Seahawks Offensive Coordinator Says he Would Still Call The Same Play That Resulted In His Team's Super Bowl Loss

Deadspin-  “It’s never going to leave you. I can think back to when I was playing quarterback and there are plays that still eat me in my gut from when I was playing. The ones that usually eat you are the bad plays, not the Big Ten Championships. It’s those other plays that you think back to that eat you in the gut.

“That play we called will always be there to drive me. I wouldn’t change it, I think it was the right thing. Coach Carroll has done a great job with it as well. I think to answer your question, in terms of totally moving on, that night is rough, the next morning is rough, getting on the plane is rough, but as soon as I got here and I was able to watch it for myself on the tape and see our copy and look at it that way and do the analyzing of it, once that was over I was able to put it behind me. I’m okay. I really am.”

It’s an interesting answer. Bevell expresses regret for how it went down, but won’t, or can’t, admit that the call itself was a mistake (and it objectively was). Part of that is his honest belief that it was a smart play, given the variables. Part of it is undoubtedly the result of the self-confident mindset required to succeed at the highest levels of football.

Bevell seems to confirm early that the call for a pass to Ricardo Lockette was a function of being surprised by the package the Patriots trotted out—or at least was a direct reaction to it. (“Matchups had something to do with it, yes.”) Remember, Malcolm Butler wasn’t supposed to be out there—the Patriots’ fifth corner, Butler only saw the field because the Seahawks’ extra-receiver sets had been giving New England fits all night. It was a stacked-receiver set that Seattle showed on that final, fatal play, and tipping Butler off that a pass was coming, likely resembling the exact play he had been beaten on in practice a week before. Matchups did play into it, but to Bevell’s chagrin they paid off for his opponents.


Ahh, the old "everything happens for a reason" approach. Funny how only people that had horrible things happen to them use that line of thinking. I would think it would be a bit more successful if there was any other reason for it happening than this guy's stupid play call. It's not like the ball hit the receiver in the fingertips and bounced to a defender in the back of the end zone. The play call basically resulted in a pitch and catch with a defensive back. No divine intervention there. In all honesty I still can't believe that play happened. Like, I know that the Patriots won the SuperBowl and the Seattle Seahawks lost it, but it still doesn't fully register that one yard and one idiotic decision were the only differences between a completely different outcome. I watched that entire game and at the end I was just sitting there looking quizzically at the television like "huh?".

I'll give him this. If he is in a similar position ever again, he should call the same play. No one would ever see something that moronic coming twice in a row. Anyone could make the mistake of throwing into traffic from the one yard line with the best running back in football once, but to do so twice would be pure insanity. No shot a team would run that same defense again. Lockette would be wide open and waltz right into the end zone. Hey, if anything, Darell Bevell has the upper hand right now. The lasting image he left us with over the offseason is that he is an absolute buffoon. Since he's got a SuperBowl to his name he can't be that stupid, but as of now that's how we all view him. That's got to bode well for him going into the new season. Shit, if he's a half decent play caller he will greatly exceed the expectations we were left with from a confusing, to say the least, end to last year's SuperBowl. Forget all the success he had in helping his franchise reach two straight SuperBowls. If you say "Seahawks Offensive Coordinator" I automatically respond with "fucking idiot", and that's based purely on one play call. One play call that he apparently has no plans to scratch from the playbook. It's a thin line between being stubborn and being persistent, for Darren Bevell's sake I hope he has some decent balance since he clearly plans to walk it.