I haven’t seen it once, I’ve seen it a billion times in sports: a coach who out-smarts himself out of a win.
You’ve seen it. When a coach decides to allow his defense to go into “prevent mode” and let the opposing QB drive his team down the field for the winning score. When a coach decided to “ice” an opposing kicker, only to have said kicker take advantage of the second chance after missing the first kick.
And my personal favorite: after winning the coin toss in overtime, the coach tried to be cute and took the WIND INSTEAD OF THE BALL.
None of those instances could touch what happened Sunday night.
When faced with a 2nd and goal on the one-inch line with 20 seconds left to play in the Super Bowl, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll decides to pass the ball. That wouldn’t have been totally bad if it wasn’t a quick slant over the middle. And it wouldn’t have been insane if they didn’t have Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch in the backfield.
Shoot, I’m going to take that a step further – in the 30+ years I have been watching the NFL, that was the stupidest play call I have ever seen.
So let’s get this straight. Carroll has one of the best running backs in the NFL and had less than a yard to successfully defend his teams’ Super Bowl title. And the man decided to show how smart he was and call a quick slant OVER THE MIDDLE instead.
Well we all knew what happened: an undrafted free agent intercepted Russell Wilson’s pass to the No. 4 receiver to win it for the New England Patriots.
I’ll say this about Carroll, at least dude owned up to that stupid-ass play call. The same couldn’t be said for the offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who made the play call. If I were the owner, I would have made that Bevell pay his way back to Seattle – and whoop his ass upon arrival.
Let this be a lesson to aspiring coaches everywhere: if you have a chance to win a big game, DON’T BE CUTE. Keep it simple, stupid. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. And so on.
Otherwise, you’ll end up like Carroll. Seahawk fans, you are in my prayers…
Categories: NFL
I’ve been watching the NFL for 40+ years and that was the worst play I’ve ever seen in a Super Bowl!!! I still remember watching the Immaculate Reception by Franco Harris in the 1972 AFC Divisional Playoffs. The catch made by Seattle’s Jermaine Kearse was the Immaculate Reception II which was followed by New England’s Malcolm Butler’s Immaculate Interception.