There are not many things Bostonians love more than their beloved sports teams, and so as the New England Patriots went up for their fourth Super Bowl title this past Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, hundreds of thousands sat glued to their television sets with buffalo wings, coke, and championship football.
On the Patriot’s goal line with 26 seconds remaining, the game’s outcome came down to a nail-biting play, when Patriots rookie Malcolm Butler intercepted a pass from Seahawk quarterback Russell Wilson.
One thing is for certain, though. Standing in the cold at the championship parade yesterday, with record snowfall everywhere, fans clamored with joy as their New England Patriots showed off the Vince Lombardi trophy. The most diehard fans even climbed tall mounds of snow to get a better view of their heroes.
However you account for the Patriot’s victory, fans everywhere are talking about Seattle Head Coach Pete Carroll’s decision to throw on the 1-yard line on the team’s second down.
“I said, ‘Throw the ball,’ and we went with the play that we thought would give us a chance to get in the end zone. We had great matchups for the call that we made, and it didn’t work out. They made a better play than we did,” Caroll was quoted as saying in a recent ESPN article.
Still, Caroll’s call is hotly debated. A recent New York Times article offers rationale behind Carroll’s final call, saying it was “actually the result of following the best possible strategy, and that this is a strategy that involves an element of randomness in play-calling. ”
Here’s to hoping for a fifth title next year.
Use the comment section below to voice your opinion.
jake • Feb 7, 2015 at 12:08 am
In my opinion the Seahawks have had such success recently for two reasons—their defense of course, and the rushing attack led by the best running back in the league, Marshawn lynch. As we have seen repeatedly through his career, Lynch is a power running back who had been known to drag several defenders at a time to get a few extra yards. I don’t see how there can be any call other than running the ball with Marshawn for the second, third, and fourth down. The Seahawks did in fact make a historic blunder to end one of the most exciting super bowls off all time.
Mrs. Pendergast • Feb 6, 2015 at 1:31 pm
Great job, AJ. I am forwarding this link to my out-of-town children who are diehard Pats fan. They will enjoy it.
Ethan Winter • Feb 6, 2015 at 12:27 am
This play call has gotten a bad spin. In truth, it just wasn’t that bad! This year passes from the one yard line actually had a higher success rate than rushes. Furthermore, this call came down to clock management. With only a handful of seconds left and one time out the Seahawks were not in an ideal situation. If they ran the ball on second down and failed (definitely possible with the Patriots with their goal-line personnel on the field and the Seahawks two-minute drill personnel creating mismatches) the Seahawks would be forced to use a burn a time out. This means now on third down they would be forced to throw because if they ran the ball again and failed the game would be over (there would be no time to run a play on fourth down). This would play right into the Patriot’s hand as they would send in the right players on third down to defend the pass. Therefore, passing on second down was the only course of action. If they succeeded its a touchdown. If they fail its a dead ball and they preserve a timeout and can run the next two plays. Passing was the right option. The Patriots just happened to make an incredible play.
AJ Naddaff • Feb 6, 2015 at 12:43 am
Really well articulated. At first hand, and as you can see in my video footage, the majority of fans out there do not understand the context of the last call, and are quick to blame Carroll, because let’s admit it, it’s fun and easy to succumb to finger pointing. Still, it would be interesting to hear a well-resourced, and backed up response from a conflicting source refuting your argument. As for my opinion, I think there’s much logic in what you have to offer. The only bit I would change is that it wasn’t the Patriots who made the incredible last play, it was Butler… Good looks man.
Sam • Feb 6, 2015 at 12:51 am
I agree with Ethan. Carroll also explained after the game that the team didn’t have the matchup it wanted on the play to call a run. With a pass-friendly set of one running back, one tight end, and three wideouts in the game, the Seahawks expected New England to have smaller, quicker defenders in on their side to defend the pass.