Super Bowl: Analysing the Seattle Seahawks’ final play

Some analysts have said it was the worst call in NFL history

(Getty Images)

When the Seattle Seahawks huddled up to hear the play call from the 1 yard line with more than 30 seconds to go in Super Bowl 49 with the game on the line, every player in the huddle knew where the ball was going.

I was watching from New York and I knew where it was going. Everyone around the US knew where it was going. The ball was going to Beast Mode, the nomme de guerre of Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch.

The tough-running Lynch has been arguably the Seahawks’ best offensive player over the last two years, making his name on being difficult to tackle. He has averaged 4.3 yards per carry throughout his career and averaged 4.7 yards per carry this season. And with plenty of time remaining, Lynch would have had at least two chances to try and get one measly yard and in all likelihood win the Super Bowl for the Seahawks.

But Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was the only one who really knew where the ball was going. Sensing the New England Patriots stacking the line of scrimmage in anticipation of the obvious Lynch run, Carroll called a pass play.

Quarterback Russell Wilson took a quick drop back and fired a quick slant in the direction of receiver Ricardo Lockette, but Patriots defender Malcolm Butler made the play of the game and somehow intercepted the pass. Patriots ball, game over.

“There’s really nobody to blame but me,” Carroll said to his team after the game, ESPN reported. “I made the decision. I said, 'Throw the ball,' and we went with the play that we thought would give us a chance to get in the end zone. We had great matchups for the call that we made, and it didn't work out. They made a better play than we did.”

Carroll, like any coach worth his air pressure in a football, knows how important matchups are in a football game. He just picked the wrong matchup to exploit.

How about this matchup:

Those numbers show that New England was among the worst in the NFL at stopping the run in short-yardage situations, while Seattle was elite at getting yards in exactly the situation it found itself in at the end of the Super Bowl. That’s the matchup Carroll should have explored.

Of course, had Wilson thrown a touchdown on the final play, this story wouldn’t exist. But hindsight has allowed for a look at what could have been and that hindsight likely will keep Coach Carroll up a few nights over the next couple of weeks.

Follow Payton Guion on Twitter @PaytonGuion.