What Was That, Pete Carroll? By: Dixie Robinson

This past Sunday, February 1st, millions in America gathered around their television with friends and family to watch the annual Superbowl. The battle began between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. It's no surprise that so many people were witnessing the game because the Patriots were trying for their fourth Superbowl win, all with Tom Brady as their quarterback, and the Seahawks were going for their second consecutive Superbowl win. Everyone knew the game was going to be a hard fight, but no one could have anticipated what happened in the last minute!

 

Me and my boyfriend, Marc watching the Superbowl! 

 

 

The entire game was pretty close. It finally got down to the last minute and the score was 28-24 with the Patriots winning. However, The Seahawks were making major strides to make a touchdown, and by the looks of it, they were going to score and win. The Seahawks made it to the four yard line and everyone assumed they were going to give the ball to Marshawn Lynch, their running back, to score the final touchdown for the win. This was this distinct second that all of the Seahawks fans felt their dreams die, because Pete Carrol, the Seahawks coach, decided to make a pass play. Unfortunately for the Seahawks, the pass ended in an interception by the Patriots, resulting in a final score of 28-24 with the Patriots winning.

 As one can guess, the masses of Seahawks fans were in shock! Why would Pete Carroll make such a risky play when they were that close to winning? Since this has become such a controversy, I set out to find what people at Avila University thought about the final few plays that lead to the Seahawk's loss. Casey Lee, a Sports Communication major had this to say when asked about Pete Carroll's decision to throw the ball, rather than run. "Here's the thing, no matter what would have happened, someone would have criticized it because if the throw had worked no one would have given it a second thought. They would have said, 'Oh what a great call, what a great play!' I think it's like that with any play that doesn't end up working. People don't realize that, you know everyone was like, 'Pass the ball to Marshawn Lynch.' Well throughout the season when they were on the one yard line, they gave it to him five times and he only got in once. So really there's a lot of ways to look at it and obviously it was the call that blew the game, but I think people are being over the top about how it's one of the worst calls ever."

 

Casey Lee, Sports Communication

Another Avila Student, Zach Mize who is also a Sports Communication major had this to say when asked about Pete Carroll’s play call. “I thought it was awesome. I just wanted a good game. I called the Pats by six, and that didn’t happen; but I did get the Pats by four.” I then asked him if he thought it was the wrong play call he stated, “No,” however he acknowledged that if he were their coach he would not have made that call because it only made since to give the ball to Lynch.

 

Zach Mize, Sports Communication

 

We will never know what would had happened if Pete Carroll would have made the decision to give the ball to Marshawn Lynch as their final play. As Casey mentioned, just because you give the ball to Lynch doesn’t mean he always will make a touchdown. The issue lies with the risk Pete Carroll was taking by calling a pass play. If he would have at least tried to run the ball before passing, the public’s reaction may have been different, and more importantly the score could have been different. These are the things that should have been considered before calling a play that potentially cost the Seahawks the Superbowl Win.