February 1, 2015: Pete Carroll Calls a Pass

February 1, 2015, 10 years ago: Super Bowl XLIX is played at University of Phoenix Stadium -- now named State Farm Stadium -- in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Over 114 million viewers tuned in to NBC to watch it, making it the most-watched television program in American history.

The defending Champion Seattle Seahawks had a 10-point lead with 8 minutes left in regulation, and blew it. The New England Patriots took a 28-24 lead with 2:02 left. Quarterback Russell Wilson drove the Hawks to the Patriot 1-yard line with 26 seconds to go.

With the ball there, the call seemed obvious: A running play. Possibly Wilson on a quarterback sneak, like Bart Starr to win the 1967 NFL Championship Game, the Ice Bowl, for the Green Bay Packers. Or a handoff to Marshawn Lynch, the running back known as "Beast Mode," a 5-time Pro Bowler, who had already scored a touchdown in the game, and had gotten the ball 4 yards to the 1-yard line on the previous play.

Instead, Seahawk head coach Pete Carroll called for a pass, from Wilson to Ricardo Lockette. Patriot cornerback Malcolm Butler correctly figured out that Lockette was the target, and intercepted the pass. The Patriots won the game.

It's hard to imagine now, with Ohio State University having had Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks and winning National Championships with a great passing game, but there was a time, in the 1960s and '70s, when their head coach was Woody Hayes. Famous for a running game described as "Three yards and a cloud of dust," he was known for hating the forward pass enough to say, "There are three things that can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad." Meaning an incomplete pass and an interception.

Malcolm Butler clinched victory for the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX with the most famous interception in football history.

Cris Collinsworth, a 3-time Pro Bowler who had played in Super Bowls XVI and XXIII for the Cincinnati Bengals, was broadcasting the game for NBC, and spoke for so many people watching:

I'm sorry, but I can't believe the call... You've got Marshawn Lynch in the backfield. You've got a guy that has been borderline unstoppable in this part of the field. I can't believe the call...

If I lose the Super Bowl because Marshawn Lynch can’t get it in from the 1-yard line, so be it. So be it! But there is no way.

He was absolutely right: You tell the other team, "Here he comes. Try to stop him." If they can't, that's expected, and you win. If they can, then they've earned their victory. To use an analogy from another sport, they've hit your best pitch.

Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, analyzing the game for CBS, called it "one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history." Peter King, the main football writer for Sports Illustrated, and a winner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Dick McCann Award for writers, used the exact same words: "one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history." Hall-of-Famer Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, went even further, calling it "the worst play call in the history of football."

So that's, effectively, 3 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 3 guys who really know football -- one on offense, one on defense, and one watching from above -- saying it was a bad call, essentially blaming Pete Carroll for throwing away back-to-back wins in the Super Bowl, a rare achievement, and possibly Carroll's own eventual election to the Hall -- and maybe also Wilson's.

Is there any way to defend the call? Not really. Is there any way to say that Carroll shouldn't be blamed for the loss? Yes. Can any such way be taken seriously? Well, Wilson could have said, "This is a bad call. I'm calling a different play in the huddle." He could have shown the leadership that a great quarterback would show. He didn't.

We can also give Butler credit for pulling off the key play. Then there's the Seahawks' offense. Their 20 1st downs wasn't that bad, compared to the Pats' 25. But they were only 3-for-10 on 3rd down, compared to the Pats' 8-for-14. They also committed more penalties, 7-5, for twice as many yards, 70-36. And had less time of possession, 26:14 to 33:46.

It took them 20 minutes and 13 seconds to get their 1st score. Their last score came with 19 minutes and 54 seconds to go. They blew a 10-point lead, and they blew it with 8 minutes to go. Blowing a 10-point lead tied what was then a Super Bowl record. It would be eclipsed 2 years later by the Atlanta Falcons -- also against the Patriots. Hmmmm...

Did they cheat in this game? There has never been a serious accusation of it. But think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 8th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

Lynch retired after the 2019 season. He becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame this week. Carroll and the Seahawks parted ways after the 2023 season. He is eligible for the Hall of Fame, but is not in. On January 24, 2025, he was named head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

In Seattle, he outlasted Wilson, whom he traded to the Denver Broncos in 2022. It was a disaster, and he was released after 2 years. For the 2024 season, he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was 7-2 in postseason games before Carroll called that pass, but has been 1-6 afterward.

On February 12, 2023, Super Bowl LVII broke this game's record for highest U.S. television audience: 115.1 million watched on Fox. The next year, on February 11, 2024, Super Bowl LVIII broke the record: 123.7 million watched on CBS. Both times, it was almost certainly due to the fact that millions of women and teenage girls, who wouldn't ordinarily have wanted to watch, wanted to see clips of singer Taylor Swift in the luxury boxes, cheering on her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, tight end for the victorious Kansas City Chiefs.

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Pete Carroll for the Seattle Seahawks Losing Super Bowl XLIX

February 1, 2015: Super Bowl XLIX is played at University of Phoenix Stadium -- now named State Farm Stadium -- in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Over 114 million viewers tuned in to NBC to watch it, making it the most-watched television program in American history.

The defending Champion Seattle Seahawks had a 10-point lead with 8 minutes left in regulation, and blew it. The New England Patriots took a 28-24 lead with 2:02 left. Quarterback Russell Wilson drove the Hawks to the Patriot 1-yard line with 26 seconds to go.

With the ball there, the call seemed obvious: A running play. Possibly Wilson on a quarterback sneak, like Bart Starr to win the 1967 NFL Championship Game, the Ice Bowl, for the Green Bay Packers. Or a handoff to Marshawn Lynch, the running back known as "Beast Mode," a 5-time Pro Bowler, who had already scored a touchdown in the game, and had gotten the ball 4 yards to the 1-yard line on the previous play.

Instead, Seahawk head coach Pete Carroll called for a pass, from Wilson to Ricardo Lockette. Patriot cornerback Malcolm Butler correctly figured out that Lockette was the target, and intercepted the pass. The Patriots won the game.

It's hard to imagine now, with Ohio State University having had Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks and winning National Championships with a great passing game, but there was a time, in the 1960s and '70s, when their head coach was Woody Hayes. Famous for a running game described as "Three yards and a cloud of dust," he was known for hating the forward pass enough to say, "There are three things that can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad." Meaning an incomplete pass and an interception.

Malcolm Butler clinched victory for the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX with the most famous interception in football history.

Cris Collinsworth, a 3-time Pro Bowler who had played in Super Bowls XVI and XXIII for the Cincinnati Bengals, was broadcasting the game for NBC, and spoke for so many people watching:

I'm sorry, but I can't believe the call... You've got Marshawn Lynch in the backfield. You've got a guy that has been borderline unstoppable in this part of the field. I can't believe the call...

If I lose the Super Bowl because Marshawn Lynch can’t get it in from the 1-yard line, so be it. So be it! But there is no way.

Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, analyzing the game for CBS, called it "one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history." Peter King, the main football writer for Sports Illustrated, and a winner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Dick McCann Award for writers, used the exact same words: "one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history." Hall-of-Famer Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, went even further, calling it "the worst play call in the history of football."

So that's, effectively, 3 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 3 guys who really know football -- one on offense, one on defense, and one watching from above -- saying it was a bad call, essentially blaming Pete Carroll for throwing away back-to-back wins in the Super Bowl, a rare achievement, and possibly Carroll's own eventual election to the Hall.

Is there any way to defend the call? Not really.

Is there any way to say that Carroll shouldn't be blamed for the loss? Yes. Can any such way be taken seriously? Read on:

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Pete Carroll for the Seattle Seahawks Losing Super Bowl XLIX

5. Pete Carroll. He got the Seahawks into that Super Bowl. And into the one the year before, and won it. He, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer are the only head coaches to win both an NCAA National Championship and an NFL Championship (either before or during the Super Bowl era, 1967 onward).

Did he make a mistake with that play-call? Almost certainly. But he got them to within 1 play of back-to-back Super Bowl wins. Here's all the head coaches who have reached back-to-back Super Bowls: Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Don Shula, Bud Grant, Chuck Noll, Joe Gibbs, Dan Reeves, Marv Levy, Jimmy Johnson, Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll. 

That's 13 guys. Of those, just 10 won at least 1 of them: Lombardi, Landry, Shula, Noll, Gibbs, Johnson, Holmgren, Shanahan, Belichick and Carroll. Both of them? 6: Lombardi, Shula, Noll, Johnson, Shanahan and Belichick.

Going back to the pre-Super Bowl era, back-to-back NFL Championship Games were also won by George Halas, Greasy Neale, Buddy Parker, Paul Brown and Weeb Ewbank. So, 11 guys since 1932. That should give you and idea of how hard it is.

(No, Bill Walsh never did it. Only once have the San Francisco 49ers made back-to-back Super Bowls: In 1988-89, Walsh's last season as head coach; and 1989-90, George Seifert's first.)

Pete Carroll got the Seattle Seahawks to within one yard of back-to-back World Championships. They would not have gotten that far without him.

4. Russell Wilson. He threw the pass. He also could have said, "This is a bad call. I'm calling a different play in the huddle." He could have shown the leadership that a great quarterback would show. He didn't.

3. Malcolm Butler. He made the interception. Give him credit for pulling off the key play.

2. The Seahawks Offense. Their 20 1st downs wasn't that bad, compared to the Pats' 25. But they were only 3-for-10 on 3rd down, compared to the Pats' 8-for-14. They also committed more penalties, 7-5, for twice as many yards, 70-36. And had less time of possession, 26:14 to 33:46.

It took them 20 minutes and 13 seconds to get their 1st score. Their last score came with 19 minutes and 54 seconds to go. They blew a 10-point lead, and they blew it with 8 minutes to go. Blowing a 10-point lead tied what was then a Super Bowl record.

It would be eclipsed 2 years later by the Atlanta Falcons -- also against the Patriots. Hmmmm...

1. The Patriots Cheated. We don't actually know that the Patriots cheated at any point in the 2014-15 NFL season, much less in this Super Bowl. We only know that they have been caught cheating multiple times. They have forfeited the presumption of innocence.

So we have heard the case for the prosecution, and we have heard the case for the defense. It's time to decide.

VERDICT: Guilty. Going over the Top 5 Reasons again:

5. It doesn't matter what Carroll did before, only what he did at the moment in question.

4. Wilson was following orders. If he had disobeyed that order, and run the ball, and had gotten stopped, he would have been blamed for losing the Super Bowl, in spite of the fact that he had won one just the year before. If there's one thing the powers that be in the NFL value more than money, it's control.

If Wilson had rebelled, and gotten it right, he could be headed for the Hall of Fame. But if he had rebelled, and gotten it wrong, they could have made bullshit stuff up about him, as has been made about countless players, including quarterbacks (and not always as brazen as what was said about Colin Kaepernick), and he could have been run out of the game.

3. Butler wouldn't have intercepted the pass if Carroll hadn't called it.

2. The Seahawks' offense put themselves in position to win the game. Granted, this would seem to contradict the rebuttal to Reason Number 5. But it does emphasize the fact that Carroll blew it.

1. If Carroll had made the right call, it wouldn't have mattered if the Patriots cheated: The Seahawks would have won anyway.

Yes, the New England Patriots have cheated their way to 6 Super Bowl wins in the 22 seasons that they have been coached by Bill Belichick. But they have also failed to win the Super Bowl 16 times, including losing the Super Bowl 3 times: XLII and XLVI to the New York Giants, and LII to the Philadelphia Eagles.

It is possible to beat the Patriots, even when they cheat. Carroll had a great chance to do so. He didn't. He is to blame for that.

Worst NFL Season Ever

Cheaters 28, Seahawks 24.

Seriously, Russell Wilson: You had the bastards right where we all wanted them. How could you throw that pass at that time? Goat City.

Or maybe it was a play called by head coach Pete Carroll. Moron.

Of course, Carroll has his difficulties coaching in the NFL. Unlike at USC, there's a salary cap.

Between the Cheatriots, domestic abuse, concussions, the local teams both being terrible, and Roger Goodell clearly looking at the records of MLB's Bud Selig, the NBA's David Stern, and the NHL's Gary Bettman, and deciding to try to become as big an asshole as the 3 of them combined.

Worst NFL season ever.

Bring on baseball.

Useless Last-Minute Super Bowl Betting Tips

In the first 48 Super Bowls...

The NFC Champion has won 26, the AFC Champion 22. Not a huge difference there. But if you count teams that started in the old, pre-1970 merger NFL, including the Steelers and Colts, then it becomes 33-14 NFC. You really shouldn't count the Ravens, even though they began as the Browns (who began in the AAFC before becoming an NFL team anyway); but if you do, then it's 35-12 NFC. The Seattle Seahawks actually started as an NFC team in 1976, but were switchd to the AFC the next season, but have been an NFC team against since the 2002 realignment of the conferences from 3 divisions to 4. The New England Patriots started out as the Boston Patriots of the AFL. Based on this... Advantage: Seattle.

The team wearing the white jerseys has won 30, including the last 3, and 8 of the last 9. The Patriots will be wearing white. Advantage: New England.

Teams whose primary (dark) uniform color is blue have won the most Super Bowls, 16 -- but have also lost the most, 18. Red has the best winning percentage, at 10-6; Black is 11-8, Green is 7-7, Purple is 4-4, and Orange is 0-4. Keep in mind that the Patriots wore red in their first Super Bowl, and have had blue as their primary color since. But the Seahawks also wear blue. Advantage: Neither.

The older of the two teams has won 31 times -- and if you accept the old Browns/Ravens as an "old" team, it becomes 33 times. Advantage: New England.

The Jets are the only team to reach the Super Bowl with a mascot that is an inanimate object. (No, I'm not talking about Fireman Ed.) The only other such team in the league could be the Browns, depending on what you think a "Brown" is. Advantage: Neither.

Teams with human mascots are 36-22 in Super Bowls. Teams with animal mascots are only 11-26. Pat Patriot is human, while Blitz the Seahawk is animal. Advantage: New England.

Teams with bird mascots, such as the Seahawks, are only 3-5. Teams with non-human mammal mascots are 8-20. Advantage: New England.

Teams playing their home games on natural grass are 24-23; on artificial turf, 23-25. Both teams play on the plastic stuff. The game is being played at the University of Phoenix Stadium, which uses the real stuff, a form of Bermuda grass. Turf teams having to switch to grass for the Super Bowl are 13-10, but since that applies to both teams, no advantage. Grass teams having to switch to turf for the Super Bowl are 9-8, while teams playing on turf and staying on turf are 11-12. Not a whole lot of help there.

Having the more experienced head coach doesn't help much: Teams with the less experienced coach are 26-22. The Seahawks' Pete Carroll has been a coach since 1973, an NFL coach since 1984, and an NFL head coach as far back as 1994. The Patriots' Bill Belichick has been a coach, and an NFL coach, since 1975, and an NFL head coach since 1991. So while this particular advantage leans toward Seattle, it may be utterly meaningless.

The team that is closer in distance to the site of the Super Bowl is 27-21. And Seattle, Washington is a lot closer to Glendale, Arizona than Foxboro, Massachusetts is. But in the era of every team flying their own private planes, and with nearly a week to acclimate to the location of the game, is that really an issue?

Finally, teams from States that were Red States -- won by the Republican nominee for President in the most recent election -- are 25-21 in Super Bowls. Teams from Blue States -- won by the Democratic nominee in the last election -- are 23-27. But this doesn't matter on this occasion, as Massachusetts and Washington are both Blue States. Washington has gone Democratic in every election since 1988. So has Massachusetts; in fact, it has gone Democratic in every election but one since 1960.

The last 4 Super Bowl winners have been from Blue States -- but so have the last 5 Super Bowl losers. The last Red State team to win was the Saints, 5 years ago. The last team from a conservative city to win was the Colts, 8 years ago.

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At the moment, the point spread is "Pick 'em" -- no spread at all. 

The 1968-69 Jets, the 1969-70 Chiefs, the 1980-81 and 1983-84 Raiders, the 1982-83 and 1987-88 Redskins; the 1990-91, 2007-08 and 2011-12 Giants; the 1997-98 Broncos, the 2001-02 Patriots, the 2002-03 Bucs, the 2009-10 Saints, the 2012-13 Ravens and last year's Seahawks -- 15 of the 48 winners -- won the Super Bowl despite being the underdog. While the 1975-76 Cowboys, the 1988-89 Bengals, the 1995-96 Steelers, the 2003-04 Panthers, the 2004-05 Eagles and the 2008-09 Cardinals -- 6 teams -- beat the spread, but did not win the game. The 1996-97 Packers were 14-point favorites to beat the Patriots, and beat them by exactly that, 14 points. And the 1999-2000 Rams were 7-point favorites to beat the Titans, and did so. On those 2 occasions, the Super Bowl point spread was right on.

My recommendations? I have two:

1. Don't bet on the game. You need the money more than your friends do, and especially more than any bookmaker does.

2. Enjoy yourself, but don't eat too much.

You could go for the team wearing the less ugly uniforms. Since the Seahawks will be wearing their dark blues with that hideous lime-green trim, and the Patriots their road whites, that would mean the Pats.

But, as a New York Tri-State Area sports fan, I cannot bring myself to root for a New England team. Unless they're playing a Dallas or Los Angeles team. (And, even then, I would take the Lakers over the Celtics. And, with my Rutgers bias in mind, despite them being in different leagues the last few years, if Boston College were to play USC or UCLA, I'd take the L.A. team over BC.)

A definite case can be made for using your head to pick the Patriots. But if you're a Giant fan, a Jet fan, or a New Yorker or New Jerseyan who doesn't particularly like either one, but you still support any local team in any sport, your heart says to support whoever's playing New England.

Go, Hawks, Go!

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One final stat: Before "Spygate" was revealed, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady reached 3 Super Bowls, winning all of them in very close games, decided by a field goal's worth of points or less. After it was revealed, in 8 seasons, they have reached 3 Super Bowls, but have, thus far, won none.

Also, look at the teams they've played. The 2001-02 Rams, the 2003-04 Panthers and the 2004-05 Eagles were teams whose primary focus was offense. But the 2007-08 and 2011-12 Giants? Their hallmark was defense, and they smacked Brady around and shut down his receivers, and then scored just enough points to win. The current Seahawks? They have a high-powered offense, but it is their defense that is the true difference-maker.

This is why I think the Seahawks will win: Brady will see the Seahawks as another Giants. So the question is, Can Belichick find a way to cheat his way to victory again? My answer: Even if he does, it may not be enough to beat a team that hung 43 points on a good Broncos team a year ago.

Yeah, I picked the Broncos in last year's Super Bowl. I was very, very wrong. But I've picked 7 of the last 9 right, and 13 of the last 16. Before that, though, it was about a 50-50 chance of me getting it right.

If you must bet, consider what I've said here, take it with a pinch of salt, and use your head.

But if the oddsmakers are right, and this game really is, for all practical purposes, an even match, then no betting tips may help.

Let's hope, first and foremost, for a good game, with no major injuries, and no moments like Peyton Manning's over-the-shoulder snap on last year's first play from scrimmage. No "Leon Lett Play." Nothing that would make an announcer say, as Verne Lundquist said after a wide-open Jackie Smith of the Cowboys dropped a sure touchdown pass in Super Bowl XIII, which ended up making the difference, "Aw, bless his heart, he's got to be the sickest man in America!

Nobody deserves to have that happen to him.

Well, maybe the Patriots do. They deserve to be -- wait for it -- deflated. Whether it's Spygate, Deflategate, the Red Sox with their steroids and headhunting, the Celtics and Bruins with their environmental controls, the New England Revolution with their diving and dirty tackles, or UConn with their recruiting violations...

Same New England, always cheating!