That wasn’t one of the poorer play calls in the history of the Super Bowl, and that wasn’t a play that you can dissect in 10 or 20 different ways. That was the single worst big-game moment call in the history of sports, that was the dumbest, most ridiculous, no-excuse, no-alibi, no reason to do what they did.
It is inconceivable that they did what they did. There’s no excuse. There’s no explanation. Pete’s explanation was stupid. … They were playing for the next down. What? They were playing for the next down. What? Who calls a play in the Super Bowl at the goal line down four points, playing for the next down? This was a brain cramp.
The only pass you could ever think of throwing there would be out of a tight formation, a power formation, which means you’re all in, your tight ends are in, you’re in a jumbo look, you’re in an I-formation, and you don’t give it to the back. You sprint a guy to the corner by himself, and if he’s not by himself you throw it into the 15th row. That’s the only pass play you could even consider at that point of the game!
But to go into a pass formation and spread it out and throw a slant into the middle of the field … If I lived to be 200, I’ll never see anything as dumb in my life!
The Pats are stunned. You hand it to Marshawn Lynch, who almost scores on first down! You now have the game … the Pats have capitulated! They are not calling timeout! They are saying, ‘You know what? We’re going to live and die with what’s going on here. We’re gonna save our timeouts.’ Because, I’m sure they’re working on a kick return over there, and they’re figuring that Marshawn is gonna score on the next play anyway!
So they saved the timeouts, and they let the clock run, and you figure, you have a guy who’s got 100 yards, who’s the most unstoppable short-yardage back that we’ve seen in a decade — this isn’t a team that doesn’t have a running back, this is a team that’s got the best guy to do that in the world! They couldn’t stop him once, no less three times. I would bet you my house that they couldn’t stop him twice, no less three times. I’m not even sure they’d stop him once! He almost scored from the 5 on the first down! Line up, power, block it, touchdown! He would probably go in backwards!
The bottom line was, Seattle was a yard away, and they got everything. They have three downs, they’re a yard away, they just got four yards on first down, the clock’s running, the Pats are devastated. Brady has his head in his hands: ‘I can’t believe this is happening to me again in Arizona … I’m losing again!’ And then, all of a sudden, we go to a spread and throw a slant.
Fucking Seahawks.