Super Bowl XLIX – A Last Word

Well the Super Bowl is in the books for another year after a surprising finish. The Patriots surged ahead 28-24 with 2:02 remaining in the fourth quarter and by rights should have been able to coast the rest of the way however once again Josh McDaniels looked to have pulled the trigger too early during the ensuing error-filled chain of events. The finish has already been dissected up, down and sideways however we were unable to locate a single accurate account of it amongst the reams of articles written about it.

With eight minutes left to play, the Seahawks were in some kind of zone, something that looked like a goal line Cover 3. Byron Maxwell missed Danny Amendola completely at the goal line allowing him un-impeded progress to the back of the end zone and let him go to double LaFell while Brady hit Amendola (before Thomas could get there because of the miss) in the sizable hole in the zone to come to within 3. New England, now down 24-21, got the ball back exactly 60 seconds later after Gotskowski’s touchback and a quick 3 and out (Seattle’s second 3-and-out in a row) followed by a lousy punt on their 36 yard line.

With seven minutes left to play, Brady and McDaniels engineered a drive that saw the Patriots on the Seahawk 12 with 2:52 remaining when the Patriots inexplicably called a time-out instead of letting the play clock run down to 2:12 and ended up essentially leaving Seattle with 4 time-outs by scoring before the two-minute warning. Brady went 8 for 8 on this drive and was so efficient that the Patriots did not face a single third down during the entire drive. They also did not run the ball once on second down. Had they been able to run for a short gain three times (on second down) the game would have ended with their touchdown – The Seahawks were on their heels and the so-called best defence in the NFL could not stop New England the entire fourth quarter.

When the Seahawks started their final drive of the day after yet another Gotskowski touchback Russell Wilson’s stat line was 9 of 16 for 172 yards (Brady had already set a passing record). After a coverage error that saw Jamie Collins trying to cover Marshawn Lynch out of the backfield got Seattle their first first down of the fourth quarter (New England had a run defence out there) the Patriots defence settled down however Logan Ryan gave up a first down on third and 10 to give Seattle a fresh set of downs on the Patriot 38. On first and 10 Malcolm Butler got a hand on Wilson’s 33 yard pass to Kearse however the ball remained in play while Duron Harmon, the guy who was supposed to provide inside support on the play, unbelievably leapt over Kearse instead of making a play on the ball.

I would imagine that Belichick spends hours and hours each season trying to grind into players psyche that until they hear the whistle they must assume the ball is live yet there was Harmon for all to see showboating as he acrobatically leapt over Kearse, leaving him free to pull in the catch. I would imagine that Belichick was having a baby at that point of the game. If Harmon would have finished the play the Seahawks would not have been on the New England 5 yard line with a full minute left on the clock. Seattle ran the ball on first down where an alert play by Ayers saved a Lynch TD.

Fortunately for New England, they were playing against Russell Wilson instead of a great QB as on second down Carroll looked to take advantage of New England’s goal-line defence by throwing a slant. That play had been run down at the goal line 60 times over the regular and post season without an interception however Wilson made a poor throw, Kearse got out-played by Browner and Lockette got outplayed by Butler who secured the interception and the game. A great many people (wrongly) questioned Bevell’s/Carroll’s play-call after the game however there was nothing wrong with the call and everything wrong with the execution. In fact, all that really happened was Seattle’s luck ran out. So many fortuitous things had to happen for Seattle to even get to the Super Bowl, to get to the New England 5 yard line that it is not surprising that they lost – It is surprising that they had a chance to win.