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sarea
I barely slept a wink last night.
I wanted to. I was tired, I knew I had to get up for work the next day, and I just wanted some unconsciousness so as not to face the fact that the Seahawks had lost the Super Bowl in possibly the stupidest way possible, but I could not stop reliving that play over and over and over. My brain refused to shut down.
So I mainlined Broadchurch and finished the first season. Up until 2am doing that. Then tossed and turned for another hour... Slept(?) in fits afterward. Was almost a relief when my alarm was about to go off, because then I could just stop pretending like I was going to sleep.
I read some forum posts on Field Gulls, a couple of articles (could not stomach more), and listened to some sports radio this morning. Basically everyone is in agreement. It was the wrong play call. And -- I know, I know, it's easy to coach from our couches. I'm not normally one to criticize stuff like that, because it's easy for us to say. But seriously, this one, in this situation, it was like... it was just utterly baffling.
At this point, I understand that there were football reasons for it. Something about only having one time out, and if we ran it and didn't get in, we'd have to use it, then not have enough time to get the fourth play unless we then passed on the third play... Whatever. To which I respond:
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
There's also the fact that the Patriots apparently put in a bunch of people to stop the run, because obviously that's what we're going to do, and obviously that's how they're going to respond. Yes, it'll be harder to run the ball into the endzone. To which I respond:
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
There are also non-football reasons, such as wanting Russell to be the hero.
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
I think Russell Wilson is a very good, even excellent quarterback. But there are moments when he drives me INSANE. And it might not be his fault. He does, after all, have to work with undrafted receivers who, I'm sorry, need to do more to get after the ball. That's not to say they're not good; I'd never say that. But our receivers are not #1 receivers. They don't seem to attack the ball at any angle necessary to make the catch -- unlike Golden Tate, unlike Percy Harvin. Chris Matthews actually looked like he was that type of receiver in this game, but for another unfathomable reason, he seemed to be taken out of it for over a quarter, after basically being the only reason we were IN the game. (As an aside, those few moments in the game when RW actually had a clean pocket, and all the time in the world to throw but didn't, made me scream at the TV.)
I don't know what RW would be able to do if he had difference-making receivers like elite offenses have. Maybe he would be able to throw a ball up for grabs and trust that receiver (in this case, Ricardo Lockette) to attack it and come up with it. But he does not have those kinds of receivers. That being the case, with the game on the line, at the 1-yard line, do I want the ball in Russell's hands or Marshawn's?
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
The breakdown in the chain of command wrt the strategy here is nearly unforgivable. I don't like to question this team's coaching, I really don't, because they have shown time and again that they know better than us. They have taken the Seahawks to this point, they have shown that they deserve the benefit of the doubt. But I can't not question this decision.
How it was called in the first place -- by, presumably, OC Darrell Bevell -- to it being approved by Pete Carroll, to it not being checked out of by Russell Wilson... just awful. With the fucking Super Bowl on the line. One fucking play away from clinching a second consecutive championship.
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
It was rumored that they offered Marshawn a huge contract extension right before the game. (Who knows if he's going to accept it now. Clearly they finally see what the rest of us have seen all season, that we don't have a fucking offense without Marshawn
I heard former QB Hugh Millen break down what went wrong in that final play. First was that it was called at all. But once called, the execution was apparently awful. Kearse did something he wasn't supposed to do, Lockette didn't aggressively go after the ball, and Russell -- who I am laying this on, because as the QB he's the one who makes the final decision, and if he wants to be known as one of the greatest to play the game, he has to be fucking smarter than this, and if he wants to deserve $20M/year he has to be fucking better than this -- should have seen that Pats rookie jump the fucking route, and NOT THROWN THAT BALL INTO TRAFFIC.
With the fucking Super Bowl on the line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With at least 2 more plays and a timeout available!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There were a couple of 49ers who trolled the FG threads (I'm surprised there weren't more, that I saw) and said something along the lines of "Welcome to the club."
I can see the resemblance to the 2013 NFCCG. A quarterback made a throw he shouldn't have, resulting in an interception and the end of the game with the other team in the lead. But that's pretty much where the resemblance ends. Kaepernick did not have the ball on the 1-yard line with Marshawn Lynch as his running back. They weren't as close as we were. Did they have a chance to win? Definitely; not disputing that. But they were not as assured of victory as the Seahawks in that moment. Because we did have the ball at the 1-yard line. And we did have Marshawn Lynch. And guess what?
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
The ridiculous thing is that had you let ANY OTHER PERSON make that call, who didn't want the Patriots to win, the Seahawks would be celebrating their second Super Bowl championship right now. Any. other. person.
I do not claim to be a football guru. It is an incredibly complex game, and what I know would probably fill the tip of Pete Carroll's pinky finger. But I know enough that when that play happened, I threw down whatever I had in my hand (a pillow maybe? Thank goodness not my remote control or I'd probably have to buy a new TV today) and yelled, "WHY WOULD YOU THROW THAT INSTEAD OF HAVING MARSHAWN RUN IT??????????????????" I mean, even to someone who barely knows anything like me, it seemed like that was the reason we lost. The fact that pretty much everyone in the known universe actually agrees with me is cold comfort.
And if my rant above was way too long and/or emotional, this article pretty much says it all: Seahawks lost because of the worst call in Super Bowl history
(ETA: There is this kind of interesting counter-argument: A Head Coach Botched The End Of The Super Bowl, And It Wasn’t Pete Carroll. In which case, what happened was that Seattle's run of unprecedented good luck -- I'll admit it -- ran out at just the wrong time. Here is another article that kind of defends Pete's decision.)
The reasoning Pete gives is enraging. If you were going to fucking waste the second down anyway, then why not just have Marshawn run it? The chances of him fumbling, imho, are way lower than Russell being intercepted in the end zone. They just are. And also, no one would fucking fault you for giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch. No one. You know why?
Because when you have the ball on the 1-yard line, you fucking GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
And you know what? I admit it wasn't a 100% guarantee we would have gotten that touchdown. It's just an extremely high probability because of how close we were, and also the fact that the Pats have the worst short-yardage run D in the league. So if they could have stopped Marshawn Lynch 3 times, then hey, good game, well played. They had a good game plan for us, and our D pretty much couldn't stop Tom Brady. They stop Marshawn Lynch 3 times, and what can you say? They had more points than us, and they stopped one of the most powerful running backs in the league from getting 1 yard. It would have been painful, but they would have deserved the win.
Now, it just feels like we fucking gave it to them. It wasn't stolen from us; we weren't outplayed (at least, no more than they were). We gave it to them.
And I feel horribly for all the players who didn't fall down on that last play. I feel so bad for the LOB, who all played with injuries, except for Byron Maxwell. I feel bad for Jeremy Lane and Cliff Avril, who were both injured in the game. I feel bad for Marshawn Lynch, who was robbed of a Super Bowl MVP by his coaching staff. I feel bad for Kevin Williams, who chose the Seahawks over the Patriots in what was probably his last season in the league, because he felt the Seahawks gave him a better chance at a Super Bowl ring. That one might hurt the most. And yes, I realize that these guys can comfort themselves with their millions of dollars, and don't need my pity, but I feel it anyway.
You know, I've deliberately not talked about the Seahawks in a long time, because it seemed like when I did, they did poorly, and when I stopped, they started doing well. So out of superstitious caution, I didn't talk about them anymore. Not when I was happy, not when I was excited, not when I was nervous. What a fucking wasted effort.
I'm totally going through the 5 stages of grief right now. Went through denial and anger, skipped bargaining (I usually do my bargaining before games), and am on to depression.
I wanted to. I was tired, I knew I had to get up for work the next day, and I just wanted some unconsciousness so as not to face the fact that the Seahawks had lost the Super Bowl in possibly the stupidest way possible, but I could not stop reliving that play over and over and over. My brain refused to shut down.
So I mainlined Broadchurch and finished the first season. Up until 2am doing that. Then tossed and turned for another hour... Slept(?) in fits afterward. Was almost a relief when my alarm was about to go off, because then I could just stop pretending like I was going to sleep.
I read some forum posts on Field Gulls, a couple of articles (could not stomach more), and listened to some sports radio this morning. Basically everyone is in agreement. It was the wrong play call. And -- I know, I know, it's easy to coach from our couches. I'm not normally one to criticize stuff like that, because it's easy for us to say. But seriously, this one, in this situation, it was like... it was just utterly baffling.
At this point, I understand that there were football reasons for it. Something about only having one time out, and if we ran it and didn't get in, we'd have to use it, then not have enough time to get the fourth play unless we then passed on the third play... Whatever. To which I respond:
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
There's also the fact that the Patriots apparently put in a bunch of people to stop the run, because obviously that's what we're going to do, and obviously that's how they're going to respond. Yes, it'll be harder to run the ball into the endzone. To which I respond:
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
There are also non-football reasons, such as wanting Russell to be the hero.
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
I think Russell Wilson is a very good, even excellent quarterback. But there are moments when he drives me INSANE. And it might not be his fault. He does, after all, have to work with undrafted receivers who, I'm sorry, need to do more to get after the ball. That's not to say they're not good; I'd never say that. But our receivers are not #1 receivers. They don't seem to attack the ball at any angle necessary to make the catch -- unlike Golden Tate, unlike Percy Harvin. Chris Matthews actually looked like he was that type of receiver in this game, but for another unfathomable reason, he seemed to be taken out of it for over a quarter, after basically being the only reason we were IN the game. (As an aside, those few moments in the game when RW actually had a clean pocket, and all the time in the world to throw but didn't, made me scream at the TV.)
I don't know what RW would be able to do if he had difference-making receivers like elite offenses have. Maybe he would be able to throw a ball up for grabs and trust that receiver (in this case, Ricardo Lockette) to attack it and come up with it. But he does not have those kinds of receivers. That being the case, with the game on the line, at the 1-yard line, do I want the ball in Russell's hands or Marshawn's?
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
The breakdown in the chain of command wrt the strategy here is nearly unforgivable. I don't like to question this team's coaching, I really don't, because they have shown time and again that they know better than us. They have taken the Seahawks to this point, they have shown that they deserve the benefit of the doubt. But I can't not question this decision.
How it was called in the first place -- by, presumably, OC Darrell Bevell -- to it being approved by Pete Carroll, to it not being checked out of by Russell Wilson... just awful. With the fucking Super Bowl on the line. One fucking play away from clinching a second consecutive championship.
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
It was rumored that they offered Marshawn a huge contract extension right before the game. (Who knows if he's going to accept it now. Clearly they finally see what the rest of us have seen all season, that we don't have a fucking offense without Marshawn
I heard former QB Hugh Millen break down what went wrong in that final play. First was that it was called at all. But once called, the execution was apparently awful. Kearse did something he wasn't supposed to do, Lockette didn't aggressively go after the ball, and Russell -- who I am laying this on, because as the QB he's the one who makes the final decision, and if he wants to be known as one of the greatest to play the game, he has to be fucking smarter than this, and if he wants to deserve $20M/year he has to be fucking better than this -- should have seen that Pats rookie jump the fucking route, and NOT THROWN THAT BALL INTO TRAFFIC.
With the fucking Super Bowl on the line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With at least 2 more plays and a timeout available!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There were a couple of 49ers who trolled the FG threads (I'm surprised there weren't more, that I saw) and said something along the lines of "Welcome to the club."
I can see the resemblance to the 2013 NFCCG. A quarterback made a throw he shouldn't have, resulting in an interception and the end of the game with the other team in the lead. But that's pretty much where the resemblance ends. Kaepernick did not have the ball on the 1-yard line with Marshawn Lynch as his running back. They weren't as close as we were. Did they have a chance to win? Definitely; not disputing that. But they were not as assured of victory as the Seahawks in that moment. Because we did have the ball at the 1-yard line. And we did have Marshawn Lynch. And guess what?
When you have the ball on the 1-yard line, GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
The ridiculous thing is that had you let ANY OTHER PERSON make that call, who didn't want the Patriots to win, the Seahawks would be celebrating their second Super Bowl championship right now. Any. other. person.
I do not claim to be a football guru. It is an incredibly complex game, and what I know would probably fill the tip of Pete Carroll's pinky finger. But I know enough that when that play happened, I threw down whatever I had in my hand (a pillow maybe? Thank goodness not my remote control or I'd probably have to buy a new TV today) and yelled, "WHY WOULD YOU THROW THAT INSTEAD OF HAVING MARSHAWN RUN IT??????????????????" I mean, even to someone who barely knows anything like me, it seemed like that was the reason we lost. The fact that pretty much everyone in the known universe actually agrees with me is cold comfort.
And if my rant above was way too long and/or emotional, this article pretty much says it all: Seahawks lost because of the worst call in Super Bowl history
(ETA: There is this kind of interesting counter-argument: A Head Coach Botched The End Of The Super Bowl, And It Wasn’t Pete Carroll. In which case, what happened was that Seattle's run of unprecedented good luck -- I'll admit it -- ran out at just the wrong time. Here is another article that kind of defends Pete's decision.)
The reasoning Pete gives is enraging. If you were going to fucking waste the second down anyway, then why not just have Marshawn run it? The chances of him fumbling, imho, are way lower than Russell being intercepted in the end zone. They just are. And also, no one would fucking fault you for giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch. No one. You know why?
Because when you have the ball on the 1-yard line, you fucking GIVE IT TO MARSHAWN LYNCH.
And you know what? I admit it wasn't a 100% guarantee we would have gotten that touchdown. It's just an extremely high probability because of how close we were, and also the fact that the Pats have the worst short-yardage run D in the league. So if they could have stopped Marshawn Lynch 3 times, then hey, good game, well played. They had a good game plan for us, and our D pretty much couldn't stop Tom Brady. They stop Marshawn Lynch 3 times, and what can you say? They had more points than us, and they stopped one of the most powerful running backs in the league from getting 1 yard. It would have been painful, but they would have deserved the win.
Now, it just feels like we fucking gave it to them. It wasn't stolen from us; we weren't outplayed (at least, no more than they were). We gave it to them.
And I feel horribly for all the players who didn't fall down on that last play. I feel so bad for the LOB, who all played with injuries, except for Byron Maxwell. I feel bad for Jeremy Lane and Cliff Avril, who were both injured in the game. I feel bad for Marshawn Lynch, who was robbed of a Super Bowl MVP by his coaching staff. I feel bad for Kevin Williams, who chose the Seahawks over the Patriots in what was probably his last season in the league, because he felt the Seahawks gave him a better chance at a Super Bowl ring. That one might hurt the most. And yes, I realize that these guys can comfort themselves with their millions of dollars, and don't need my pity, but I feel it anyway.
You know, I've deliberately not talked about the Seahawks in a long time, because it seemed like when I did, they did poorly, and when I stopped, they started doing well. So out of superstitious caution, I didn't talk about them anymore. Not when I was happy, not when I was excited, not when I was nervous. What a fucking wasted effort.
I'm totally going through the 5 stages of grief right now. Went through denial and anger, skipped bargaining (I usually do my bargaining before games), and am on to depression.
