Originally posted by LisaTwelve:
Originally posted by fortyninerglory:
Originally posted by vaden:
Originally posted by LisaTwelve:
Originally posted by baltien:
I said this earlier. The story isn't that they failed to run Lynch, it's how Lockette basically got punked. Any receiver worth a damn makes that catch.
Actually, the story is . . .
@GregABedard: Seattle hadn't lost a gm it led by 10 pts in 4Q since 2004 (49-0). Super Bowl teams were 29-0. & then Brady happened
If the Hawks DEE is able to stop Brady and the Pats in the 4th, that last play never happens. But, sure made for an exciting finish.
Yep, the play call was awful and Lockette should've been more aggressive to the ball, but the bulk of the blame for that loss should go on a D that was touted as one of the best ever and allowed the biggest 4th quarter comeback in SB history.
You have to admit though that the Seattle D was a shell of its former self:
No Mebane
No Jeremy Hill
Thomas hurt
Sherman hurt
Chancellor hurt
Lane out early
Avril out early
The wear and tear of three straight seasons of extended play really showed up on Sunday. And I think this contributed to a lot of the missed tackles that allowed the Patriots to get first downs when they needed to on those dink and dunk plays. And that dink and all night really taxxed Seattle's stamina. What was the final TOP numbers?
NE 33:46
SEA 26:14
That time of possession is misleading in a way. For one, the Pats were dinking and dunking and that was why they were on the field for such a long time. I don't see it solely as a reflection of the performance of Seattle's D. You have to look at Seattle's offense too, there were a lot of 3 and outs earlier on in the game. I think they were being far too conservative. Tell me how all of a sudden they were able to drive 80 yards in a minute when they needed to ? To me, they should have played Russell Wilson with more read-option plays.
But, about their D, let's be honest here it just isn't as good as last year's D. They have lost just too many people during free agency. The way I see it is the biggest problem lied in the interior of their D-line. To begin with Red Bryant was a big loss and then with Brandon Mebane out for the season was just too much and it affected the effectiveness of their outside pass rushers plus Pat's O-line is pretty decent.
As for that last play call, oh well, I guess on paper it made sense when you look at the Pat's personnel package of that play. But, the thing is if you are at the 0.5 yard line and if you can't pound it in with Beast Mode then you can forget about it. I think Pete just over-thought the sequence of plays. I think he had probably all thought out what they were going to do as in run vs throw for 4 downs in trying not to let the Pats guess what they were going to do. But, my money ? I would pound it with Lynch for all 4 downs if I had to. Throwing a slant in such crowded traffic is just way too risky in my book.
