Yes it was, look at where it landed on the receiver NOT where it was when he threw it.
The defender took it over the LEFT shoulder of the receiver not his right. The ball was behind.
It is true that Browner diagnosed the play and told Butler what to expect and blew up the block. But RW could have lead the receiver, NO INT, or pulled and ran to the right.
Still had time for a time out or incomplete or another run.
God help me, I just watched the NBC clip of the play on YouTube about ten times in a row. I don't know what you're seeing.
Ricardo Lockette is a receiver on the right side of the formation, running a shallow slant towards the middle- i.e. going left. For a receiver running a route like this, their right shoulder becomes the front shoulder. And that's where Russ was throwing the ball to - he was trying to lead him. Ricardo's back/left shoulder is pointing towards Russ at the time Malcolm Butler attacks Ricardo's front shoulder and reaches through his arms to steal the ball.
In hindsight, it would've been beneficial for Russ to actually throw slightly behind Ricardo so he has to twist a bit for the ball. This would give his back to Butler, who will hit him hard, but the momentum might carry Ricardo into the end zone.
But...it wasn't a badly thrown ball. What can we fault Russ for? Watch his three step dropback after he gets the snap. He pretty much did it at normal speed.
He can't throw it immediately after getting the snap from Unger, he has to see that Ricardo has made his break and not slipped. If Russ immediately throws the ball and Ricardo stumbles, it's going straight to Butler.
But, if Russ got set right away, he could throw the ball when Ricardo made his second step of his break inside. And then Butler isn't there in time.
The formation and play call were awful. Because it's compressed, Russ would have to dodge a lot of Patriots that would be in position to get him, if he felt like he needed to. Rainger, he can't run to the right....he's in a terrible spot to try to make #50 on the Patriots miss him. This is why it was such a terrible play call on second down. If something goes wrong, let's pretend it's a bad snap from Unger...Russ has very little chance to bail out of the play if something goes wrong.