Just watched the Super Bowl again

[theENGLISHseahawk]

Re-watched the game for the first time today. Switched it off before the final drive. Watched it two days after the SB and never again.

Anyway, while that one play has come to represent everything about that game -- on reflection for me it wasn't the main reason Seattle lost. When you're relying on one possession, one drive to win a game -- there is no margin for error.

The game was lost at 24-14 for two reasons. Firstly, the offense completely melted down. The drive for the Baldwin touchdown after the Wagner pick was a cake walk. The Pats defense looked gassed. Wilson juked Chandler Jones like he weighed 350lbs on one big run. Lynch was finding some nice holes. All they had to do was keep going. New England didn't really adjust all that much but the next two drives to follow were over as quick as a flash and NE were allowed to regain momentum. It's very difficult to work out why they didn't continue with a heavy dose of read option and using Wilson's legs. They went very conservative instead, very orthodox. Even on the fateful last drive it was sloppy -- taking shots downfield when they had all the time (and three time outs) to play it cool.

The Avril concussion was also huge. He picked it up on the Wagner interception. On his last drive SEA had NE at 3rd and 6 (just converted) and 3rd and 9 (picked) and all they were doing on 3rd down was running Gronk to the sticks and settling him down. Wagner saw it all day on the INT. Brady needed a quick out because of the pressure. With Avril gone they went back to slower crossing routes. Avril's injury was huge.

Not sure if anyone will even read this. Doubt anyone will want to. I just had to write something down after watching it again.

 

[Shadowhawk]

There was a long pass play to Kearse late in the third quarter of that game that he couldn't hang onto. (To be fair, New England had excellent coverage on the play, but it was still catchable.) If he holds onto that ball it would have put Seattle in field goal range at the very least, and an extra three points could have been huge. When they had to punt after that possession I started getting a little nervous that we were going to let the Patriots back into the game.

The game never should have come down to that last play. Attrition finally caught up to our defense but the offense could have and should have put that game out of reach when they had the chance. Seattle had that game and let it slip away.

 

[grizbob]

I agree. Our offense completely dried up heading into the 4th quarter. Also, our defense started giving up everything, especially on Simon's side against Edelman. I feel like if we'd stayed agressive on offense, we could have overcome the poor defense and made them have to take more chances. As it was, we blew a two-possession lead in the 4th quarter. it didn't all come down to just one play.

Doesn;t matter anyway, we're gonna win #2 this season.

:th2thumbs: :thirishdrinkers:

 

[AVL]

Brady throws 2 interceptions and we have a key injury on each play. What kind of luck is that?

 

[Hasselbeck]

There was a long pass play to Kearse late in the third quarter of that game that he couldn't hang onto. (To be fair, New England had excellent coverage on the play, but it was still catchable.) If he holds onto that ball it would have put Seattle in field goal range at the very least, and an extra three points could have been huge. When they had to punt after that possession I started getting a little nervous that we were going to let the Patriots back into the game.

The game never should have come down to that last play. Attrition finally caught up to our defense but the offense could have and should have put that game out of reach when they had the chance. Seattle had that game and let it slip away.

The moment Kearse dropped that pass I knew the Patriots had new life and would come back.

That would have been the nail in the coffin.

 

[dumbrabbit]

I hate that last play, but no matter who you cheer for Carroll was a genius in calling the pass play that got us back into the game just before halftime. That play was executed beautifully, to perfection.

 

[sutz]

Thanks, bro. Nice write up. It was a tough loss, but amazingly, it is far from the worst loss in team history IMHO.

Mostly, I was just glad that we didn't get Bronco'd in it. But above comments are quite valid, the game shouldn't have come down to that one play at the end. I've avoided the whole blame game largely because of that premise. Quite a few other mistakes were made along the way that led to the final denoument that could have dramatically changed the outcome.

C'est la vie. That's football.

 

[MexHawk]

Our offense seems to slow down whenever we're winning or early in the game. It looks like they need to feel the pressure to start to play to the fullest. I'd like to see that sense of pressure in them from the start.

 

[HawkGA]

I have long thought that losing Avril was the biggest issue in the game. The pass rush just died after that. You're probably right about the offense too though.

 

[Sarlacc83]

Quinn also doesn't get nearly enough censure for his choice on 3 and 14 of dropping Dobbs (IIRC) 3 yards back and rushing three. Brady stepped into the vacancy and converted - leading to a TD. That was, IMO, the turning point of the game because without it, there is probabaly no comeback and thus, no 'play'.

 

[nanomoz]

I still haven't watched it again.

I'll never understand why we went away from what worked in the 4th quarter. It was noticeable to most fans in real time. The 'Hawks let off the gas in the 4th, when they had momentum.

Thanks for your observations. You're right on.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

I remember thinking we had them on the ropes, and then watching us fritter it away. Agonizing.

 

[kearly]

There was also an uncalled PI at some point in the 2nd half that was huge. Not only the penalty, if the defender had not tripped (Lockette?) on that play, it could have easily been six. The flag wasn't thrown and Seattle punted.

People bring up the Kearse drop all the time but never that uncalled PI. Kearse made an amazing catch that more than made up for it anyway, only to have Bevell blow it at the 1. What really hurts is that if Kearse (strong to the ball) and Lockette (ridiculously good blocker) had switched roles, Bevell's mistake would have been much less likely to bite him. I could see Lockett having a chance physically against Browner.

I dismiss the Avril mythology because Irvin had a sack replacing him, and pressure wasn't the reason why Brady was hitting Edelman in 2 seconds over and over and over. The Lane injury played a far bigger role than Avril's, IMO. Even if Avril was in there Brady still would have been hitting Edelman in 2 seconds.

The weird thing was, the ending of the game wasn't actually all that agonizing for me up until the 'the play'. I'm so used to it now with these Pete Carroll teams. Remember when the SB Champion season Seahawks trailed the winless Bucs at home by 21 points? I just expect crazy shit with this team. In a lot of ways watching these Hawks is like the "Fernando Rodney experience" in 2014. There is constant drama. Even against bad teams Seattle very often makes it dramatic. So against the 2nd best team in the NFL, I was ready for a gut wrenching game.

I got over it way faster than XL. And even though we lost, the game made the Seahawks a legendary team.

 

[Hasselbeck]

There was also an uncalled PI at some point in the 2nd half that was huge. Not only the penalty, if the defender had not tripped (Lockette?) on that play, it could have easily been six. The flag wasn't thrown and Seattle punted.

Yep, that was huge. Lockette was wide open and Butler blatantly tripped him.

 

[horns_n_hawks]

There was also an uncalled PI at some point in the 2nd half that was huge. Not only the penalty, if the defender had not tripped (Lockette?) on that play, it could have easily been six. The flag wasn't thrown and Seattle punted.

People bring up the Kearse drop all the time but never that uncalled PI. Kearse made an amazing catch that more than made up for it anyway, only to have Bevell blow it at the 1. What really hurts is that if Kearse (strong to the ball) and Lockette (ridiculously good blocker) had switched roles, Bevell's mistake would have been much less likely to bite him. I could see Lockett having a chance physically against Browner.

I dismiss the Avril mythology because Irvin had a sack replacing him, and pressure wasn't the reason why Brady was hitting Edelman in 2 seconds over and over and over. The Lane injury played a far bigger role than Avril's, IMO. Even if Avril was in there Brady still would have been hitting Edelman in 2 seconds.

The weird thing was, the ending of the game wasn't actually all that agonizing for me up until the 'the play'. I'm so used to it now with these Pete Carroll teams. Remember when the SB Champion season Seahawks trailed the winless Bucs at home by 21 points? I just expect crazy shit with this team. In a lot of ways watching these Hawks is like the "Fernando Rodney experience" in 2014. There is constant drama. Even against bad teams Seattle very often makes it dramatic. So against the 2nd best team in the NFL, I was ready for a gut wrenching game.

I got over it way faster than XL. And even though we lost, the game made the Seahawks a legendary team.

I can't decide which one is more frustrating in retrospect, XL or XLIX. I think both are just so easy to point out pivotal mistakes by referees and our players, and just bad luck.

I'm just excited after this season starts I won't have to get asked my opinion on 'the play' by every person outside of the PNW that sees me in a Seahawks shirt. ukeface:

 

[VivaEfrenHerrera]

There was also an uncalled PI at some point in the 2nd half that was huge. Not only the penalty, if the defender had not tripped (Lockette?) on that play, it could have easily been six. The flag wasn't thrown and Seattle punted.

Yep, that was huge. Lockette was wide open and Butler blatantly tripped him.

If any one play decided that game, to me, this has always been the one that did it. Not the great/lucky pick by the rookie.

This one wasn't a borderline, could-go-either-way kind of call. This was a if-you're-not-going-to-call-it-there's-no-point-in-having-rules kind of call. I guess they just missed it, somehow, because it doesn't seem like the kind of thing they'd have the stones to just up and ignore.

 

[ivotuk]

There was also an uncalled PI at some point in the 2nd half that was huge. Not only the penalty, if the defender had not tripped (Lockette?) on that play, it could have easily been six. The flag wasn't thrown and Seattle punted.

People bring up the Kearse drop all the time but never that uncalled PI. Kearse made an amazing catch that more than made up for it anyway, only to have Bevell blow it at the 1. What really hurts is that if Kearse (strong to the ball) and Lockette (ridiculously good blocker) had switched roles, Bevell's mistake would have been much less likely to bite him. I could see Lockett having a chance physically against Browner.

I dismiss the Avril mythology because Irvin had a sack replacing him, and pressure wasn't the reason why Brady was hitting Edelman in 2 seconds over and over and over. The Lane injury played a far bigger role than Avril's, IMO. Even if Avril was in there Brady still would have been hitting Edelman in 2 seconds.

The weird thing was, the ending of the game wasn't actually all that agonizing for me up until the 'the play'. I'm so used to it now with these Pete Carroll teams. Remember when the SB Champion season Seahawks trailed the winless Bucs at home by 21 points? I just expect crazy shit with this team. In a lot of ways watching these Hawks is like the "Fernando Rodney experience" in 2014. There is constant drama. Even against bad teams Seattle very often makes it dramatic. So against the 2nd best team in the NFL, I was ready for a gut wrenching game.

I got over it way faster than XL. And even though we lost, the game made the Seahawks a legendary team.

That's the thing lost in all of this. That one play will go down in history and most everyone will believe that Seattle would have won had they handed off to Lynch.

Russell's pass could have been more outside too. IMHO, he led Ricardo a bit too much.

Bevell overthinks things sometimes.

 

[RussB]

They had a 10 point lead and gave it up. When i was watching i thought the hawks where going to start blowing the patriots out. That was the biggest mistake . ..........and the "the play"

 

[kf3339]

None of this matters now, but I still say the main reason was cutting Clemons after the Super Bowl win in that offseason just to save some money. It put us down to only two true quality pass rushing DE's and we paid for it when Avril went down. Had Clemons been on the team he would have taken his place and we would have won that game easily. PC and JS were being too cute with the money.

But again who cares now.

 

[jammerhawk]

Still think the coaches got too cute at the end of that game and should have pounded the ball in. In short I think Bevell is a blockhead. Their clock management was pretty awful as well.