The play call wasn't that bad and I think there's a lot of hindsight going around about it right now. And I think us GT fans in particular are spoiled about our short yardage success. Think about the situation. When the Seahawks got to the goal line they only had one time out and the clock was running because Belichick didn't use one of the two he had (puzzling at the time but turned out to be a pretty good move). They'd have to throw at some point unless you ran it in the first play which isn't a guarantee. Consider the Seahawks O-line isn't that good, the Patriots have and elite goal line defense in which is exceptionally good at clogging running lanes, and they had already stuffed Marshawn 2/3 times in short yardage during the game, and he was 1/5 running from the one during the season. Getting in on a run play was not a guarantee. Call a pass play that is either an incompletion or a TD and worst case you stop the clock. And you get two chances to run it in with your time out. Tell your QB that an interception absolutely CAN NOT HAPPEN. Russell Wilson has a 1.5% int rate so he's pretty good with the ball. And the slant rub play they ran is conceptually sound against the man coverage the Patriots showed.
But Russell did exactly what you can't do. That was the big issue. Put the ball in a spot where it could be picked. I think the blame falls more on him for the execution than the offensive coordinator for the play call.
It also turns out the Patriots were incredibly well coached and prepared for the play. Go look up gifs and screencaps. Here's one that shows the window for the throw:
http://i.imgur.com/LYBu1tB.jpg. The throw is there but Butler made an unbelievable defensive play to get to the spot of the throw. As soon as Lockette put his foot in the ground to cut Butler instinctively beelined for where he needed to be. That's coaching. In the post game interviews Butler said that they practiced against it with the scout team and he got beat. Belichick himself told him that he needs to be all over that play. That great play by Butler and throw by Russell caused the result. Butler is late to the spot or Russell puts the ball a little lower we could be praising the call or forgetting all about it. All you can do in that situation is tip your cap. Seahawks got outplayed and outcoached in the 4th quarter.
EDIT: Also worth mentioning is wasted timeout earlier on that drive. If they have another timeout they can just run it three times without worry about the clock. That really hurt them in this situation.
