• Home
  • About
  • China blog

Wade said

~ musings, ramblings and occasional clarity

Wade said

Tag Archives: Dumb call

Why Seattle’s intercepted pass call in the Super Bowl wasn’t a bad call.

02 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by W in sports

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Dumb call, Interception, New England Patriots, Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks, Super Bowl

The complaint has been that Pete Carroll (of whom I am no fan) blew the Super Bowl by not handing off to Marshawn Lynch on the fateful 2nd down play that ended up being intercepted.

First, it wasn’t Carroll’s call. It was Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevel’s.

Second, there are probabilities at play.  Some people are (to paraphrase Cousin Sal) X’s and O’s, and some are “all about the Jim’s and Joe’s”.

Here’s the problem with running on 2nd down:

If you run Lynch on 2nd and he’s stuffed, you have to burn your last Time Out. That effectively takes the run off the table for 3rd and (if there’s time) 4th down. It cuts your options, and the NE defense would know this.

By saving the TO, it keeps the whole playbook open longer.

Example:
There were 26 seconds left when the ball was snapped on 2nd down. If you run Lynch and he’s stuffed (and he was 1/5 on 1yd goal line runs this season – he’s a Beast, but goal line running is different), you have to call time out to stop the clock.

You then have between 18 and 20 seconds left, but no timeouts on 3rd down; one more run that’s stuffed could end the game. A QB bootleg that doesn’t get in likely ends the game because it eats too much time to line back up

By passing on 2nd, of the 3 possible outcomes, 2 are good: a likely game-winning TD, an incomplete pass (stopping the clock and preserving the TO) or INT. And an incomplete sets up a 3rd down with the entire playbook still an option. You run Lynch on THIRD, and even if he’s stuffed, you STILL have a wide-open playbook on a 4th and goal for the ages.

As the game ended, my issue wasn’t the pass call, but rather the pass call into traffic. I couldn’t believe they didn’t try a fade into the corner for Matthews or Willson across the back at the endline.

As a PS, look at what Russell Wilson saw on that play, via tweet from Rob Guerrera, NBC Sports stats guy – “This is what Wilson saw on the big INT. I would have thrown that, too.”. Russell Wilson's view on the INT

Pro Football Outsiders Aaron Schatz’s conclusion is that Seahawks WR Lockette (#83 above) blew it by not making a more aggressive play on the ball. That play looks like a sure-fire TD.  “I think Lockette blew it. He didn’t get to the spot. And Christopher Price told me after the game, he talked to (Patriots backup QB) Jimmy Garappolo in the locker room and Garappolo told him that the scout team beat Butler with that exact play in practice. So he knew how to read it and he knew what to do. And unlike in practice he did it. ”

If Kearse gets a better jam off the line, he takes out Butler. But he didn’t.  There are lots of “buts” here, but the point is that Wilson got a good look at what he wanted (but he threw it to the outside shoulder, not the inside, where Butler couldn’t have picked it).

You can disagree on the call, but it wasn’t a “bad” call by Darrell Bevel.

Advertisements

animals apps awesome cats cool CurrentlyReading government history law memes movies music philosophy pictures politics science-a-go-go Seriously? society sports travel Uncategorized videos

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 228 other followers

Follow on Twitter

  • На нём же и распнут. 3 years ago
  • Не ищи справедливость 3 years ago
  • Отбрось стекло, отбрось все мысли 3 years ago
  • я, мой шейх, молодая, а ты уже стар. 3 years ago
  • Оказалась хунтой. 3 years ago
Follow @WadeFCR

Abraham Lincoln Barack Obama baseball basketball Beijing Bill Clinton books buildings Burj Khalifa cat Cats census China Clinton comedy Cory Booker Cows David Letterman death derp dog Donald Trump Dubai earth football Foster funny Game of Thrones George H.W. Bush George W. Bush Gravity guitar history inauguration insane Jimmy Fallon Joe Biden John Boehner kitten mittons LeBron James maps Math Michelle Obama MLB moon movie Movies music NASA NBA New England Patriots New Jersey New York City NFL Pearl Jam Philadelphia Phillies pope population prank president psychology Russell Wilson science-a-go-go Seattle Seattle Seahawks Senate shark space Squirrel Star Wars Stupid Super Bowl Superman treadmill Weather

Archives

  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013

Categories

  • animals
  • apps
  • awesome
  • cats
  • cool
  • CurrentlyReading
  • government
  • history
  • law
  • memes
  • movies
  • music
  • philosophy
  • pictures
  • politics
  • science-a-go-go
  • Seriously?
  • society
  • sports
  • travel
  • Uncategorized
  • videos
Advertisements

Blog at WordPress.com.