RJM - They hate us cause they ain't us. We have had a lot of success in the last 15 yrs. Before that we could only count on the Celtics to bring it home. What gets me excited about when Brady's time is up is the Garapolo kid, looks pretty good. got to see him in the pre-season against the Redskins, I mean Washington of the NFL, reads coverages as if he been there for a couple years.
Originally Posted by RJM:
Interesting information and opinions on the pass call and interception ...
- Lynch was 1-5 scoring this year in carries from the one.
- Lynch has fumbled twelve times in the past three years. Three were on carries from the one.
- Zero passes from the one were intercepted this year.
- Kearse set a horrible pick on Butler.
- Lockette wasn't aggressive to the ball to at least cause an incomplete pass.
- Butler sold out on one guess, was more aggressive than Lockette and he was right.
Going to have to be careful introducing facts into the blame game. Carroll blew the game because he is a lousy coach that blew the game and everyone knows it.
You can't possibly be suggesting he was paying attention to his team enough to know that Lynch is not a mortal lock to just smoke the ball into the end zone.
Moreover, it is unfathomable to believe he would know that there were 109 passes from the 1 this year with zero interceptions. That would require that he and his dolt coaching staff actually did any work to prepare and clearly they don't.
Why would he place the ball in the hands of a putz like Russell Wilson? I mean the team has been carrying him for 2 years now so why leave it up to him at that point?
Everyone knows that call is just the stupidest in the history of football... PERIOD!
IMO your final point is where the truth is - the DB sold out and made a GREAT play. Those pick plays are hugely successful even by bad teams and they are almost never intercepted. The guy from Seattle got burned jumping the route when Edleman turned back outside. Butler jumped it and it hit his chest so is a hero. Any second move and he is a bum. It was an all or nothing play at an all or nothing time. He won and so did the Pats.
If Brady holds up the Pats have a 3 or 4 year window here where they might very well be the team to beat.
I'm not a Seahawks fan defending Carroll. The information was in a story I read. The biggest mistake Carroll made was not calling time, discussing the situation and getting the right players on the field.
No one (where I was) could believe Belichick wasn't calling time as the clock ticked down. Everyone figured the Seahawks would score. The Patriots would need time to get down the field for a field goal and overtime. Belichick came up looking smart with the Seahawks having the wrong players on the field and turning over the ball.
Question for Boston fans: Does anyone have the Boston Herald and/or Boston Herald Sports apps on their phone or tablet? Does it sometimes have trouble opening? I have trouble on my phone or tablet at least every other day. I have to delete and install at least every two weeks.
"During the week (practice) Butler was beaten by Josh Boyce on the same route he picked off Wilson. Belichick took him aside and told him he had to be more aggressive to the ball in that formation on the goal line."
- Ron Borges, Boston Herald
Originally Posted by RJM:
I'm not a Seahawks fan defending Carroll. The information was in a story I read. The biggest mistake Carroll made was not calling time, discussing the situation and getting the right players on the field.
No one (where I was) could believe Belichick wasn't calling time as the clock ticked down. Everyone figured the Seahawks would score. The Patriots would need time to get down the field for a field goal and overtime. Belichick came up looking smart with the Seahawks having the wrong players on the field and turning over the ball.
Didn't figure you were defending Carroll - I was jumping in saying these are things he might have been aware of despite lots of screaming and yelling he's an idiot.
I don't think Belichek was caught off guard. He knew they needed a TD and he was playing the reverse game of the one Carroll was playing. If he limits the number of cracks or can influence the type of play his chances of getting the stop go up.
He forced the Seahawks to run a at least one pass play coming out on first down with 1 TO before the run on first down. I would wager he had decided with the DB's on the field he expected that if first down was a run 2nd would be a pass and set up accordingly.
You even quote they knew the kinds of plays that Seattle likes and coached them up for it. No surprise there either.
Bottom Line is that in the end Belicheck being the best in the game took a bet he could force Seattle to do something they might not want to do in order to run 4 plays instead of 3 starting on 1st down. He decided it was a goal line stand and not trying to go 50 yards in 30 seconds that was his best chance to win. And he did it during the Timeout on 1st down.
On the other sideline Carroll had done the same thing. He decided during the same timeout to go run then pass on the two plays coming out of the time out. It did not matter what happened on first down, the pass was called for second. That is why in the confusion after the game his explanation was so convoluted. He was trying to say that he wanted 4 plays to get the TD and by deciding to run on 1st down he then committed to passing on 2nd to ensure he got his 4 plays. Based on the ball being on the 1 yard line there is no doubt that 3rd and 4th would have been runs.
In the end blowing the 1st timeout at the 50 yard line because the play clock was running out totally changed the dynamic of the last plays. That extra time out would have allowed Seattle to call it after 1st down and come in with a run look. They then could have run or passed on 2nd down with the extra time out to work with.
That right there is the best analysis you will see anywhere my friends.
As you can tell by my name I am NOT enjoying this winter.