Had Johnson been coaching the Seahawks.....

Rocket City Jacket

Georgia Tech Fan
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I couldn’t help thinking last night what CPJ would have done had he been the Seahawk’s coach with 2nd and goal on the one yard line last night in the Superbowl. Even though the strong running game is what got them in a position to win, all of the long passes were off play action, they just had to be cute and try to pass it into the end zone and it cost them the game. Johnson would have approached it with the attitude that if we can’t run it down their throats to get one yard then we don’t deserve the win.
 

IronJacket7

Helluva Engineer
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2,544
I thought similarly. However, my thought wasn't so much in regards to CPJ but in general. What team throws the football in that situation? Dumb. Very Dumb.
 

prifle2

Jolly Good Fellow
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108
Any coach that isn't a complete freaking idiot would run the ball in that situation.. If they were that concerned about the clock, they shouldn't have stood there for twenty seconds waiting to see if the pats were going to call a time out.. That play was the single dumbest play I have ever seen called in any sport ... If that OC is still employed next week as anything above a water boy, Pete Carroll should be fired..
 

Ash

Ramblin' Wreck
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Most coaches would call a run, especially with Lynch in the backfield. But if you want to go rouge and call a pass...why call an inside slant? It really was a bizarre call.
 

AlabamaBuzz

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What amazed me is that Belichick was able to resist using his timeouts. It would have been easy to use them there, so that maybe Brady could have 30-40 seconds to try to get in range for a possible tying FG, but he believed the TO would only give Carroll more time to re-think his decision. I really believe Belichick thought he knew what was coming.
 

dressedcheeseside

Helluva Engineer
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Most coaches would call a run, especially with Lynch in the backfield. But if you want to go rouge and call a pass...why call an inside slant? It really was a bizarre call.
I'm sure they thought the Pats would be playing run all the way and the route would be wide open as a result. The funny thing is the db said he read the play from how they lined up. There was no duping whatsoever, he broke on the route from the snap.

The great thing about our O is that they can't do that.
 

IronJacket7

Helluva Engineer
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Running the ball into the endzone is something a high school offense would do. Recruits aren't going to go to a school that doesn't throw INTs from the half yard line.

Well, if its to land a recruit then I'm okay with passing it on 2nd and goal from the 1 yard line... :confused:
 

ClydeBrick

Ramblin' Wreck
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944
Disclaimer: the Superbowl was the first NFL game I watched on purpose this entire season.

My favorite thing of the entire Superbowl: Pete Carroll's WTF-just-happened face after the INT.

Almost as good as this:



or this:

 

MidtownJacket

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In CPC's defense - they asked him after the game - and he gave what I thought to be a very open and honest answer.

He said STTE basically Pats were lined up in goal line package and he had 3 receivers out on the field - he thought he would take a shot and then if it wasn't there, sub in his goal line package as well for the 3rd or 4th down.. He did say it was on him as the coach and he felt gutted that they lost that way.

I don't know that I agree with throwing the ball there - but at least he had a reasonable answer for why they did it and totally owned the decision.

Classy response IMHO
 

Squints

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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.
 

Skeptic

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Any coach that isn't a complete freaking idiot would run the ball in that situation.. If they were that concerned about the clock, they shouldn't have stood there for twenty seconds waiting to see if the pats were going to call a time out.. That play was the single dumbest play I have ever seen called in any sport ... If that OC is still employed next week as anything above a water boy, Pete Carroll should be fired..
Good piece in the Post today that Belichek outsmarted Seattle, again. Doggone it. But he let the clock run with the ball on the one and forced Seattle to think about its options on the fly and not give them a timeout to let them regroup and conserve time. It is a theory and not postulated as fact, but it makes sense to me. And the guy really is an evil genius.
 
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