Super Bowl XLIX: Seattle Seahawks vs. New England Patriots

They have enough to lock down their foundation players on defense (which most of them already are)... The offense is pretty much just Lynch and Russell with a bunch of nobodies so I don't believe the cap is as big of an issue as people make it out to be.

And Rodgers is a choke artist in the playoffs... Without a dominant defense he can't carry a team to the super bowl... So Seattle was supposed to be there.

 

I wouldn't blame Wilson. It was a timing route and he had to throw it then with any chance of completion. It wasn't a bad throw. Butler just made a great play.

I wouldn't count on it. There is a lot of parity in the league and it isn't just a matter of youth and talent to repeat but a lot of luck. As we've seen this season, injuries and fluke plays can play a very large role in making it to the Superbowl.

 

hahahah -- did you even watch the Green Bay/Seattle game? yeah that onside kick, lol

Seattle's luck ran out.

 

Talked about this in the Brady thread but wanted to say it in here...

The Patriots scheme is the greatest of all time. Their offense is so creative. That is the big difference to me. The Patriots have no problem designing plays that get first downs. They need 7 yards, looky there, they run a play that has a WR wide open at 8 yards down field. It's just crazy to me. That scheme is incredibly well mapped out and Brady executes it perfectly. It's not even that they get nobodies wide open while their stars are covered up. They ran plays last night that got Edleman and Gronk WIDE open right at the sticks. They are brilliant.

Biggest difference between Seahawks and Patriots was the Seahawks had to "make a play" to move the ball down field while the Patriots just run the machine.

 

That is any unexpected play. Hell, had he faked a punt the posession prior and pulled it off, everyone would praise him.... look at the play before the half with 6 seconds left.

Ultimately this is what we know.

When the Seahawks came to the line, you could tell the Lynch was not going to run the ball, you could also see that the Pats had moved around their defense.

The Seahawks thought that the Patriots were in the goal line defense. No, the Patriots had decoyed them, three corners and a pass would play right into the Patriots defense based on the formations and short field.

Dan Pompei said that he spoke to Carroll for several hours after the game and it was a pass play WITHOUT the option to audible. The Seahawks essentially locked Russell Wilson into throwing the ball.

Russell Wilson telegraphed the pass, and the CB was supposed to be shielded on the play, but the Patriots knew it was going to the center of the field based on the location of the receivers. The CB had a shorter route to the ball than the WR did and that is exactly why he made the interception.

Bevell can throw his receiver under the bus, and probably would have thrown Wilson under the bus if he wasn't so valuable..... but ultimately it was a bad play call.

If you want to stop the clock, spike the call or use your timeout. If you have confidence in Wilson to throw the ball, then throw to the sidelines. An OC knows not to throw the ball into the middle of the field on the 1 yard line with the game on the line and 3 downs to work with. This was Bevell getting out smarted by the Patriots.

 

Successful, long term NFL coaches have a "system" or game plan and that is what Bellichick does better than anyone ever. He has evolved his system consistently and you even saw it during the Superbowl. The Patriots severely out coached the Seahawks the last quarter of that game.

 

Iron Mike wouldn't have thrown the ball to the middle of the field on 2nd and goal from the 1 in the Super Bowl.

 

Exactly. They didn't have time for 3 runs. If they wanted 3 shots, they had to throw on 2nd or 3rd. You can argue they should have run on 2nd, but if that failed, they would've had to call timeout and then pass it anyway on 3rd and run it on 4th in order to get all 3 tries.

And if you say they shouldn't have thrown it at all, your chances of scoring a TD on a quick pass are much higher than getting an INT so your net probability of scoring goes up.

All that to say, in hindsight it was the wrong decision and running on 2nd was probably better, but people are judging it too much by the results rather than the reasoning behind it which was not that bad.

 

Luck or not luck it was still their 2nd super bowl appearance in a row and they're still one of the best teams in the NFC... Which still makes them super bowl contenders.

Yea I watched... I also watched that ridiculous interception Rodgers threw to Sherman in the end zone. Nothing you said changes the fact that Rodgers is a choke artist in the playoffs. He's no Flacco. Lol...

 

True it's a bad call because it went against conventional wisdom, had a high risk, and ultimately was disastrous. That said in hindsight I won't condemn Carroll and Bevell for trying that play. The Patriots rightfully suspected pass given they should be prepared for something other than the obvious run, but in those type of situations the pass play is usually a play action fade to the corners. A slant to the middle is unexpected because it is high risk as we saw. That the Seahawks didn't execute it perfectly and that Butler made a great play is part of football. There are no guaranteed plays since the players still have to execute and there are also opponents who aren't slouches either.

You don't get to the Superbowl without taking some risks. Sometimes they pay off and sometimes they fail horrendously. Bevell and Carroll probably should've known better but they wouldn't have been in that situation if they had only followed conventional wisdom and not gambled before.

 

Contenders yes but I not locks to make it. There is no NFL team that right now could be reasonably considered a lock to make it to the Superbowl in 2016.

And why wasn't Flacco in Superbowl or even the AFC championship this year?
As I said it is very hard to make it to the Superbowl due to a variety of factors. Rodgers didn't make it this year but he came damn close. There are several other QB's including Flacco who wish they could've gotten that far.

 

Cowboys vs Texans Superbowl 50

 

But, they didn't have to just give it Lynch. Herm Edwards broke down that play and if they'd run Wilson on the run-option to the left side, he'd have walked into the end zone. Hell, I would have tried a QB sneak before throwing that pass into the middle of the field. No matter how Carroll and Bevell (aka dumbass) try to "spin" this, it was an absolutely imbecilic call - the worst ever in a SuperBowl. In the end, it was Seattle's own arrogance & hubris that led to their downfall. All that "attitude" and BS counts for squat this morning when you are getting universally ripped and laughed at by everyone.

 

That's all he had to do, the middle was packed, run to your right, clear freaking path!!!

 

This times 1000. On a related note, we can only hope that BoB has the Texans as throughly prepared as does Belichick with the Pats. Their knowledge and preparation is beyond outstanding.

 

Russell Wilson will get better...he has some serious clutch genes.

 

He already has a championship at 26. No way that one play defines him.

 

I never said they were locks.. Just said they have a good chance. Better chance than a majority of the teams in the NFC... And at this point there's no debating that.

Probably because Baltimore got cheated by New England AGAIN.. Lol...!!! Just the same Green Bay is loaded on offense... But yet Flacco has better playoff #'s than Rodgers and he also has the best super bowl run EVER.

Also, that was a catch by Dez so I guess Green Bay's luck ran out against Seattle.

Rodgers is just a great regular season fantasy quarterback until further notice.