"Did I do that?": or Modern NFL Playcalling

Ramblings Post #283
There is no try, you either do or you do not. Otherwise you are comedy relief, much like the red-hot Seahawks, who like raised their arms in triumph before they broke the tape and took the win. It was football history, in all the bad ways imaginable. All I can say is, thank god it wasn't my Cowboys.  

I read a column called Tuesday Morning Quarterback on ESPN because the author is a fun read, between his statistics, suggestions for improvement political commentary and observations. I started when it was on Slate and it is a regular Tuesday afternoon read. One of the things he closes out with, along with the “obscure collegiate school scores”, is a little feature called the dumbest play of the season so far. Now, I’m not the authority here, but I think you know my nominee for THE hands down dumbest playcall of the year. 

What would be a reasonable rationale for not running Marshawn Lynch from the ONE-yard line to win?

I’m fairly certain that somewhere in a press conference after the game every reporter in the room shook their heads in disbelief as Carroll broke down the rationale used to justify that playcall. If they didn’t all look skeptical at the explanation then they should have. At least one guy should have yelled out “Bullsh*t” from the back of the room no matter what was said. This all may have happened, as I went to a Superbowl party and pretty much the second that play was over we all stopped watching. After we all stopped cursing.  My god what a bad call. 

There is an old football axiom, “When you pass the ball, three things can happen and two of them bad.” In this case four or five things could have gone bad. Run the ball and you reduce the bad. Carroll figured it for a throwaway play. Throwaway play? They might have been on the one but the game wasn't won yet! They were still down. 

Maybe “The Furry Phenom” Wilson has a clause in contract that he has to be the hero, ala Tony Romo? Or maybe Carroll was scared that Lynch would dance around the endzone holding himself in an inappropriate manner during his celebration on national TV and inducing every manner of fine imaginable? Maybe they started celebrating early? Who knows, but under the circumstances, the Patriots didn’t really win as much as the Seahawks gave the game away.

Lynch was averaging almost four and half yards per carry. And you throw.

You had almost 30 seconds and a timeout. And you throw. 

You needed ONE yard. And you throw. 

What’s really going on? Because I know people who don’t even follow sports, who only watched the one game per year because all their friends do and that’s where the food is, and even they know you run the ball in that situation. If you had a Calvin Johnson or a Dez Bryant maybe, just maybe, you try a fade route. Maybe. But everyone else knows to run it. Run it. 

Barkeep. Something strong because now I gotta listen to Pats fans until next season. Yeesh.