American Sports Thread

[Minder]

See Warren Sapp was arrested for solicitation in Phoenix after the Super Bowl. Donkey. That's him done on TV I'd say.

Suspended without pay, he wouldn't be much of a miss

[AZOffaly]

See Warren Sapp was arrested for solicitation in Phoenix after the Super Bowl. Donkey. That's him done on TV I'd say.

Suspended without pay, he wouldn't be much of a miss

What do they be thinking?

[heganboy]

nice graphic of the big play yesterday
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/02/02/sports/football/wilson-saw-a-window-to-victory-but-butler-stole-the-show.html?

[whitey]

I'll tell you seattle is a quiet town this morning. Everyone is devasted  - it's like Armagh in 2003. An awful way to lose a superbowl and as was said P.C will carry the play call decisions to the grave. For me the players can still hold their heads high. It was theirs to win and their coaching staff gave it away.

Give the Pats some credit......very very ballsy move by Bellichick not to call a time out when Lynch got to yhe 1 yard line with 1 min 6 sec left on the clock.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Patriots/comments/2uisry/the_genius_of_belichicks_no_timeout/

[Wildweasel74]

The one feeling the pinch the most will be Green Bay, they were in my opinion the best team this year, its funny that the best team tends to get the chop regularly on the road to the SB.
I seen NY giants edge out New England twice when they were the better team so its nice to see them win a tight one, am probably one of the few who like both Brady and Manning.

I know Seattle were unlucky but were bordering on terrible for the 1st quarter and a half just like the 1st half of the Green Bay game. They cant expect to put in such poor starts and expect to win.

Patriots will be there abouts next year though i expect the Colts to from their most serious threat, the steelers,its hard to gauge where Denver will at.
Seattle will again look up against Green Bay likely Dallas, not sure where the 49ers will be.

[Minder]

See Warren Sapp was arrested for solicitation in Phoenix after the Super Bowl. Donkey. That's him done on TV I'd say.

Suspended without pay, he wouldn't be much of a miss

What do they be thinking?

Now fired

[J70]

I've heard a few people saying Belichick should have called a TO with 50sec on the clock, I was screaming at the TV myself. But then the camera showed him on the sideline, and straight away I said he see's something. Carroll said after that the routine was in their playbook, spread them out on one down then run in on next without a TO. These guys review hours of film so I think he knew a throw was coming and had them all jump

Wouldn't be the first time he'd seen the opposition playbook.

[Muck Savage]

I've heard a few people saying Belichick should have called a TO with 50sec on the clock, I was screaming at the TV myself. But then the camera showed him on the sideline, and straight away I said he see's something. Carroll said after that the routine was in their playbook, spread them out on one down then run in on next without a TO. These guys review hours of film so I think he knew a throw was coming and had them all jump

Wouldn't be the first time he'd seen the opposition playbook.

Well if your calling him a cheat then he won the Cheat Bowl over Pete Carroll.

[Asal Mor]

I'll tell you seattle is a quiet town this morning. Everyone is devasted  - it's like Armagh in 2003. An awful way to lose a superbowl and as was said P.C will carry the play call decisions to the grave. For me the players can still hold their heads high. It was theirs to win and their coaching staff gave it away.

Give the Pats some credit......very very ballsy move by Bellichick not to call a time out when Lynch got to yhe 1 yard line with 1 min 6 sec left on the clock.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Patriots/comments/2uisry/the_genius_of_belichicks_no_timeout/

Interesting quote from that thread -

According to ESPN: "Lynch had five rushes from the 1-yard line this season for minus-1 yard and one touchdown." Not great odds with the Super Bowl on the line.

Far from the gimme that people are making it out to be. I read somewhere on this thread that Lynch gets in 99 times out of 100 from there, but it seems the actual stat (for this year anyway) is 20 times out of 100.

I'm no fan of Carroll but it was the same risky play-calling that got them the TD at the end of the first half.

[AZOffaly]

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. You have to look at game flow. He was making progress on every run, it was late, New England were wearing down. I think we are over thinking this!

As for belichik, maybe it was genius but I don't buy it. That was almost as bad a mistake in my eyes, but it worked.

[Syferus]

I'll tell you seattle is a quiet town this morning. Everyone is devasted  - it's like Armagh in 2003. An awful way to lose a superbowl and as was said P.C will carry the play call decisions to the grave. For me the players can still hold their heads high. It was theirs to win and their coaching staff gave it away.

Give the Pats some credit......very very ballsy move by Bellichick not to call a time out when Lynch got to yhe 1 yard line with 1 min 6 sec left on the clock.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Patriots/comments/2uisry/the_genius_of_belichicks_no_timeout/

Interesting quote from that thread -

According to ESPN: "Lynch had five rushes from the 1-yard line this season for minus-1 yard and one touchdown." Not great odds with the Super Bowl on the line.

Far from the gimme that people are making it out to be. I read somewhere on this thread that Lynch gets in 99 times out of 100 from there, but it seems the actual stat (for this year anyway) is 20 times out of 100.

I'm no fan of Carroll but it was the same risky play-calling that got them the TD at the end of the first half.

Lynch's MVP form up to that play was of far more importance than random and unrelated instances of previous one-yard rushes. The Patriots simply couldn't stop Lynch on Sunday.

[gallsman]

From Bill Barnwell on Grantland:

Before Sunday, NFL teams had thrown the ball 108 times on the opposing team's 1-yard line this season. Those passes had produced 66 touchdowns (a success rate of 61.1 percent, down to 59.5 percent when you throw in three sacks) and zero interceptions. The 223 running plays had generated 129 touchdowns (a 57.8 percent success rate) and two turnovers on fumbles.

Stretch that out to five years and the numbers make runs slightly superior; they scored 54.1 percent of the time and resulted in turnovers 1.5 percent of the time, while passes got the ball into the end zone 50.1 percent of the time and resulted in turnovers 1.9 percent of the time. In a vacuum, the decision between running and passing on the 1-yard line is hardly indefensible, because both the risk and the reward are roughly similar.

The key phrase there, of course, is "in a vacuum." This wasn't a vacuum. This was the Seahawks and the Patriots, and while the size of the stage shouldn't matter, the matchups should. As I mentioned in my Super Bowl preview, this was a matchup specifically built for running the football with Lynch in short yardage. According to Football Outsiders, the Patriots were the worst team in the league in power-running situations and fifth-worst in terms of stuffing the opposition for no gain or a loss. Seattle was the second-best power running team and the sixth-best team at avoiding stuffs. If there was ever a matchup that called for a team to live and die on the back of its running game from the 1-yard line, this was it.

Regardless of any spin put on it, going for anything other then Lynch was bonkers.

[deiseach]

The logic of throwing the football seems to be that it would maximise the chances you'll get in the remaining time. But how many chances should any team need to get it forward by one yard?

[gallsman]

Anyone see the story about the two Irish lads walking into the game for free?!

[Clov]

In a vacuum it is arguably the right thing to do. The chances of a fumble are as high an interception (both very unlikely). The chances of scoring are equally good with both run and pass (both quite high). The issue is whether it is the right thing to do with the personnel Seattle have (the league's best back) and the success they were having up to that point running the ball. On the 'it is not so crazy to throw the ball there' side of the ledger, Seattle did seem to get a very favourable look from the NE defense for throwing the ball. I believe NE would have sold out against the run had the lined up in a run formation. Should Seattle have run the ball anyway? Probably, but is it the worst play call ever? Not even close.

For my money AZ is right in that what Belichek did in letting the time run off the clock from 1:05 was stupid. But he got away with it because they won. Had Lockette caught the slant, we'd all be talking about Belichek's clock management instead.

edit: the one other factor i would add is that goal line running is as much or more about the two lines and "who wins the battle in the trenches" as it is about the running back. Tom Brady has a remarkable record from the 1yd line but noone would consider him all-time great running threat! When you look at the match up of Seattle offensive line vs Pats defensive line I don't think you can really say that it really favours Seattle in this situation. There line doesn't blast people off the ball like a great power O-line would.