Enough Already

For a week everyone with a microphone has been bashing Seattle Seahawks coaches Pete Carroll and Darrell Bevel for the "play-call." "The play that lost the Super Bowl." "Worst play in Super Bowl history." Anyone with a voice can question a call after the fact. It's so easy to say, or scream, what should have been done after seeing what has been done. Everyone is a genius when they don't have to make a call in real time. If Russell Wilson had completed that pass to Ricardo Lockette, Carroll and Bevell would have been geniuses too. Despite the outcome of the play it wasn't intended to end that way. No play is called with the intention to fail. A better pass might have been a completion. If Wilson had thrown the ball away the Seahawks would have had another shot, or two, at the win. Everyone wanted a Marshawn Lynch run from the 1-yard line. After all, he was successful only 20% of the time in that situation on the season. When they knew that it was coming the Patriots had shown an ability to stop Lynch in short-yardage in the game. Instead, Wilson threw the very first interception from the 1-yard line in the NFL this season. He threw it against a defense designed to stop the run. When an offense gets that close to the goal the defense typically becomes more resistant to a run. A pass in that situation had been the more successful play this year. Not by a lot but by enough to try it once when you have three downs to score. The Seahawks went with those percentages on that down with the knowledge that their careful quarterback wouldn't make the mistake that he ended up making. Sometimes players simply have to make plays.

"In times of crisis, think players, not plays."
     -Marty Schottenheimer

The thing that bothers me most about the "rubber-necking" over the Seahawks play-call is that it ignores the terrific play made by New England Patriots corner Malcolm Butler. The seldom-used, rookie made a veteran play. He did his homework, recognized the formation and play from his Seahawks studies, and reacted. He made a play when his team desperately needed him to make a play. If he's slow to recognize and react the Seahawks win the Super Bowl. That Wilson pass is complete. Considering that Butler is an undrafted rookie from Division II West Alabama targeting him was the play to call. It was genius. The only problem, for the Seahwks, was that the undrafted rookie from a tiny school made the play. Players have to make plays. Butler made a play. Wilson and/or Lockette did not.

Butler wasn't the only Patriot to step up. Her wasn't even initially on the field for that fateful play. Linebacker Akeem Ayers was. Ayers was on to help the Patriots stop the run. The Patriots coaches noticed that the Seahawks had three receivers on the field. They got him on the field to cover that extra receiver. Not only did Butler make a great play but the Patriots coaches made the right call. Fellow corner Brandon Browner also did the right things to clear the way for Butler. He was the hero behind the hero. Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse was "stacked" in front of Lockette. Kearse was supposed to force Browner back into the path of Butler, clearing the way for Lockette. It's a play often called on the goal-line. A snapshot of the play just as it's getting started shows what looks to be well designed Seahawks play. It looks like it's destined to succeed. But, the two Patriots corners blew it up. They executed and reacted perfectly. The Seahawks receivers didn't. Browner didn't let Kearse get off of the line. That gave Butler a clear lane to Lockette and the ball. It was a great job by the Patriots coaches to react to the players that the Seahawks had on the field and terrific execution by the Patriots players. The Patriots coaches won the chess match with the Seahawks coaches on that particular play. The Patriots players out-executed the Seahawks players once the ball was snapped.

The other little nugget that the "rubber-neckers" are conveniently forgetting is that the Seahawks have two play-makers on their offense. Those complaining about the play seem to think that the offense is simply Marshawn Lynch. He's an excellent runner. He may even be the engine that drives the Seahawks offense but Russell Wilson is a play-maker too. Putting the ball in Wilson's hand to win a game isn't a stupid thing to do. Wilson's emergence over the last two seasons is as much of a reason as Lynch's running for the Seahawks presence in the Super Bowl the last two years. It's a quarterback league and Wilson is one of the best. He probably makes that pass or gives his team another down well over 90% of the time. Maybe even every time but the one that counted the most. Those are far better odds than Lynch scoring against a defense designed to stop him.