What If

[papillon]

Guess I am one of the few but I think it was the perfect playcall for what they have on offense. The whole world knew Beast Mode was going to get the rock.. There were 8 in the box.. BM was not having a monster night - Vince W was though.. The Quick Slant behind the Pick was a great Call - the only problem was the Guy who had been beaten the play before on some fluke wild Crap was praying for one more chance at Redemption.. He sold out for that one play and Came up Aces. He made a Superbowl winning play.. Thats all.. The percentages were in the Seahawks favor - buddy just beat the odds.

There is no play in a playbook that is 100% undefensible.. Heck the Pats didnt even call a Time out because EVERYBODY KNEW who to look for..
Sometimes you just have to tip your hat..

It was a good play, there just seemed to be a better one at their disposal. IMO, if they run the read option, Wilson walks in, the Pats would have all sold out to stop Lynch, Wilson would have skirted the edge untouched like he did against Green Bay, just my opinion though.

Pappy

[Starlifter]

forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what they did? I boycotted the superbowl, but I thought that was the way it played out... Wasn't the pick on 2nd down?

i didn't see it live. i just saw the replay. i thought it was the first attempt. I could be wrong.

[NJ-STEELER]

And if they had Run up the middle and Lost 8 yards ala Laflunk do you run it again?
They had a QB who was flirting with Elite, they put the ball in his hands and he came up empty. There was no Guarentee that BM would have made it but the World wants us to believe he would have.. What did he end up with 102 or something like that, he was not setting the world on Fire..
Everybody who is claiming they should have was also assuming that at the end of the Half they should have settled for the FG with 6 seconds left instead of The TD.
and as for our fans, we are always claiming No turtle, dont play to lose, Be aggressive - but now when It doesnt work those same folks want to say well you should have played Turtle ball, played it Safe, yadda yaddaa yaddaa.. The Seahawks were in the superbowl because they took chances.. Thats who they were.. Just didnt work last night..

I didnt have a problem with the Quick Slant - The house was coming and the ball had to come out quick..

102 yards when the defense's #1 goal is to stop you isn't a great game??

really?

if he scores on one of those next 3 plays, he's the game's MVP

[AxnJxn]

You run the ball...end of story. If you can get a yard on three plays, you don't deserve to win a championship.

Exactly. Even if they have their golline package in, this is football, and NE has struggled stopping short yardage all year. Instead, you throw the ball to a below average WR? I'm not sure why so many people are shocked at the result.

I remember the last SB against the Cowboys, when Cowher was miked up. We went for a 4th down play near midfield, and he said something to the effect of it we didn't get it, we didn't deserve to win. Same situation here. You hit them with beastmode 3 times in a row. If they stop it, then they deserve to win, but you lost with your best player getting the ball. Instead, you lost because you chose to throw to your #3 (#4? #5?) WR.

[RuthlessBurgher]

102 yards when the defense's #1 goal is to stop you isn't a great game??

really?

if he scores on one of those next 3 plays, he's the game's MVP

Or Chris Matthews. Or Michael Bennett.

[feltdizz]

Exactly. Even if they have their golline package in, this is football, and NE has struggled stopping short yardage all year. Instead, you throw the ball to a below average WR? I'm not sure why so many people are shocked at the result.

I remember the last SB against the Cowboys, when Cowher was miked up. We went for a 4th down play near midfield, and he said something to the effect of it we didn't get it, we didn't deserve to win. Same situation here. You hit them with beastmode 3 times in a row. If they stop it, then they deserve to win, but you lost with your best player getting the ball. Instead, you lost because you chose to throw to your #3 (#4? #5?) WR.

No, you don't try Lynch 3 straight times.. not enough time.

First off they messed up by letting too much time run off the clock after the run on 1st down. They should have ran Lynch or a read option right after 1st down then call TO if he doesn't make it. Then you roll RW out on 3rd down or PA pass on the next 2 downs.

Honestly, I think they didn't Lynch because of they didn't want Lynch to make a mockery of being the MVP in the press conferences.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Seriously, there is a guy named Jaquiski Tartt?
Seriously, you want to draft a guy named Cam Thomas?

Yup...Tartt is a safety with good size, speed, aggression, competitiveness, etc. who might be available in the middle of round 3 because he went to a small school (Samford). If he went to Alabama instead, he might be Landon Collins.

I figure since we are getting rid one big fat Cam Thomas, we could fill our Cam Thomas quota via the draft, with a younger, more athletic model.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

Guess I am one of the few but I think it was the perfect playcall for what they have on offense. The whole world knew Beast Mode was going to get the rock.. There were 8 in the box.. BM was not having a monster night - Vince W was though.. The Quick Slant behind the Pick was a great Call - the only problem was the Guy who had been beaten the play before on some fluke wild Crap was praying for one more chance at Redemption.. He sold out for that one play and Came up Aces. He made a Superbowl winning play.. Thats all.. The percentages were in the Seahawks favor - buddy just beat the odds.

There is no play in a playbook that is 100% undefensible.. Heck the Pats didnt even call a Time out because EVERYBODY KNEW who to look for..
Sometimes you just have to tip your hat..

I disagree that it was the perfect playcall. You have everybody bunched up at the goalline from both teams. You have a below average sized QB. What if the OL gets stood upright? What if one of the entire team of players in the box gets a hand up? Two things work for this O. Hand off to the big man, or fake the hand off and move the QB. How many times in the entire game did Wilson drop straight back? Answer...I don't know, but it was much less than half the time that he did drop back. Why? Because their entire O is based on the threat of Lynch. I would have had less of a problem if they faked to BM and bootlegged. Even if he throwa a pick, at least he does so going to his strength - they would have gotten beat while doing what they do best.

Takes me back to the career of Bettis. In the fourth Q, with the game on the line, everybody in the stadium knew that Jerome was getting the ball. All of us watching at home knew it. I think that a few times the Steelers even sent a message into the D huddle to inform them that Bettis was getting the ball. That is why he went for only 3.9 over his career. In the fourth, it was grind, grind, grind - try and stop us. I can assure you that Cowher hands the ball to his finisher, and I am quite certain that with three chances (yes, there was three if they don't blow the clock after he gained four on first down) he gets in.

[chiken]

I disagree that it was the perfect playcall. You have everybody bunched up at the goalline from both teams. You have a below average sized QB. What if the OL gets stood upright? What if one of the entire team of players in the box gets a hand up? Two things work for this O. Hand off to the big man, or fake the hand off and move the QB. How many times in the entire game did Wilson drop straight back? Answer...I don't know, but it was much less than half the time that he did drop back. Why? Because their entire O is based on the threat of Lynch. I would have had less of a problem if they faked to BM and bootlegged. Even if he throwa a pick, at least he does so going to his strength - they would have gotten beat while doing what they do best.

Takes me back to the career of Bettis. In the fourth Q, with the game on the line, everybody in the stadium knew that Jerome was getting the ball. All of us watching at home knew it. I think that a few times the Steelers even sent a message into the D huddle to inform them that Bettis was getting the ball. That is why he went for only 3.9 over his career. In the fourth, it was grind, grind, grind - try and stop us. I can assure you that Cowher hands the ball to his finisher, and I am quite certain that with three chances (yes, there was three if they don't blow the clock after he gained four on first down) he gets in.

No one Raised a hand because the Defense was not expecting a pass (they were selling out for the Run) Advantage Hawks. They Caught the Pats by surprise - RW just threw a bad ball.. he should have put it lower not chest high.. IF not for one guy selling out for that ONE play the Hawks would be the first team to Repeat since the Patriots. I am not sure why nobody wants to give the Pats Credit and put the blame on the QB who threw a bad ball... IF that pass misfires low and nobody catches it then they could have run Skittles on 2nd down with 1 time out.. Running on that down and getting stuffed, would have undoubtedly forced them to use their LAST time out with under 20 seconds which would have put them in a super tight spot - possibly unable to run Skittles again because of the time..

[RuthlessBurgher]

No one Raised a hand because the Defense was not expecting a pass (they were selling out for the Run) Advantage Hawks. They Caught the Pats by surprise - RW just threw a bad ball.. he should have put it lower not chest high.. IF not for one guy selling out for that ONE play the Hawks would be the first team to Repeat since the Patriots. I am not sure why nobody wants to give the Pats Credit and put the blame on the QB who threw a bad ball... IF that pass misfires low and nobody catches it then they could have run Skittles on 2nd down with 1 time out.. Running on that down and getting stuffed, would have undoubtedly forced them to use their LAST time out with under 20 seconds which would have put them in a super tight spot - possibly unable to run Skittles again because of the time..

If that pass was incomplete instead of intercepted, it would have been 3rd and 1, not 2nd and 1.

[ikestops85]

No one Raised a hand because the Defense was not expecting a pass (they were selling out for the Run) Advantage Hawks. They Caught the Pats by surprise - RW just threw a bad ball.. he should have put it lower not chest high.. IF not for one guy selling out for that ONE play the Hawks would be the first team to Repeat since the Patriots. I am not sure why nobody wants to give the Pats Credit and put the blame on the QB who threw a bad ball... IF that pass misfires low and nobody catches it then they could have run Skittles on 2nd down with 1 time out.. Running on that down and getting stuffed, would have undoubtedly forced them to use their LAST time out with under 20 seconds which would have put them in a super tight spot - possibly unable to run Skittles again because of the time..

How could he throw that pass lower? He has to get it over the D-line. The pass was pretty much perfect. The DB made a great play ... much like Harrison did against Warner. That you couldn't throw a low pass from that point of the field is why it was a bad play call IMO. High passes over the middle get tipped and intercepted while low passes are either caught or fall incomplete. Why they didn't throw something high to Chris Matthews on the outside if they wanted to pass I'll never know. He was having a great game and the *'s couldn't have been looking for that play since the guy hadn't caught a pass all season.

[chiken]

I am not sure that they had that guy on the field, when Bill didn't call A time out it really sped up the Hawks..

[Shoe]

As I sit here today, I can't think of a worst call in all the games I have ever watched.

That said, the fact that the Seahawks were in a position to win that game is nuts to begin with. If it wasn't for that moronic "I know better than everyone call", what everyone would remember was that ridiculous miracle reception that set it up.

Here's the thing about that: If Ben doesn't make that tackle, would we be calling that Bettis fumble the dumbest play ever? After all, we probably didn't even need to run that play at all! Seattle needed to score, and ran a low-risk/high-reward play.

[papillon]

How could he throw that pass lower? He has to get it over the D-line. The pass was pretty much perfect. The DB made a great play ... much like Harrison did against Warner. That you couldn't throw a low pass from that point of the field is why it was a bad play call IMO. High passes over the middle get tipped and intercepted while low passes are either caught or fall incomplete. Why they didn't throw something high to Chris Matthews on the outside if they wanted to pass I'll never know. He was having a great game and the *'s couldn't have been looking for that play since the guy hadn't caught a pass all season.

Matt Patricia had adjusted to Matthews by taking the shorter CB and replacing him with a much bigger CB to battle with him for the jump balls. That may be one reason they didn't go with the back shoulder or fade to Matthews.

Pappy