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Wade said

~ musings, ramblings and occasional clarity

Wade said

Tag Archives: New England Patriots

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

02 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by W in sports

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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.

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A Complete Guide to Choosing a Team for Super Bowl XLIX… for people who don’t like either of them

28 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by W in Seriously?, society, sports

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Tags

12th man, Bill Belichick, championship, coffee, DeflateGate, Dunkin' Donuts, football, Gronk, Legion of Boom, New England, New England Patriots, NFL, Pearl Jam, Pete Carroll, Richard Sherman, Rob Gronkowski, Roger Goodell, Russell Wilson, Seattle, Seattle Seahawks, Starbucks, Super Bowl, Super Bowl 49, Super Bowl XLIX, Tom Brady

I dislike both teams playing on Super Sunday.  I came up with a ratings system to help me with my choices.

Belichick and Carroll are both asshats. – 1 each

But Belichick is an evil genius, whereas Carroll is just slimy. +1 New England

Russell Wilson seems to be a good guy. +1 Seattle

…who blamed God for making his receivers miss catches so He could make it more dramatic later -1 Seattle

Tom Brady would be more fun to hang out with +1 New England

…though, based on his Deflate-gate presser, he might lose a game of Jeopardy! to a red Solo cup -0.5 New England

The 12th Man thing has gotten old. -1 Seattle

There are huge swaths of Boston that can’t count to 12 -1 New England

Mike McCready of Pearl Jam raised the 12th Man flag +1 Seattle

… only because Jimi Hendrix, who was from Seattle, is dead -1 Seattle

Mike McCready of Pearl Jam didn’t raise the non-existent New England flag -1 New England

Alice In Chains played the halftime show at the NFC Championship +1 Seattle

Queen wasn’t at the AFC Championship in New England, singing “Under Pressure(d)” [think about it] -1 New England

I’m tired of Boston still playing the lovable loser card after 8 championships in 4 sports in 10 years -1 New England

Starbucks coffee -1 Seattle

Dunkin’ Donuts coffee +1 New England

Invented vocabulary word: Gronk (n., v., adj., adv.) +1 New England

Invented vocabulary word: Venti -1 Seattle

Richard Sherman, he’s really smart +1 Seattle

The Legion of Boom shtick is getting way old -1 Seattle

Seattle lost an NBA team to freakin’ Oklahoma, OKLAHOMA! -1 Seattle

The NFL is trying to restore credibility by focusing on inflated footballs and not deflated craniums +1 New England sympathy

Belichick might have rigged Deflate-gate as a ‘they don’t respect us’ distraction -0.5 New England

…if he did, that’s some next-level shit-stirring +1.5 New England (conditional)

Tedy Bruschi is overrated and can die in a telestrator accident -1 New England

Paul Allen +1 Seattle

ROB GRONKOWSKI IS A NATIONAL FREAKING TREASURE +10 New England

So… go Pats, I guess.

Brady v. Manning

14 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by W in sports

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Tags

Denver Broncos, football, New England Patriots, NFL, NFL playoffs, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady

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