The 49th Super Bowl played Sunday night no doubt will go down in the books as arguably the most memorable ever.
Great game. Two great teams. Great finish.
And it ended in controversy. Not because of a blown official’s call. It ended because one of the teams, the Seattle Seahawks, tried to execute a play that many football brainiacs have questioned. Some have called it the “worst play call in the history of the National Football League.”
The Seahawks lost 28-24 to the New England Patriots after Patriots’ defensive back Malcolm Butler intercepted a pass at the goal line with less than 30 seconds to play. The Seahawks had three chances to score a go-ahead touchdown from the 1-yard line; sitting in their backfield was a running back nicknamed “Beast Mode,” Marshawn Lynch, who earned that descriptive nickname for the obvious reason. Seattle went for the pass. It failed.
What happened after the game is worth noting.
Head coach Pete Carroll manned up. He took full responsibility. It was his call all the way. He said he is responsible for making the call that, as it turned out, cost the Seahawks the chance to repeat as NFL champs.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/seattle-coach-pete-carroll-stands-by-decision-to-pass/ar-AA8UkPK
You have got to admire the coach for that. He could have passed the buck. He could have put the monkey on the back of his offensive coordinator. He could have said the players talked him into making the call. He could have said he was distracted by all the crowd noise. For crying out loud, CarrollĀ could have said he was suffering from a splitting headache and wasn’t thinking clearly.
Carroll said none of that. Instead, he said: “We easily could have gone otherwise, but when they sent their goal-line guys in, I know that we have the advantage on the matchups in the passing game so let’s throw it. It’s OK. One of those downs we were likely to throw the ball — maybe two of those downs we would have thrown the ball depending on how we had to save the clock. We had to get all of our plays.”
There you have it.
A man taking the sting of defeat like, well, a man.
Well done, coach.