The goal-line disaster that haunted the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX doomed the New England Patriots in Sunday night’s 31-24 loss.
Comparing a Super Bowl to a November regular season contest is almost unjust, but last night’s Patriots’ loss was eerily similar to New England’s most recent Super Bowl win due to another late-game mishap.
On Sunday, Seattle led 25-24 with 4:24 remaining in the game when Wilson tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass on third down to extend the lead to 31-24. Leading by seven at Gillette Stadium, head coach Pete Carroll elected to go for two in an attempt to seal the victory.
This failed conversion sparked loads of debate, mainly criticism of the aggressive coaching. Those decisions are only as good as their result, but I like the decision because all Seattle has to do is gain two yards and the game is over.
“We wanted to see if we could put it out of reach,” Carroll said postgame. “Make it a two-score deal.”
That challenge proved more difficult for Seattle, but the decision to try and extend the lead to nine points doesn’t hurt you because in the worst-case scenario, the lead remains at seven points.
Sunday’s back-and-forth game featured eight lead changes, and the Pats had a chance to make it nine. Nearly three minutes into their next drive, New England marched down to the two-yard line to earn first and goal with just over a minute remaining.
What happened next is the subject of great criticism from “Monday morning quarterbacks” across the nation.
On first down, the Pats QB sneak it with Tom Brady, but it was used mainly as a clock drainer. After the game, Brady confirmed he was trying to get close, but not in the end-zone.
After a poor run by running back LeGarrette Blount and Brady’s near fumble on a failed third-down QB sneak, the Pats still had fourth-and-one with 14 seconds left.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who was the subject of scrutiny last week for a much different reason, chose to line the team up in a two tight-end set and split Rob Gronkowski out wide on a pre-snap shift.
Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor lined up 1-on-1 against Gronk, gave him a little space, let Gronk initiate the contact and the ensuing fade-pass fell incomplete.
The four game-deciding plays at the goal line were an absolute disaster.
Carroll is receiving more blame for his coaching in the fourth quarter, but I put a lot of this loss on the offensive play calling by the Patriots.
The old adage of “you can’t lose a game on one drive” was true for the most part on Sunday night, but I thought the Pats’ play-calling was far too conservative.
As a result, New England had a lot of second and third-and-longs to convert. Many Patriots fans are revved up due to the fact that Blount scored three touchdowns, but when your go-to running back rushes 21 times for just 69 yards (3.3 yards per carry), that simply doesn’t cut it — especially in New England.
I blame that more on Belichick than Blount himself, though. In a close game like that you shouldn’t need to use Blount over 20 times because you have Brady under center.
Don’t get me wrong, Brady was good last night despite not throwing a touchdown. He showed some great touch on balls down the sideline, but deserves much of the blame for that mishandled third-down in the game’s dying moments.
This game exposed a lot of issues for the Patriots, specifically in their pass rush. Their three sacks of Wilson is rather deceiving because he had seemingly all day in the pocket.
It might be hard to see it now, but the Pats’ defeat last night should prove to be more valuable to the team moving forward than if they had won in a blowout.
This team doesn’t get tested enough, especially at home in the regular season, and this loss exposed some major flaws in their defense that Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia will be able to clean up.
If we’ve learned anything about the Patriots under Belichick, it’s that they will indeed clean those things up.
