American Sports Thread

[AZOffaly]

I don't think the final seahawks play call was as bad as most are making out. It was 2nd down with 26s left and they had 1 timeout which means they had to throw it at least once if they wanted to avail of all 3 remaining downs. If they ran it on 2nd down and were stuffed they would have had to call timeout and then would have had to throw it on 3rd (not enough to run on 3rd down and then reset for the final play). Throwing on second down basically means the whole playbook is open to you on third down as you can save your final timeout for then if you fail on 3rd down. Of course you can argue with particular play they actual called but there i think you have to say it was a great defensive play rather than an awful call. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I get the point but surely it's better going with Lynch first and taking the danger of a throw away.

Also throwing a slant into heavy middle field traffic was madness.

I think Belichick got away with one too. Why in the hell did he not call timeout there when there was 50 odd seconds there? It worked out brilliant for him, but if Seattle had scored after running the clock down to 13 or 14 seconds, he'd deserve a kick up in the hole. I'd have given Brady a decent chance to get a Fieldgoal if they had 1 timeout and 45 seconds left. I know what Clov is saying, but to be honest I can't agree with the call at all. Lynch is the horse, Wilson at read option would even have been a good call, but to throw the ball there? I'm sorry I can't see it.

Brady recovered himself brilliantly. He had himself spooked completely in the face of the Seattle pass rush. He was seeing shadows and not stepping into his throws. Looked very rattled. Then in one of his chats to himself on the sideline, he obviously sorted himself out. That's brilliant to see in fairness. Also Edelman, what a warrior he was last night. He was getting pegged from pillar to post. chancellor's hit on him hurt *me*, and he looked like he was a little woozy for a few plays after that, but he just kept going. Welker mark 2.

I was so happy to see Carroll's face when the interception was thrown, and Sherman's too. Although to be fair to Sherman, he seems to be the real deal, and he is a great player. I just wish he'd shut his mouth. Why slag off Revis to the cameras in the middle of the game. Karma's a bitch, you'd think a Stanford grad would have more cop on.

All in all a great game, and the Patriots are worthy winners.

[Minder]

I went to the scratcher in 4th Q so only seen the final play once , did Wilson audible out of a run to throw the slant ?

Nope. Sideline call. Players openly not happy with it either in the dressing room afterwards.

Lynch himself is being cool about it making reference to it being a team game, although he must be massively disappointed.

Hopefully it pushes him to Oakland

Lynch is obviously the play everyone was looking for but its hard to run on a goal line defense.

Lynch ran from the 1yd line 5 times this season, 1TD, two for no gain and two for lossess so it's no slam dunk but a pass that close is risky

[AZOffaly]

Fluke catch means Tom Brady will always be remembered as a wee bit of a loser.

Seconds later, awful call and inspired play by a rookie means Tom Brady will always be remembered as arguably the GOAT.

Neither of these things happened when Tom Brady was on the field.

You gotta love the Manichean nature of American sport.

Or the fact that of all the sports, American Football is truly the definition of a team sport. All it takes is one blown assignment, one silly penalty, or one weak link and your dreams go poof.

[gallsman]

I don't think the final seahawks play call was as bad as most are making out. It was 2nd down with 26s left and they had 1 timeout which means they had to throw it at least once if they wanted to avail of all 3 remaining downs. If they ran it on 2nd down and were stuffed they would have had to call timeout and then would have had to throw it on 3rd (not enough to run on 3rd down and then reset for the final play). Throwing on second down basically means the whole playbook is open to you on third down as you can save your final timeout for then if you fail on 3rd down. Of course you can argue with particular play they actual called but there i think you have to say it was a great defensive play rather than an awful call. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I get the point but surely it's better going with Lynch first and taking the danger of a throw away.

Also throwing a slant into heavy middle field traffic was madness.

I think Belichick got away with one too. Why in the hell did he not call timeout there when there was 50 odd seconds there? It worked out brilliant for him, but if Seattle had scored after running the clock down to 13 or 14 seconds, he'd deserve a kick up in the hole. I'd have given Brady a decent chance to get a Fieldgoal if they had 1 timeout and 45 seconds left. I know what Clov is saying, but to be honest I can't agree with the call at all. Lynch is the horse, Wilson at read option would even have been a good call, but to throw the ball there? I'm sorry I can't see it.

Brady recovered himself brilliantly. He had himself spooked completely in the face of the Seattle pass rush. He was seeing shadows and not stepping into his throws. Looked very rattled. Then in one of his chats to himself on the sideline, he obviously sorted himself out. That's brilliant to see in fairness. Also Edelman, what a warrior he was last night. He was getting pegged from pillar to post. chancellor's hit on him hurt *me*, and he looked like he was a little woozy for a few plays after that, but he just kept going. Welker mark 2.

I was so happy to see Carroll's face when the interception was thrown, and Sherman's too. Although to be fair to Sherman, he seems to be the real deal, and he is a great player. I just wish he'd shut his mouth. Why slag off Revis to the cameras in the middle of the game. Karma's a bitch, you'd think a Stanford grad would have more cop on.

All in all a great game, and the Patriots are worthy winners.

Sherman has an enormous amount of cop on in fairness. The trash talk is just pantomime stuff. I have a lot of time for him.

[deiseach]

Come on Cavan !!


http://www.broadsheet.ie/2015/02/02/cavan-patriot/

People thought it was Malcolm Butler under the helmet, but it was really Larry Reilly.

[Clov]

I don't think the final seahawks play call was as bad as most are making out. It was 2nd down with 26s left and they had 1 timeout which means they had to throw it at least once if they wanted to avail of all 3 remaining downs. If they ran it on 2nd down and were stuffed they would have had to call timeout and then would have had to throw it on 3rd (not enough to run on 3rd down and then reset for the final play). Throwing on second down basically means the whole playbook is open to you on third down as you can save your final timeout for then if you fail on 3rd down. Of course you can argue with particular play they actual called but there i think you have to say it was a great defensive play rather than an awful call. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I get the point but surely it's better going with Lynch first and taking the danger of a throw away.

Also throwing a slant into heavy middle field traffic was madness.

Maybe. I guess the advantage of throwing on 2nd down is that should you go incomplete, with with the timeout in your pocket you can go either pass or run on 3rd down. Once you get into a situation were you have to pass on 3rd down then it is much easier for the defense. But may be i'm overthinking it.
As for the play call of a slant - well its probably got a much higher success rate than say a back shoulder fade to the corner and even though the risk of interception is probably greater i can understand their thinking that you have to go for it at that stage.

[gallsman]

I don't think the final seahawks play call was as bad as most are making out. It was 2nd down with 26s left and they had 1 timeout which means they had to throw it at least once if they wanted to avail of all 3 remaining downs. If they ran it on 2nd down and were stuffed they would have had to call timeout and then would have had to throw it on 3rd (not enough to run on 3rd down and then reset for the final play). Throwing on second down basically means the whole playbook is open to you on third down as you can save your final timeout for then if you fail on 3rd down. Of course you can argue with particular play they actual called but there i think you have to say it was a great defensive play rather than an awful call. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I get the point but surely it's better going with Lynch first and taking the danger of a throw away.

Also throwing a slant into heavy middle field traffic was madness.

Maybe. I guess the advantage of throwing on 2nd down is that should you go incomplete, with with the timeout in your pocket you can go either pass or run on 3rd down. Once you get into a situation were you have to pass on 3rd down then it is much easier for the defense. But may be i'm overthinking it.
As for the play call of a slant - well its probably got a much higher success rate than say a back shoulder fade to the corner and even though the risk of interception is probably greater i can understand their thinking that you have to go for it at that stage.

They were on the 1 yard line, down four points, with 30 second left in the Super Bowl - decision to pass or run nothing to do with downs at that stage. Put the f**king thing in the end zone whatever way you can and trust your vaunted defence, even if Brady was getting on top by that stage.

[deiseach]

Was there ever a time in football when a QB would have said "feck it, we're running the ball"?

[AZOffaly]

Most QBs have the option to audible to a run if they see a formation that they don't like (and vice versa). That's where the great ones really come into their own. Manning is exceptional at that. But if it doesn't come off, you have to have a damn good explanation why you didn't run the play called. That's where experience and having a good CV come into play. I just cant understand (if they were thinking pass) why they didn't roll Wilson out and let him have a read option. A quick slant is a high percentage play, but it's not as high as Wilson on a read option. They only needed 1 yard..

[Clov]

I don't think the final seahawks play call was as bad as most are making out. It was 2nd down with 26s left and they had 1 timeout which means they had to throw it at least once if they wanted to avail of all 3 remaining downs. If they ran it on 2nd down and were stuffed they would have had to call timeout and then would have had to throw it on 3rd (not enough to run on 3rd down and then reset for the final play). Throwing on second down basically means the whole playbook is open to you on third down as you can save your final timeout for then if you fail on 3rd down. Of course you can argue with particular play they actual called but there i think you have to say it was a great defensive play rather than an awful call. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I get the point but surely it's better going with Lynch first and taking the danger of a throw away.

Also throwing a slant into heavy middle field traffic was madness.

Maybe. I guess the advantage of throwing on 2nd down is that should you go incomplete, with with the timeout in your pocket you can go either pass or run on 3rd down. Once you get into a situation were you have to pass on 3rd down then it is much easier for the defense. But may be i'm overthinking it.
As for the play call of a slant - well its probably got a much higher success rate than say a back shoulder fade to the corner and even though the risk of interception is probably greater i can understand their thinking that you have to go for it at that stage.

They were on the 1 yard line, down four points, with 30 second left in the Super Bowl - decision to pass or run nothing to do with downs at that stage. Put the f**king thing in the end zone whatever way you can and trust your vaunted defence, even if Brady was getting on top by that stage.

The decision to pass or run has everything to do with downs at that stage. If you go run only then you don't give yourself the oppurtunity of a fourth down play.

[AZOffaly]

Not necessarily Clov. What you do is call two run plays in the huddle, and if you don't get in you hustle to the line. Then you take your time out after the 3rd down, with maybe 2 seconds on the clock. It's not like where you have to sprint 30 yards downfield after an in bounds completion and try and get on the ball.

Goal line package, everyone in, two run plays called, run one - bam. stopped. with 18 seconds left. Reset, run two - bam, 5 seconds left. Time Out.

[Clov]

Most QBs have the option to audible to a run if they see a formation that they don't like (and vice versa). That's where the great ones really come into their own. Manning is exceptional at that. But if it doesn't come off, you have to have a damn good explanation why you didn't run the play called. That's where experience and having a good CV come into play. I just cant understand (if they were thinking pass) why they didn't roll Wilson out and let him have a read option. A quick slant is a high percentage play, but it's not as high as Wilson on a read option. They only needed 1 yard..

I agree with this. Wilson on a bootleg would have been what i would have expected. The problem with the slant is that it doesn't take advantage of seattle's greatest strength in their passing plays - the threat of the run.

[gallsman]

I don't think the final seahawks play call was as bad as most are making out. It was 2nd down with 26s left and they had 1 timeout which means they had to throw it at least once if they wanted to avail of all 3 remaining downs. If they ran it on 2nd down and were stuffed they would have had to call timeout and then would have had to throw it on 3rd (not enough to run on 3rd down and then reset for the final play). Throwing on second down basically means the whole playbook is open to you on third down as you can save your final timeout for then if you fail on 3rd down. Of course you can argue with particular play they actual called but there i think you have to say it was a great defensive play rather than an awful call. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I get the point but surely it's better going with Lynch first and taking the danger of a throw away.

Also throwing a slant into heavy middle field traffic was madness.

Maybe. I guess the advantage of throwing on 2nd down is that should you go incomplete, with with the timeout in your pocket you can go either pass or run on 3rd down. Once you get into a situation were you have to pass on 3rd down then it is much easier for the defense. But may be i'm overthinking it.
As for the play call of a slant - well its probably got a much higher success rate than say a back shoulder fade to the corner and even though the risk of interception is probably greater i can understand their thinking that you have to go for it at that stage.

They were on the 1 yard line, down four points, with 30 second left in the Super Bowl - decision to pass or run nothing to do with downs at that stage. Put the f**king thing in the end zone whatever way you can and trust your vaunted defence, even if Brady was getting on top by that stage.

The decision to pass or run has everything to do with downs at that stage. If you go run only then you don't give yourself the oppurtunity of a fourth down play.

And you certainly don't if you get intercepted. My point is at that stage the paramount objective is to score the thing whatever the feck way you can. Running Lynch or Wilson, whether managing two plays or three, definitely the better option.

[AZOffaly]

Sherman has an enormous amount of cop on in fairness. The trash talk is just pantomime stuff. I have a lot of time for him.

True, and I have a lot of time for him as a player as well. He's apparently away for Tommy John surgery in the offseason. I just wish he'd shut up. He takes the pantomime too far. Like Revis couldn't see that gesture, so it wasn't even trash talking him, it was purely for the TV cameras.

Having said all this, I like these photos. If you give it out, fair play when you take it like a man, even though you were gutted.

[gallsman]

Def AZ, the hysterical (and frankly racist) response to the Crabtree rant last year was ludicrous and locked Sherman into the "guy everyone wants to hate" character, which I think he plays on quite a bit, even though his response to the accusations that followed was exceptionally composed and dignified. Same with the "u mad, bro" incident the year before.

Will be interesting to see how Seattle respond to this. They should be two time champs and looking to create a dynasty. Instead they're licking wounds.