Revisiting the call - last play of Super Bowl XLIX

So I'm sitting here watching for the first time the video "Rain City Redemption" which is an outstanding 2 hour recap of the 2013 Super Bowl winning season:

https://vimeo.com/114408964

For those of you who haven't watched it...seriously, its a great 2 hours of time wasted!!!

And the video gets to the Week 12 Monday night matchup - the 10-1 Seahawks and the 9-2 Saints in what many were anticipating could be the preview to the NFC Championship with the winner having the inside track of getting the #1 seed going into the playoffs!!

Then...at the 38:15 mark of the video the Seahawks ran a play at 3rd and goal from the 2 yard line...and as the team lined up, the ball snapped, and the play unfolded I inexplicably experienced a horrific, absolutely gut-wrenching, utterly sickening feeling from what occurred before my eyes...

It was like a lightning bolt, and the pain I experienced was upon me so unexpectedly and with no warning at all - but as the play developed it felt like I had already seen it run a thousand times in my dreams, and every single time I saw it there was never anything but a tragic ending. And that sense of imminent doom was swarming over me before my brain could even tell me what it was that my experience was attempting to process for me and prepare me for the devastation my psyche was surely going to have inflicted upon it.

Wilson was lined up in the shotgun with Lynch in the backfield, and Ricardo Lockette was lined up wide right stacked behind and outside Kearse...and then the ball was snapped, Kearse bolted forward, and Lockette cut inside in a slant towards the middle of the field...

I swear to god I thought my bowels were going to let go when Raible screamed... "3rd and goal ON A SLANT!!!"

But then the next thing Raible said was completely unexpected...

"...ITS GOOOOD FOR THE TOUCHDOWN!!!!!"

And then I realized it wasn't Lockette lined up on the outside, but rather it was Zack Miller.

And when that play was run Miller was sooooooooo wide open it wasn't even funny. There was no Butler screaming in on Miller. And there was no one who jammed Kearse at the line of scrimmage. The play that was drawn up was perfect and Wilson would have been crucified if he didn't attempt that throw to Miller.

I had seen this play in my nightmares a million times over the past month or so and I recognized it immediately even before Wilson released the ball.

And it was a perfect, outstandingly executed play. Against the class of the NFC in a high stakes, high pressure MNF game nearing crunch time of the season.


There have been countless naysayers who have been crucifying Bevell, and Carroll, and Wilson and even Lockette for that last play of Super Bowl XLIX - and many saying that they can't ever even remember this version of the Hawks running this play and thus shouldn't have called it in that situation...but how can you possibly fault the call when there is past evidence and experience verifying that this call had a high potential of winning the Seahawks the Super Bowl.

Without 20/20 hindsight, if someone showed me this play on film against NO from 2013 and told me at 26 seconds of the 4th quarter of Super Bowl 49 that this is the play that we were going to run against a rookie cornerback...I would have said ********. This play will have a 100% success rate.

Hindsight is 20/20...we now realize that Browner was the perfect SS in the perfect position with the benefit of past experience as a member of the Seahawks team to know to jam that play up, and we now realize that coach Belicheck had incredible foresight as well as impeccible preparation to have his rookie aware of this situation, and we now realize that this rookie - who still had to execute - had the wherewithal to process what he was seeing, the incredible split second reaction time necessary to make the impossible work, and the balls to run through a wall to make a once in a lifetime play.

I see that play against New Orleans and there is no possible way that I can fault Bevell and Carroll for making that call. None.

It's over. Let it go.

IBleedBlueAndGreen":1zo71kxc said:

It's over. Let it go.

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I have. I'm telling the haters that they should too.

Hey guys it's not like anyone has made a thread about this already, let's cut the guy some slack.




































:sarcasm_off:

Vancanhawksfan":dd63u26w said:

IBleedBlueAndGreen":dd63u26w said:

It's over. Let it go.

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I have. I'm telling the haters that they should too.

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So you gave the haters another platform to bitch? Smart thinking. :roll:

Let the wound close. This isn't helpful.

Rob12":12y6b8vf said:

Let the wound close. This isn't helpful.

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I echo this thought.

I cringed when I saw the thread title.

Actually, this is new insight to the play that I haven't read before. I appreciate the post.

"but how can you possibly fault the call when there is past evidence and experience verifying that this call had a high potential of winning the Seahawks the Super Bowl."

Good post, but the fault in the call is that the Seahawks had run it in the past and thus the Patriots had practiced for it. The Patriots almost always do well against stuff they have seen before - it's the weird stuff like that tall receiver who hadn't caught a pass before that gives them fits. I am a Pats fan and don't mean to rub salt in the wound but it was a bad call precisely because the Hawks had run it before in that situation.

chevelle03":d3f6mt51 said:

Actually, this is new insight to the play that I haven't read before. I appreciate the post.

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It seems that you might be the only poster in this thread that actually read more than the thread title.

Thanks for actually reading it.

Damn. Thanks for the post. Don't defend against the people who can't get over a football game. It would hurt a lot more if this loss didn't come between two Super Bowl wins.

It's funny, turned on NFLN yesterday and what do I see? Yup, but surprisingly it didn't bother me a bit. Still basking in the glory of witnessing the most competitive era the Seahawks have ever had :th2thumbs: :thirishdrinkers:

Thomas144":760bb17h said:

"but how can you possibly fault the call when there is past evidence and experience verifying that this call had a high potential of winning the Seahawks the Super Bowl."

Good post, but the fault in the call is that the Seahawks had run it in the past and thus the Patriots had practiced for it. The Patriots almost always do well against stuff they have seen before - it's the weird stuff like that tall receiver who hadn't caught a pass before that gives them fits. I am a Pats fan and don't mean to rub salt in the wound but it was a bad call precisely because the Hawks had run it before in that situation.

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Based on this logic you're saying that the Seahawks should NEVER run a play that has succeeded previously?!?! (particularly from 2 seasons in the past). That makes zero sense. Of course a team can't be predictable but it also can't throw every play it has ever run (successful or otherwise) into the trash bin.

original poster":3l08gd42 said:

I cringed when I saw the thread title.

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You obviously didn't read past the thread title then did you?

Here...do you really want to cringe?? Go to 1:13:45 of the video I posted. 2013 NFC Championship game against the 49ers.

4th quarter. The Seahawks just took the lead 20-17 five minutes earlier for the first time in the game THROWING for a 35 yard touchdown ON 4TH AND 7 (ridiculous!!!). Now they are ready to seal the deal at the 8:31 mark.

It is 4th down and goal at the one yard line.

And what is the obvious call that everyone in Seahawk nation would implore Bevell to do in what might be, at this point in time, the biggest play call in Seahawks history?!?!?!

Yeah...you guessed it.

And what was the outcome??????????????????????????????????????????????????

Watch the video. Go to 1:13:45.

There are reasons the coaches make their play calls. Some of it comes down to personnel. Some of it comes down to skill sets. Some of it comes down to situation and set ups. Some of it comes down to moment in time, momentum and feel. And some of it comes down to previous experiences.

Thomas144":3l08gd42 said:

"but how can you possibly fault the call when there is past evidence and experience verifying that this call had a high potential of winning the Seahawks the Super Bowl."

Good post, but the fault in the call is that the Seahawks had run it in the past and thus the Patriots had practiced for it. The Patriots almost always do well against stuff they have seen before - it's the weird stuff like that tall receiver who hadn't caught a pass before that gives them fits. I am a Pats fan and don't mean to rub salt in the wound but it was a bad call precisely because the Hawks had run it before in that situation.

Click to expand...

Sooo...going back to your logic, since the Hawks and Marshawn just about blew it with the 4th and 1 play call in the NFC Championship game the previous year - the biggest one yard play ever needed in the history of Seahawks nation... based on your logic we should NOT have given the ball to Marshawn then???

Revisionist decision making doesn't work my friend.

Vancanhawksfan":1hz1p8ir said:

original poster":1hz1p8ir said:

I cringed when I saw the thread title.

Click to expand...

You obviously didn't read past the thread title then did you?

Here...do you really want to cringe?? Go to 1:13:45 of the video I posted. 2013 NFC Championship game against the 49ers.

4th quarter. The Seahawks just took the lead 20-17 five minutes earlier for the first time in the game THROWING for a 35 yard touchdown ON 4TH AND 7 (ridiculous!!!). Now they are ready to seal the deal at the 8:31 mark.

It is 4th down and goal at the one yard line.

And what is the obvious call that everyone in Seahawk nation would implore Bevell to do in what might be, at this point in time, the biggest play call in Seahawks history?!?!?!

Yeah...you guessed it.

And what was the outcome??????????????????????????????????????????????????

Watch the video. Go to 1:13:45.

There are reasons the coaches make their play calls. Some of it comes down to personnel. Some of it comes down to skill sets. Some of it comes down to situation and set ups. Some of it comes down to moment in time, momentum and feel. And some of it comes down to previous experiences.

Thomas144":1hz1p8ir said:

"but how can you possibly fault the call when there is past evidence and experience verifying that this call had a high potential of winning the Seahawks the Super Bowl."

Good post, but the fault in the call is that the Seahawks had run it in the past and thus the Patriots had practiced for it. The Patriots almost always do well against stuff they have seen before - it's the weird stuff like that tall receiver who hadn't caught a pass before that gives them fits. I am a Pats fan and don't mean to rub salt in the wound but it was a bad call precisely because the Hawks had run it before in that situation.

Click to expand...

Sooo...going back to your logic, since the Hawks and Marshawn just about blew it with the 4th and 1 play call in the NFC Championship game the previous year - the biggest one yard play ever needed in the history of Seahawks nation... based on your logic we should NOT have given the ball to Marshawn then???

If Marshawn scores that TD then we never get into a situation where the 49ers get to the 18 yard line with 27 seconds to go and go for the win...and we don't even need "The Tip" to make history because we win that game without even a sweat at the end.

Revisionist history doesn't work my friend.

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P.S. -

Does everybody not realize that if Sherman doesn't make "The Tip" and that pass is completed for the TD...the 49ers win...

THEN ALL YOU HATERS WOULD HAVE MADE MARSHAWN LYNCH A SCAPEGOAT - THE GREATEST RB FOR THE SEAHAWKS OF ALL TIME.

Instead of worshipping Lynch as the G.O.A.T. the same jerkoffs who are hating on the coaching staff for the Super Bowl 49 playcall would have made Lynch the greatest of Seahawk goats of all time.

The team, the coaching staff play calling and the defense bailed out Lynch at the end of the NFC Championship. Now flash forward one more year and in the Super Bowl the defense blows a 10 point lead and the last play of the game didn't work out the way the coaching staff hoped it would. IT HAPPENS.

Stop hating. WIN AS A TEAM...LOSE AS A TEAM. HAVE EACH OTHER'S BACKS.

So, just to be clear:

Point #1: The Seahawks once called a high-risk slant pass to their 6'5", 255-pound #1 tight end to go up 17-0 at home in the first quarter of a regular season game.

Point #2: The Seahawks called a high-risk slant pass to their heretofore special teams WR down 4 in the final seconds of the Super Bowl against one of the worst goal line defenses in the league while the best goal line back in the league watches it happen.

Point #1 happened, ergo Point #2 is justifiable. Got it.

gulliver":35ktp3zi said:

So, just to be clear:

Point #1: The Seahawks once called a high-risk slant pass to their 6'5", 255-pound #1 tight end to go up 17-0 at home in the first quarter of a regular season game.

Point #2: The Seahawks called a high-risk slant pass to their heretofore special teams WR down 4 in the final seconds of the Super Bowl against one of the worst goal line defenses in the league while the best goal line back in the league watches it happen.

Point #1 happened, ergo Point #2 is justifiable. Got it.

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High risk huh?

2014 NFL Season up until that play (total NFL):

Pass plays run from the 1 yard line: 106
TD's: 61
Conversion %: 57.5
Interceptions: 0
Fumbles: 0
Turnover %: 0
Lost yard plays: 4
Lost yard plays %: 3.8

Run plays from the 1 yard line: 212
TD's: 122
Conversion %: 57.5
Fumbles: 2
Turnover %: 0.9
Negative plays: 22
Negative plays %: 10.4

Maybe you don't "got it". Statistically no NFL team - never mind the Seahawks - turned over the ball on a passing play from the 1 yard line before Lynch turned the ball over with a fumble from a handoff in the 2013 NFC Championship game from the 1 yard line.

Just to be clear.



Are you capable of seeing the irony?

Thank you for the research and summation VanCan. You felt the pain on the last play of 49 just like all of your 12 peers, but it's still so painful to accept, even with the logic behind the play call as you elequently point out. One more thing factoring into Hawk fans' angst, I believe, is that Marshawn was in BeastMode at that point and time. He was running angry, so to believe he couldn't bull rush, twisting, contorting and churning for that one measley yard is unfathamable to comprehend. But as another poster just mentioned, we're in High Times right now as Seahawks fans, so to dwell on that one play instead of taking maximum pleasure on the ride we're currently enjoying is a flat out shame.

Siouxhawk":eh6uvly7 said:

Thank you for the research and summation VanCan. You felt the pain on the last play of 49 just like all of your 12 peers, but it's still so painful to accept, even with the logic behind the play call as you elequently point out. One more thing factoring into Hawk fans' angst, I believe, is that Marshawn was in BeastMode at that point and time. He was running angry, so to believe he couldn't bull rush, twisting, contorting and churning for that one measley yard is unfathamable to comprehend. But as another poster just mentioned, we're in High Times right now as Seahawks fans, so to dwell on that one play instead of taking maximum pleasure on the ride we're currently enjoying is a flat out shame.

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Actually I totally agree with you...I absolutely love everything about this point in Seahawks history, except I can't stand the hate that some fans seem to have towards some of the members of the coaching staff that have helped us get to where we are.

These haters are so myopic and have virtually zero memory. These haters have this impossible notion that EVERYTHING is in a person's control and if something goes wrong then they must take his head when reality is that its a competition and sometimes your opponent is just going to beat you, or outguess you, or the ball just bounces the wrong way.

Stuff happens. No offensive coordinator is ever going to be perfect because his opponents are pretty good to.

The last time this slant play was executed it was so wide open it wasn't even funny. We just got beat that day so stop the hating.