoffs. Its mind-boggling the national media can't recognize that he's good...AS IN REAL, REAL GOOD. AS IN MVP GOOD.

As far as mistakes? It aint perfect, but personally, I don't expect it to be. These are human beings, not robots, and human beings make mistakes sometimes.

All I can say is we got heart. And we proved it today. Maybe it shouldn't have even been close, but...

Coming up off the canvas, with an epic 13-play Touchdown drive in Overtime shows that WE ARE THE CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER FOOTBALL TEAM. Not them.

The Super Bowl Trophy Banner belongs in our house.

We won. The Donks lost. Deal with it.

This might have been the first game against the Elite 4 QBs that Wilson actually had an INT too

 

[Hawkscanner]

I didn't really see anything wrong with Bevell's playcalling. I just think Denver's defense really stepped up in this game and made some terrific plays in the 4th quarter. Other than maybe the drag routes at the end of the game, Bevell never felt predictable, and it's okay to be predictable on drag routes when they get you 7 yards every single time.

Wilson's feet saved the day in the end, but let's not overlook that the playcalls Bevell made helped set up every one of those QB scrambles. Whether a QB has the opportunity to scramble or not is often dictated by what the other 10 players on offense do to manipulate the defense. It's always seemed to me that certain pass plays seemed designed to set up QB runs almost like an assigned checkdown. Those runs by Wilson seemed designed to me, it's not like he Houdini'd his way to miracle gains every time he pulled down to run.

My only real issue with Bevell this season is that he needs to go deep a lot more for the sake of toxic differential and to keep a defense honest. Even if it means taking an extra sack here and there.

I think Pete would have been crazy not to play for the FG and clock milking with two minutes left. If Seattle throws an incomplete pass, Denver has almost 2 full minutes to tie the game (throwing the ball also has a higher chance of resulting in a turnover too). With the rush attempt, Manning had to go 80 yards and convert a 2 pt. conversion just to tie, and only had 59 seconds to do it with no timeouts. His win probability at that point was probably less than 10%. If you can't trust your defense to win the game for you in such a favorable situation at home, that's just a slap in the face to the D.

Kip, for the most part I find that your keen eye and mine are usually in sync. And again, for the most part, I would say that Bevell's playcalling was fairly exceptional in this game. However ... on Seattle's final series of the 4th Quarter I wholeheartedly disagree.

After Chancellor's interception return and Talib's unneccesary roughness penalty, the Hawks offense was sitting real pretty with a 1st and 10 on the Broncos 13 yard line with 2:12 to go. What did we see in terms of play calling? Three straight runs by Lynch -- totally predictable Pete Carroll strategy -- I knew what was coming, as did the Broncos defense as well. They sniffed those runs out immediately, gaining a grand total of 3 yards in 3 plays in our own house.

Momentum had just swung Seattle's way with Chancellor's interception. From my point of view, I saw the Hawks in a Mortal Kombat "Finish Him!" position. It was time to go with the unpredictable and at least take a shot or two in to the end zone to try to go for the TD. Get the defense to bite hard on the play action to Lynch, and I'm betting Wilson has a play to be made. Instead, we go conservative on offense and play for the FG. Predictably again, Denver uses its time outs and preserves enough time for Manning to do his thing.

When Hauschka kicked the FG to make it 20-12, some of those around me started saying that it was over. I (on the other hand) had a very bad feeling, as I know what Peyton Manning can do. Unfortunately, I was right and fortunately for us the coin flip in OT went our way. My point is, Denver was reeling after that interception by Chancellor. You have a golden opportunity with a 1st and goal from their 13 yard line. You've got to at least take 1 shot at it -- go for the TD and if you get it, it's 24-12 and the game really is over. If the play is not there for Wilson to make however, you have Wilson scramble around, burn time off the clock that way, have him huck that football out of the back of the end zone, and go with Beast Mode burn up the clock strategy on the other two downs. To not even TRY to go for the knockout blow at home after what had just happened? In my book if you give a guy like Peyton Manning an honest shot to tie the game, you're just asking for trouble.

I'm obviously super happy about the outcome of this game. I guess I'm just feeling a bit like Richard Sherman who said it best, "It shouldn't have been that close." I would agree -- it shouldn't have been allowed to be that close.

 

[SmokinHawk]

The pass rush in this game truly was awesome. Anyone who thinks we didn't get enough push must not have noticed we were hammering the everliving shit out of Manning on damn near every snap.

 

[kearly]

Kip, for the most part I find that your keen eye and mine are usually in sync. And again, for the most part, I would say that Bevell's playcalling was fairly exceptional in this game. However ... on Seattle's final series of the 4th Quarter I wholeheartedly disagree.

After Chancellor's interception return and Talib's unneccesary roughness penalty, the Hawks offense was sitting real pretty with a 1st and 10 on the Broncos 13 yard line with 2:12 to go. What did we see in terms of play calling? Three straight runs by Lynch -- totally predictable Pete Carroll strategy -- I knew what was coming, as did the Broncos defense as well. They sniffed those runs out immediately, gaining a grand total of 3 yards in 3 plays in our own house.

I get what you are saying, but IMO Pete played the situation right. My thinking:

It was 3rd and 7. Even with Denver keying the run, this is not an easy conversion to make. The NFL median conversion rate for any 3rd down in 2013 was just 37.53%, and this was a third and long play. At this point in the game, Seattle was 5/15 on 3rd downs (33%), and had been ice-cold on 3rd downs in the second half.

Realistically, you are looking at a 1/3 chance of winning outright with a pass, but in terms of how the second half had been going, it felt more like 1/5. You also have to factor that Lynch had a chance to convert with a run too, maybe a 1/10 chance. So really, you are only looking at maybe a 20-25% improved chance to win by going for it with a pass.

On the other side of the coin, if you pass there is a significant chance of throwing an incompletion or even an interception. Had the pass been incomplete, Manning is getting the ball with two minutes to drive instead of 59 seconds.

Manning is typically a dink and dunk type of QB, especially against Seattle. With no timeouts and Seattle sure to be defending the sidelines, it would be extremely difficult for Manning to go for 80 yards in 59 seconds, because Manning usually is not a chunk play QB and his preferred MO is to score on 10-15 play drives. Furthermore, Manning had been struggling in this game up to that point, he had only scored 10 points and 7 of them came courtesy of a very short field after the WIlson interception.

Having Manning go 80 yards in 59 seconds with no timeouts against the LOB in Seattle after doing almost nothing for the previous EIGHT quarters against them was almost delusional territory. But as it turned out, Fox/Gase had a trick up their sleeve and Pete made a mistake by not calling a timeout and making adjustments.

On top of that, Denver needed the two point conversion. This was extremely lucky on Denver's part. I think 10% odds to tie the game is being generous with 59 seconds and no timeouts given the situation. With two minutes it is a significantly higher percentage.

I'm not a stats major, but it seems to me the Win Probability lost by throwing an incompletion outweighs the Win Probability gained by converting a low percentage 3rd down play. Peyton Manning with 2 minutes to work with probably gets in the endzone a hell of a lot more often than Manning with 59 seconds to work with. Pete had every reason to feel confident in his defense, and I'm *guessing* that the win probability numbers back him up.

I think there's a decent case to be made for either decision, but I think for a team like ours we will always defer to winning with defense if it's a close decision and Seattle is at home. I think this might be the first time Pete has put the game on the defense's shoulders in the final moments of a game and they didn't win it for him.

 

[RolandDeschain]

1) Why does it require overtime for us to utilize a quick-strike passing game and seeing Wilson actually run?

2) Also as Kearly said, why the extreme reluctance to try the deep ball? No pass pro excuses on this one, that doesn't cover it.

3) Glad to see a big day by our defense. Was really getting nervous on that final drive about our lack of a bloodthirsty offensive philosophy though, which has a tendency to leave us shy of points against a great team periodically, causing losses or very nearly so. This philosophy is on Pete, but I still believe we could very much be more bold on offense while still having the "run hard to setup play action and don't take risks" ideal that Pete likes. *shrug*

4) Go Hawks, and early bye weeks suck.

 

[kearly]

1) Why does it require overtime for us to utilize a quick-strike passing game and seeing Wilson actually run?

2) Also as Kearly said, why the extreme reluctance to try the deep ball? No pass pro excuses on this one, that doesn't cover it.

3) Glad to see a big day by our defense. Was really getting nervous on that final drive about our lack of a bloodthirsty offensive philosophy though, which has a tendency to leave us shy of points against a great team periodically, causing losses or very nearly so. This philosophy is on Pete, but I still believe we could very much be more bold on offense while still having the "run hard to setup play action and don't take risks" ideal that Pete likes. *shrug*

4) Go Hawks, and early bye weeks suck.

Good points all around.

On a side note, I never knew a RB could make 3.4 yards per carry (and a safety taken) look so good. It seemed like certain playcalls had Lynch gouging the Broncos every time while others had Lynch getting blown up every time. During that last drive, it appeared the Bevell finally figured out which plays were working and strung them together.

 

[Hawkscanner]

Kip, for the most part I find that your keen eye and mine are usually in sync. And again, for the most part, I would say that Bevell's playcalling was fairly exceptional in this game. However ... on Seattle's final series of the 4th Quarter I wholeheartedly disagree.

After Chancellor's interception return and Talib's unneccesary roughness penalty, the Hawks offense was sitting real pretty with a 1st and 10 on the Broncos 13 yard line with 2:12 to go. What did we see in terms of play calling? Three straight runs by Lynch -- totally predictable Pete Carroll strategy -- I knew what was coming, as did the Broncos defense as well. They sniffed those runs out immediately, gaining a grand total of 3 yards in 3 plays in our own house.

It wouldn't be incredibly stupid to pass in that situation, but IMO Pete played the situation right. My thinking:

It was 3rd and 7. Even with Denver keying the run, this is not an easy conversion to make. The NFL median conversion rate for any 3rd down in 2013 was just 37.53%, and this was a third and long play. At this point in the game, Seattle was 5/15 on 3rd downs (33%), and had been ice-cold on 3rd downs in the second half.

Realistically, you are looking at a 1/3 chance of winning outright with a pass, but in terms of how the second half had been going, it felt more like 1/5. You also have to factor that Lynch had a chance to convert with a run too, maybe a 1/10 chance. So really, you are only looking at maybe a 20-25% improved chance to win by going for it with a pass.

On the other side of the coin, if you pass there is a significant chance of throwing an incompletion or even an interception. Had the pass been incomplete, Manning is getting the ball with two minutes to drive instead of 59 seconds.

Manning is typically a dink and dunk type of QB, especially against Seattle. With no timeouts and Seattle sure to be defending the sidelines, it would be extremely difficult for Manning to go for 80 yards in 59 seconds, because Manning usually is not a chunk play QB and his preferred MO is to score on 10-15 play drives. Furthermore, Manning had been struggling in this game up to that point, he had only scored 10 points and 7 of them came courtesy of a very short field after the WIlson interception.

Having Manning go 80 yards in 59 seconds with no timeouts against the LOB in Seattle after doing almost nothing for the previous EIGHT quarters against them was almost delusional territory. But as it turned out, Fox/Gase had a trick up their sleeve and Pete made a mistake by not calling a timeout and making adjustments.

On top of that, Denver needed the two point conversion. This was extremely lucky on Denver's part. I think 10% odds to tie the game is being generous with 59 seconds and no timeouts given the situation. With two minutes it is a significantly higher percentage.

I'm not a stats major, but it seems to me the Win Probability lost by throwing an incompletion outweighs the Win Probability gained by converting a low percentage 3rd down play. Peyton Manning with 2 minutes to work with probably gets in the endzone a hell of a lot more often than Manning with 59 seconds to work with. Pete had every reason to feel confident in his defense, and I'm *guessing* that the win probability numbers back him up.

I think there's a decent case to be made for either decision, but I think for a team like ours we will always defer to winning with defense if it's a close decision and Seattle is at home. I think this might be the first time Pete has put the game on the defense's shoulders in the final moments of a game and they didn't win it for him.

3rd and 7 -- YES. But what about 1st and 10 ... or 2nd and 10? The Seahawks offense had a 1st and 10 at the Denver 13 yard line. Denver is expecting exactly what happened -- for Carroll and the Hawks to run Lynch and tick that clock down. On the one hand, I kind of agree -- do what you do best -- play defense in the cauldron that is the CLINK. On the other though, it's highly predictable and if there is one thing you don't want to be as an offense ... it's predictable. My point is that they didn't even take a shot -- not even a look to fire it in the end zone. You get Wilson sell play action hard ... and you're liable to get an opportunity for a TD instead of a FG. They didn't even try. If it's not there -- fine, throw it away, run time off the clock by scrambling, etc. They didn't even try though -- not even once. In my book, that's an issue because given the situation it left the door open for Manning to do what he did at the end of regulation. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one though.

 

[chris98251]

1) Why does it require overtime for us to utilize a quick-strike passing game and seeing Wilson actually run?

2) Also as Kearly said, why the extreme reluctance to try the deep ball? No pass pro excuses on this one, that doesn't cover it.

3) Glad to see a big day by our defense. Was really getting nervous on that final drive about our lack of a bloodthirsty offensive philosophy though, which has a tendency to leave us shy of points against a great team periodically, causing losses or very nearly so. This philosophy is on Pete, but I still believe we could very much be more bold on offense while still having the "run hard to setup play action and don't take risks" ideal that Pete likes. *shrug*

4) Go Hawks, and early bye weeks suck.

Good points all around.

On a side note, I never knew a RB could make 3.4 yards per carry (and a safety taken) look so good. It seemed like certain playcalls had Lynch gouging the Broncos every time while others had Lynch getting blown up every time. During that last drive, it appeared the Bevell finally figured out which plays were working and strung them together.

Where Lynch loses his average is the damn sweeps they try to run with him, hardly ever see them successful, he's a north south with a slide step in space guy or bowl you over.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Good points all around.

On a side note, I never knew a RB could make 3.4 yards per carry (and a safety taken) look so good. It seemed like certain playcalls had Lynch gouging the Broncos every time while others had Lynch getting blown up every time. During that last drive, it appeared the Bevell finally figured out which plays were working and strung them together.

Yeah, Lynch is such a damn boss it's not even funny. You know, I was actually alright with some of the failed running plays as far as the calls go. Denver's defense is damned good and they just flat-out beat us periodically (but regularly) all game long, really. Not enough to win obviously, but at this point, I feel like the Broncos are realistically the most likely AFC representative in the Super Bowl.

Chargers fans, I'm not impugning your team one bit. Sorry if any of you think I am.

Kearly, my first point was actually more of an honest question. Do you or any other people have any idea why we avoid quick-strike passing like the plague unless it's absolutely critical? I understand not wanting to make it a staple of the offense, but why not periodically here and there?

 

[themunn]

Bevell and Russell did some horrible game managment. This game should never have been close. The OC pissed the blowout away. The defense played great and once again was put into situations because of poor game managment by Bevell and Wilson. This can't continue or this team is screwed.

You were saying the same thing all last year. Get a grip.

No I did not. I was in the Pro Bevell camp last season and clearly the last two games Bevell has done a horrible job. You can joke about it but the difference to getting back to the Super Bowl can be something like this. Stupid game management. The defense should be pissed.

They should be pissed that they allowed 3 consecutive completions on the exact same play

 

[kearly]

3rd and 7 -- YES. But what about 1st and 10 ... or 2nd and 10? The Seahawks offense had a 1st and 10 at the Denver 13 yard line. Denver is expecting exactly what happened -- for Carroll and the Hawks to run Lynch and tick that clock down. On the one hand, I kind of agree -- do what you do best -- play defense in the cauldron that is the CLINK. On the other though, it's highly predictable and if there is one thing you don't want to be as an offense ... it's predictable. My point is that they didn't even take a shot -- not even a look to fire it in the end zone. You get Wilson sell play action hard ... and you're liable to get an opportunity for a TD instead of a FG. They didn't even try. If it's not there -- fine, throw it away, run time off the clock by scrambling, etc. They didn't even try though -- not even once. In my book, that's an issue because given the situation it left the door open for Manning to do what he did at the end of regulation. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one though.

Seattle had a 96% chance to win using the three run and kick strategy.

 

[kearly]

Kearly, my first point was actually more of an honest question. Do you or any other people have any idea why we avoid quick-strike passing like the plague unless it's absolutely critical? I understand not wanting to make it a staple of the offense, but why not periodically here and there?

I have no idea. But I can tell you that I loved that they went no huddle in overtime.

Actually Seattle has been a bit more of a quick strike team than you might think. They barely possessed the ball in the Chargers game in part because they ran a quick strike offense on most of their drives. Also, Seattle has scored more points in the first half than the second half in all three games, a complete reversal from last year. To me that's a sign that the team is going for a quick strike mentality early and trying to slow the game down later.

 

[HansGruber]

I'm not thrilled with the play call from inside the 1 that led to a safety. Why would we do that? Everyone knew we were going to run and it almost cost us the game. Why not run a pass play with max protection? Let Russ elude rushers and throw it away if he has to.

I really did not get that call. It was horrible.

 

[DavidSeven]

Fantastic game; beat the other best team in the NFL heading into a bye. Don't see any reason to be sad today.

That drag route to Percy is so money, especially when unlimited Wilson runs are on the table.

BTW, pretty obvious why Wilson's runs open up in must-score situations. No reason to expose him like that unless you have to have it -- been that way his entire time here. Keeps teams off-balance late in games, too, because they're not used to defending it the whole game. I think they utilize perfectly as is.

Lynch -- irreplaceable. Pay that man in his money (in my Teddy KGB voice).

Lockette's turning into a legit NFLer before our very eyes. One of the better late-bloomer stories out there.

Again, this was a great one. You can nitpick stuff to death, but Denver is the AFC's gold standard, and they came with something to prove today. Sometimes the other team does good stuff, too. Seattle withstood their best effort and will be atop Tuesday's "Power Rankings" as the NFL's best.

 

[springscohawk]

I am okay with the short passing game as I think the weakest aspect of Wilson's game in past two years has been lack of more decisive and quick throws.

Obviously the interception Wilson threw was not a good play, but overall, I have seen a lot of improvement in Russell Wilson throwing quick, being decisive.

Wilson already has demonstrated he throws a good deep ball. I think he is also working on other aspects of his game.

In addition, having a hobbled Okung and a new right tackle in Britt, might be contributing to the game plan with shorter passing game.

 

[DavidSeven]

I'm not thrilled with the play call from inside the 1 that led to a safety. Why would we do that? Everyone knew we were going to run and it almost cost us the game. Why not run a pass play with max protection? Let Russ elude rushers and throw it away if he has to.

I really did not get that call. It was horrible.

I dunno about that. Teams almost run in those situations. A pass play likely has a far higher probability of a safety when you're that deep. The run didn't work for us this time, because we couldn't get anyone blocked up. Horrible play call, though? Disagree, unless you think conventional wisdom is horrible.

If Wilson took a sack there, everyone would be killin' Bevell for not handing to Lynch to power out a few yards of breathing room.

 

[HansGruber]

I'm not thrilled with the play call from inside the 1 that led to a safety. Why would we do that? Everyone knew we were going to run and it almost cost us the game. Why not run a pass play with max protection? Let Russ elude rushers and throw it away if he has to.

I really did not get that call. It was horrible.

I dunno about that. Teams almost run in those situations. A pass play likely has a far higher probability of a safety when you're that deep. The run didn't work for us this time, because we couldn't get anyone blocked up. Horrible play call, though? Disagree, unless you think conventional wisdom is horrible.

If Wilson took a sack there, everyone would be killin' Bevell for not handing to Lynch to power out a few yards of breathing room.

Conventional "wisdom" is almost always wrong. And it rarely reaps anything but mediocre results or worse. As proven in the game.

Even if a pass play had resulted in a safety, the result is the same. So at worst, you get the same result as running.

Everyone knew the Hawks were going to run. There was no way they were getting the ball out of the end zone. Even some British soccer fans at the pub saw it coming and we're laughing at the play. It was horrible. Denver saw it the whole way and lined up and beat it. It was one of the few playcalls that was just really terrible and almost cost us the game.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

3rd and 7 -- YES. But what about 1st and 10 ... or 2nd and 10? The Seahawks offense had a 1st and 10 at the Denver 13 yard line. Denver is expecting exactly what happened -- for Carroll and the Hawks to run Lynch and tick that clock down. On the one hand, I kind of agree -- do what you do best -- play defense in the cauldron that is the CLINK. On the other though, it's highly predictable and if there is one thing you don't want to be as an offense ... it's predictable. My point is that they didn't even take a shot -- not even a look to fire it in the end zone. You get Wilson sell play action hard ... and you're liable to get an opportunity for a TD instead of a FG. They didn't even try. If it's not there -- fine, throw it away, run time off the clock by scrambling, etc. They didn't even try though -- not even once. In my book, that's an issue because given the situation it left the door open for Manning to do what he did at the end of regulation. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one though.

Seattle had a 96% chance to win using the three run and kick strategy.

I was not in favor of throwing in this situation as I just didn't want any more time on the clock than necessary. However, and this may come off as kind of 20/20 hindsight, but what about some sort of run by Russ on 2nd or 3rd down? Think fake dive to Marshawn and naked boot with a seal by the RT & TE. If it doesn't work, OK we still are eating up clock and if it does since they're keying on Lynch, Russ walks into the end zone. In other words, something just a bit more creative than three straight handoffs to the Beast.