I don't understand that last play call for the Seahawks
- Thread starter Coug1990
- Start date
Poor coaching
'90, you are not the only one who doesn't understand the call. I don't know if the call came from the OC, from Carroll, or if Wilson audibled.
I doubt it was an audible; if not, then one of the coaches called it, and the other knew what was called. That makes it on Carroll.
Pete will probably never live it down. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. They could probably have run Lynch to four different places and punched through for 1/2 yard. And if you wanted to be sneaky, Wilson could have kept it.
But to throw a slant over the middle when most of the Patriot D was there, waiting for the run play?
Pete and his OC are going to be remembered as dumb and dumber.
'90, you are not the only one who doesn't understand the call. I don't know if the call came from the OC, from Carroll, or if Wilson audibled.
I doubt it was an audible; if not, then one of the coaches called it, and the other knew what was called. That makes it on Carroll.
Pete will probably never live it down. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. They could probably have run Lynch to four different places and punched through for 1/2 yard. And if you wanted to be sneaky, Wilson could have kept it.
But to throw a slant over the middle when most of the Patriot D was there, waiting for the run play?
Pete and his OC are going to be remembered as dumb and dumber.
Single worst call in the history of football. Lost the game, lost the Super Bowl. I'd have fired the coach in the locker room after the game. No way an NFL player can trust that coach to make the right call ever again.
The reality is that the Seahawks may never play for another Super Bowl again, ever. In a 150 years. They pissed that one away.
The reality is that the Seahawks may never play for another Super Bowl again, ever. In a 150 years. They pissed that one away.
I've watched a lotta football in my short time on the planet Earth. Dumbest.single.play.call.I've.ever.seen.in.my.life. I've said for the past year and a half that Bevell is the reason the Seahawks could be held back. Case in point.
Let's say you're a high school basketball coach. And... you have a 7'0" center. Odds are the tallest kid on ANY team you play will be 6'5". At the end of the game, down by 1 point, everyone knows who is getting the ball. You know. The other team knows it. Your teams knows it. Everyone in the room knows it. Instead you let your 5'8" point guard shoot it and you lose. You're a dummy.
Coaching matters. Seahawks pissed away another Super Bowl ring. Fire the OC. I have no idea how anyone in that locker room could trust that man again.
Coaching matters. Seahawks pissed away another Super Bowl ring. Fire the OC. I have no idea how anyone in that locker room could trust that man again.
Still sick to my stomach. Enjoy Bevell throwing his receiver under the bus after that call. Carroll made some gibberish up about he didn't like NE playing GL at the GL, so they threw, but then said they were gonna run it on 3rd and 4th. Worst play call in the history of the SB. Don't care, Seattle had a repeat all locked up and got too cute. When the lined up in shotgun I knew it was bad. Just an awful way to lose a game, but probably shouldn't have been there to begin with.
Felt like I was watching Stanford the last 2 seasons
that was a total David Shaw call, just on a much bigger stage.
that was a total David Shaw call, just on a much bigger stage.
Great.
Now I get to live with two coaches that make inexplicable decisions with the game on the line.
I had forgotten that PC likes to get cute like that, mostly because all of his "cute" plays have been successful thus far. That one was a stark reminder of his history with getting too cute with the play calling.
Now I get to live with two coaches that make inexplicable decisions with the game on the line.
I had forgotten that PC likes to get cute like that, mostly because all of his "cute" plays have been successful thus far. That one was a stark reminder of his history with getting too cute with the play calling.
Plashke this morning in the LA Times pointed out that this is the second time Carroll has done this. He threw away a second NCAA championship when he ran on 4th and 2 at mid-field against Texas with Reggie Bush on the sidelines and LenDale White in the game. Now he has thrown away a second Superbowl with another 4th and stupid call.
Pete has a lot of talents, but I would not put game management near the top of his list.
Pete has a lot of talents, but I would not put game management near the top of his list.
It was only second down. Look at what Carrol and his staff did at the end of the first half. They drove the entire field and went for it with 6 seconds left on the clock to score a TD. A lot of teams would not have had the cajones to try that. A lot, like Green Bay's Mike McCarthy, would have settled for a FG without taking the shot that Carroll did.
They also drove the entire field with little time on the clock at the end of the game. Personally, I am not upset with game management. It was just a piss poor play call. I understand passing the ball in order to have two more chances. But, that play call?
This post was edited on 2/2 9:50 AM by Coug1990
Biggs said it well (so did many others). It was the worst call in Super Bowl history. Some are even saying in NFL history, maybe even the history of the sport.
Pete and Russell tried to take the bullet for Darrell Bevell--and he returned the favor by throwing Lockette under the bus. But if you watch the replay, Lockette is going to catch the ball (and with 1 second from snap to pass on a slant, the ONLY thing you can do as a receiver is get in position to catch; you don't have time to worry about setting it up and boxing the defender out etc.), and Butler bumps him off the route at full speed.
I've wanted Bevell gone for 3 years now. Get your cute s--- out of here, DB. He had a lot of defenders before, but can't imagine that's the case after last night.
The explanation they've given is silly, too. "They had a goal line formation." Oh really? And what were they going to do on 3rd and 4th down? Play prevent on the goal line?
You have the best short-yardage back in a decade who has already gone off for 100+ yards and a TD, they can't stop him, you've got a timeout and just 6 inches to go and 3 downs to do it. And contrary to the prevailing wisdom, you could run twice and call your final timeout if you don't make it on 3rd--all you need is at least :01 on the clock, which there would have been. It wasn't a "have to throw now or never" scenario.
You know Beast is your best chance at winning, and you--in your words--"waste" a down on one of the highest risk plays imaginable. Instead of leaning on your bread and butter, you throw in traffic on the goal line to your #5 receiver. You get what you deserved, but Seattle fans deserved better.
FWIW Pro Football Reference's win probability charts showed we had a 99.8% chance to win with :26 on the clock. Incredible feat that our OC figured out how to navigate to that 0.2% loss probability and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The 2 worst parts of all this:
(1) Belichick will be hailed as some sort of genius for engineering a victory, and Tom Brady will cement his legacy as the GOAT for a play he had no control over. In fact, the game was all but won until Mr. Bevell s--- the bed once again.
(2) We were out our 2 deep at NT, Lane broke his arm in the 1st quarter (I don't know why guys ALWAYS have to take it out of the end zone), Burley is inactive, Avril goes out with a concussion, and the entire LOB is gimpy. And the Pats did now and always have had the stench of cheating. And there are all these other things--cheating, injuries, playcalls... and yet at the end of the day, all anyone will remember is who won the ring that year. Nobody will say we "almost" won; few will even remember who the Pats--who are not even a great team IMO--defeated in the SB that year.
I hope we're back soon, but like others have said, it may not even be in our lifetime.
Pete and Russell tried to take the bullet for Darrell Bevell--and he returned the favor by throwing Lockette under the bus. But if you watch the replay, Lockette is going to catch the ball (and with 1 second from snap to pass on a slant, the ONLY thing you can do as a receiver is get in position to catch; you don't have time to worry about setting it up and boxing the defender out etc.), and Butler bumps him off the route at full speed.
I've wanted Bevell gone for 3 years now. Get your cute s--- out of here, DB. He had a lot of defenders before, but can't imagine that's the case after last night.
The explanation they've given is silly, too. "They had a goal line formation." Oh really? And what were they going to do on 3rd and 4th down? Play prevent on the goal line?
You have the best short-yardage back in a decade who has already gone off for 100+ yards and a TD, they can't stop him, you've got a timeout and just 6 inches to go and 3 downs to do it. And contrary to the prevailing wisdom, you could run twice and call your final timeout if you don't make it on 3rd--all you need is at least :01 on the clock, which there would have been. It wasn't a "have to throw now or never" scenario.
You know Beast is your best chance at winning, and you--in your words--"waste" a down on one of the highest risk plays imaginable. Instead of leaning on your bread and butter, you throw in traffic on the goal line to your #5 receiver. You get what you deserved, but Seattle fans deserved better.
FWIW Pro Football Reference's win probability charts showed we had a 99.8% chance to win with :26 on the clock. Incredible feat that our OC figured out how to navigate to that 0.2% loss probability and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The 2 worst parts of all this:
(1) Belichick will be hailed as some sort of genius for engineering a victory, and Tom Brady will cement his legacy as the GOAT for a play he had no control over. In fact, the game was all but won until Mr. Bevell s--- the bed once again.
(2) We were out our 2 deep at NT, Lane broke his arm in the 1st quarter (I don't know why guys ALWAYS have to take it out of the end zone), Burley is inactive, Avril goes out with a concussion, and the entire LOB is gimpy. And the Pats did now and always have had the stench of cheating. And there are all these other things--cheating, injuries, playcalls... and yet at the end of the day, all anyone will remember is who won the ring that year. Nobody will say we "almost" won; few will even remember who the Pats--who are not even a great team IMO--defeated in the SB that year.
I hope we're back soon, but like others have said, it may not even be in our lifetime.
It was the worst call in Superbowl history. That is a certainty. I had absolutely no problem with a pass. But, taking the ball out of the two play makers on the team (Lynch and Wilson) to throw to a 4th string WR makes no sense. Especially in a short congested or bunched field. Fake a hand off to Lynch and have Russell roll out with a run pass-option. It keeps the ball in the hands of a play maker and if everyone is covered or he cannot run the ball into the endzone, he throws the ball into the stands.
Pretty much covered all the points in this post.
The only thing I would add is that if you take a bigger snapshot of the game, our WR crew holds a large part of the responsibility for not sealing this game when we were up 10. Everyone knew the Pats would score again, especially given how beat up we were on D and Brady's uncanny ability to avoid the sack. In addition, Kearse did a piss poor job of creating traffic on that rub play, giving Butler a clear sprint to the ball.
Finally, I don't want to hear sh!t from Doug Baldwin again about how maligned they are. The Pats have a mediocre WR corps too, but they actually know how to catch and fight for the ball when facing man coverage. Our guys are simply... pedestrian, and DB owes Deon Sanders an apology.
Oh, and he pantomimed sh!tting on the football too. Stay classy, Doug.
While I agree that handing off to Lynch is the only sane thing to do, it is important to remember that New England successfully stonewalled Lynch on several different occasions in the game. There were several things that had to go wrong for that pass to be picked. Without a doubt, I would have handed it to Lynch in that situation though.
As for all of the drama about "worst call evah" and "Carroll will never live this down". Psssssh. Seattle is going to be favored to win the Super Bowl next year if they keep the team together. Even though Carroll (or someone) made a bad call, this just becomes a footnote if Seattle experiences success in the future. It might be a good idea to see how things play out in the future before the Seahawks fire Pete Carroll.
As for all of the drama about "worst call evah" and "Carroll will never live this down". Psssssh. Seattle is going to be favored to win the Super Bowl next year if they keep the team together. Even though Carroll (or someone) made a bad call, this just becomes a footnote if Seattle experiences success in the future. It might be a good idea to see how things play out in the future before the Seahawks fire Pete Carroll.
Jermaine Kearse and Doug Baldwin make some incredible catches from time to time. But they're not #1s who you know can go up and get a jump ball, or will make THE catch to seal the game. Some will tsk-tsk and point to the NFCCG where Kearse catches the "walkoff" ball. Well, don't forget he was also good for 2-4 INTs that completely changed the complexion of the game and forced us into a come-from-behind situation. In other words, he wrapped the car around a telephone pole and then pulled our ailing bodies out of the wreckage. Doesn't make him a hero IMO.
Do you think Kelvin Benjamin gets bumped off the ball by Butler at nearly 250 pounds? I don't. I was surprised at how Chris Matthews, a backup-backup scrub, played. He is exactly the big body receiver you need to go up and get those jump balls that RW loves to throw. Need a #1 version of Chris Matthews.
Also, keep in mind--I don't think anyone is saying Pete Carroll needs to go. I am saying Darrell Bevell needs to go and I've been saying it for 3 years. I think everybody is grateful to Pete for getting us where we are--he is the heartbeat of the team and without him we're probably a one-and-done team even with our current personnel. So I'm not sure why anybody's "defending" Carroll as Bevell is the real ass who screwed up and then threw players under the bus. "Don't look at me, look at Lockette!"
Agree with 1990 big time that IF you MUST call a passing play, you call a play that gives you an opportunity to throw it away, rather than throw it into traffic on the goal line. What we ended up doing was about as close as you could come to throwing the game for Vegas while still having plausible deniability. The "not plausible" version would be to simply take a knee on the 1 and run out the clock, down 4. Darrell Bevell dialed up something real close to that.
And if anybody's got a better idea on a single worse call in NFL history--which swung the win probability in the biggest game possible from "in the bag" to "not a chance" with a single play call--I'd like to hear it. I understand the resistance to the constant "superlative ever" talk, but this one is massively deserved IMO. I will never forget it.
Do you think Kelvin Benjamin gets bumped off the ball by Butler at nearly 250 pounds? I don't. I was surprised at how Chris Matthews, a backup-backup scrub, played. He is exactly the big body receiver you need to go up and get those jump balls that RW loves to throw. Need a #1 version of Chris Matthews.
Also, keep in mind--I don't think anyone is saying Pete Carroll needs to go. I am saying Darrell Bevell needs to go and I've been saying it for 3 years. I think everybody is grateful to Pete for getting us where we are--he is the heartbeat of the team and without him we're probably a one-and-done team even with our current personnel. So I'm not sure why anybody's "defending" Carroll as Bevell is the real ass who screwed up and then threw players under the bus. "Don't look at me, look at Lockette!"
Agree with 1990 big time that IF you MUST call a passing play, you call a play that gives you an opportunity to throw it away, rather than throw it into traffic on the goal line. What we ended up doing was about as close as you could come to throwing the game for Vegas while still having plausible deniability. The "not plausible" version would be to simply take a knee on the 1 and run out the clock, down 4. Darrell Bevell dialed up something real close to that.
And if anybody's got a better idea on a single worse call in NFL history--which swung the win probability in the biggest game possible from "in the bag" to "not a chance" with a single play call--I'd like to hear it. I understand the resistance to the constant "superlative ever" talk, but this one is massively deserved IMO. I will never forget it.
I don't know, bud. The league is built to squash dynasties. Its not unrealistic to think that this may be the last time the Seahawks reach the Superbowl in our lifetimes. We are tying up a ton of money on 2nd and 3rd contract players next season, and despite the fact that I love the hell out of the guy, I suspect we are going to throw Lynch a pile of cash as well. That doesn't leave a whole lot of room for free agents, which means we have to trust that Schneider and Carroll are going to continue to hit the draft lottery year after year.
Combine that with aging athletes that are starting to get dings here and there as they get older and all I see is the window slowly starting to close, already.
I'm not saying we can't be good or competitive consistently, which lets be honest, is a lot more than we've had with any other Seattle team ever, but getting there is only going to get tougher.
