Some more SB49 last play talk

Yep another thread about the interception. It will last a lifetime, fellas.

But yeah, I rewatched the game tonight. First time I've seen it again. Of course I replayed the interception tons of times...

It may be obvious to some of you but this definitely wasn't one persons fault. I've seen people put the blame solely on Pete, Bevell or Wilson. Simply put, they all stunk it up. All 3 of them collectivley basically gave NE the game. I'm going to say 33.333333% Wilson's fault, 33.33333% Bevell's fault, and 33.333333% Pete's fault. Here's why.

I actually don't think the play call package was THAT bad of an idea. I don't mind being on the 5 yard line and calling a run, pass, run, run package to get the touchdown. I think scratching that idea to an all run package would have been wiser, though, because after the 1st down, you get down to the 1 yard line. You have a beast of a running back and the best mobile QB in the game. You had a time out. It was not a wise decision to throw the ball in that particular situation. If it was 4th down and do or die, I would have absolutely no problem with a pass play.

33.333333% Bevell's fault for the actual play call. I honestly cannot remember the last time we threw a slant to Lockette. Why Lockette? He's not our quick and speedy guy for a quick 1 yard gain. Why a slant? You risk the ball being tipped up in the air and the last thing in the world you want is an interception. Why not have Wilson roll out and find an open man? Why not throw it in the back of the endzone to "should have been MVP" Chris Matthews? Use up the endzone space, Bevell. You cannot blow that situation. Cannot.

Lastly, 33.33333% goes to Wilson. I think he tasted victory 1 yard too soon. I think he got a little happy. I am not buying the conspiracy that Pete called a pass play because he wanted Russ to prove he's an "elite" QB and can win a Super Bowl from the pocket, or that Pete wanted Russ to get MVP. That would have only been Russ' 13th completion. I think Matthews would have gotten MVP. But the bottom line is, it was a bad throw. Lockette's palms were up. A little high, a little too far out in front. Butler made a great play but Russ threw it to Butler more than he did to Lockette. Russ had the ability to change the play call or call timeout and re-think things. The delivery wasn't as fast as it needed to be either. In that situation, EVERYTHING has to be QUICK, WITTY, and DAMN NEAR PERFECT to pull off. I'm going to exagerrate but Wilson and Lockette look like they're in slow mo compared to everyone else.

Again, I'm talking about just the final play here. Getting shut out in the 4th quarter 14-0 wasn't good, I know.

It actually helps to really analyze the play because now we know we have room for improvement. I think this team absolutely can get to a 3rd straight Super Bowl.

You lost me at "Yep another thread about..."

:mrgreen:

Couple things. I'm not worried about who's fault it is. You win as a team and lose as a team. No matter how we felt about it, those involved felt much worse. Anyone who buys into a conspiracy on this is insane. I have no problem with the run, pass, run, run package in this situation to get rid of all the time left, but there's no way Russ should have called a timeout there. It was our last. You either check out of the play or run it. If you hate it, you throw the ball away. And finally, the play would have won the game had it been executed properly.

Second worst known pain

http://youtu.be/it0V7xv9qu0

so a few things 1. this whole thing is old now, and 2 there were other to blame, Kearse for not getting his pick completed, Lockette for hesitating off the line and not coming out of his break stronger. All that said it is done stuff happens move on.

You expended a lot of energy to rationalize a bad call and disproportionally distribute blame.

Let me make it easier on the eyes:

Lynch would have scored if given the opportunity.
A quarterback cannot do much more with a quick timing play then to let the ball go on time.
The ball was perfectly located for the receiver to make an easy play if not for the next point.
The defensive back made a great play due largely to preparation for, and anticipation of, that exact play.

Four sentences that concisely, and more accurately describe what really happened.

The defensive back made a great play due largely to preparation for, and anticipation of, that exact play.

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This should never be forgotten. There was a stellar play made by the defensive back which more then anything else won the game for the Patriots, it happens and the truly elite learn from it and move on.

Or more simply put...the other team has great players that make great plays also. I'm of the opinion that the defense put them in that position in the first place by allowing the Patriots to score 14 straight points in the fourth quarter which is something the Seahawks rarely if ever do. They should have won the game going away by making a first down just ONE time in their last three possessions just like the defense should have made ONE flippin' stop in the last two Patriot drives.

KARAVARUS":wdn33vn8 said:

And finally, the play would have won the game had it been executed properly.

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And finally, a run play by the Beast would have given us the best chance to win the game if executed properly (high percentage).
It was an high risk riddled play call (unnecessary), with low percentage chance of it being PERFECTLY executed.
I got over it in a couple of days, NOT because I've accepted how the LAST PLAY was or wasn't executed properly, because Tommy doesn't orchestrate a big come back like he did, against a healthy Seahawks DEFENSE.
The Patriots didn't WIN Squeaker Bowl XLIX, the Seahawks LOST it.

You know, wounds do heal if you quit picking at the scabs

After having time reflecting on this loss, this has to be the most heartbreaking loss a fan has to go through, EVER.

Losing the way we did sucks. There's many what ifs, what could've been, and what should've been. But it's over. What's done is done. No need to rehash on what happened on that early February afternoon.

It's time to move on. The result will never change. The loss will hurt, but with time things start to heal. It will get better. We have an amazing team that any team in the league would trade for!

Go hawks!

Folks already know what I think about Bevell so I won't go it that.....
But...... IMHO the worst thing you can do in that situation is turn the ball over, and they took an uneeded risk when the answer was to do the simplest thing, hand the ball off to the best RB in the league yards after contact wise against the next to last in the league goal line defense. They panicked, they over thought it, and made the wrong call.

Hopefully that's my last word on it. 8)

Could we all just let it go, it happened, lets not spend the next 20yrs agonising over it. It sucks but on to next year & winning in Santa Clara

Many of you might emotionally crack if you had to listen to all the snickering remarks about my proud allegiance (wear Seahawks gear pretty much everyday) that I've had to listen to just in the last few days alone.

What I don't understand is... why bother replying to a thread if you're goal is to not talk about it? If you are uncomfortable dealing with this reality, that doesn't mean others are unable to discuss the matter. Is your goal is to try to get others to stop talking about it so you can pretend it didn't happen? I don't think it helps jumping on a fellow fan posting about it. It's not like we can go live in a cocoon.

We'll all be watching it on replay after replay not only this next year... but, likely for decades. Literally, the rest of our lives. Better get used to it. It is forever affixed to the history of this team. No matter what success this team has in future seasons, this play and Super Bowl 49 loss will never be erased. That's football.

You know what? Doesn't change a thing about how I feel about this team. I'm just as proud to associate with this team as Super Bowl Champions as I am now after losing the Super Bowl the way it happened. I don't like it (sucks, actually), but it's the Seahawks and they're my team. Nothing can change that.

If we can't talk about this here... where CAN we talk about it?

Go Hawks.

I'm encouraged to be looking forward to the Seahawks becoming the first team in 30-something years to make it to three Super Bowls in a row. Now that would be a stellar achievement.

Siouxhawk":52koswlk said:

I'm encouraged to be looking forward to the Seahawks becoming the first team in 30-something years to make it to three Super Bowls in a row. Now that would be a stellar achievement.

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Well, not quite. 20-something years. The Buffalo Bills made it to 4 consecutive Super Bowls from 1990-1993 (SB 25-28)... losing all four. But, yes... it would be quite an accomplishment. Not gonna be easy. It will be interesting to see if they can do it.

I don't blame Wilson. The play looked open and even if he had known it was a doomed play, it wasn't a great situation to audible in. The throw was where it needed to be.

Bevell was right to criticize Lockette. Lockette had a huge size advantage over Butler but was beaten to the ball despite having better position. Golden Tate said a couple days ago that he would have caught that pass, and I agree with him.

But really, most of the blame has to go to Bevell and Carroll. Really what that play boils down to was incredibly poor situational awareness, coupled with a cute playcall at the worst possible time. It was disheartening to me to hear Pete defend the decision after the game. It is disturbing to think this mistake could be repeated.

kearly":8gttjs5p said:

It was disheartening to me to hear Pete defend the decision after the game. It is disturbing to think this mistake could be repeated.

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Actually, Carroll refused to say what he would do if the situation were repeated. They felt they needed to throw the ball on either 2nd or 3rd down, if they hadn't already scored, in order to preserve enough time for a final play.

I like to think if the situation were repeated, Carroll would have demanded a running play on 2nd down . . . either a hand off to Lynch (preferable) or a Wilson option. And then throw the ball, only if you need to, on 3rd down to stop the clock.

I don't know who is calling the plays in the red zone, but something has to change. Scoring a TD close to 50% of the time is not acceptable (we are 20th in the league in red zone scoring from an offense that is at least Top 10 in talent). We should be doing better than a coin flip in the red zone.

I have no doubt on my mind either Lynch walks in if they give it to him.. or if they called a PA rollout.. Wilson finds a wide open guy in the end zone. They picked the worst possible play for that situation, just as kearly said.

I have a single question and nobody has ever asked this to Pete: Why don't we have the QB sneak in our playbook?
Over the last couple of years, there are many plays where we have needed 1 yard and didn't make it. Main reason being, we try to run ML, but we lose yards or we have false starts and it becomes bad.
To me, we have the most athletic QB. We can't lose yards on this play. And we don't lose much time either. QB got the ball in his hands. Worst case, we 3rd and 1, 4th and 1.
We don't need to give the ball to ML and risk losing yards. We don't need to throw. RW keeps it and figure out a way to get into the endzone behind Okung or Carps or Unger.

joeseahawks":1dne7sdk said:

I have a single question and nobody has ever asked this to Pete: Why don't we have the QB sneak in our playbook?
Over the last couple of years, there are many plays where we have needed 1 yard and didn't make it. Main reason being, we try to run ML, but we lose yards or we have false starts and it becomes bad.
To me, we have the most athletic QB. We can't lose yards on this play. And we don't lose much time either. QB got the ball in his hands. Worst case, we 3rd and 1, 4th and 1.
We don't need to give the ball to ML and risk losing yards. We don't need to throw. RW keeps it and figure out a way to get into the endzone behind Okung or Carps or Unger.

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I am guessing the consensus of Carroll, Bevell, and the other coaches must have been that it wasn't worth risking an injury to Wilson while getting tackled in a scrum up the gut. He's not as big as the standard QB, so maybe they are justified in their reasoning? I agree with you that Wilson's athleticism would make him money if such a play was ever called in short yardage or on the goal line.