Here's my take on it. Belichick baited the Seahawks into running that play. In his interview, Butler said that they practiced defending that exact play. They knew that it was the Seahawk's go to pass play in the redzone. Pretty much every other coach in the NFL would have called a timeout as soon as it became clear that the Seahawks were letting the clock run down. I think just about every other coach would have wanted to preserve some time on the clock to give Brady a chance to put the ball in field goal range so they could get into overtime. I think a lot of coaches would have let the Seahawks walk the ball in from the 1 yard line to preserve some time on the clock.

The Seahawks expected the Patriots to call timeout. They expected to have more time to call plays and run their next three downs. The problem was that Belichick didn't call timeout. This forced the Seahawks into a situation where they needed to come up with a pass play and run it quickly to stop the clock. Even the announcers commented that the Seahawks seemed panicked and disorganized before the play. They could have run it all three downs if the Patriots called a timeout, but since they didn't they now had to pass on one of the downs. The Seahawks go with their bread and butter cause they really don't have time to come up with a better pass play. The play clock is winding down and they need to run something to avoid a delay of game penalty. The slant has worked for them throughout the whole year. It really is incredibly difficult to defend against. The problem was that the Patriots knew it was coming.

The specific defense called is also designed to bait Wilson into throwing their way. It looks like a defense that's designed to stop the run. There are a couple of corners in there, but most of the defense is stacked in the box. The Seahawks think they've got the matchups they want. Both corners said that they knew it was going to be the slant before the ball was snapped. Browner jams Kearse which makes it impossible for him to block Butler. This gives Butler the chance to break on the ball and he times it perfectly. It was a perfectly executed defensive play. I don't think that the offensive playcall was actually that bad. It came very close to working even when the defense knew it was coming. That shows you how hard that play is to defend against. It's why it was the Seahawk's go to all year. The problem was that they were baited into calling that play and the Patriots were expecting it.