In another universe, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick might have been the goat of the 2015 Super Bowl. With two timeouts in his pocket, he made the curious decision to allow the Seattle Seahawks to run the game clock from 1:06 to 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter after a 4-yard run by Marshawn Lynch put the Seahawks at the Patriots' 1-yard line, needing a touchdown to win.
The Seahawks convinced Bill Belichick to save a timeout
Bill Belichick saved his timeout when he saw what the Seahawks did just before Malcolm Butler’s Super Bowl-winning interception.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
You know the story by now: The Seahawks dialed up a slant pass intended for Ricardo Lockette, but Malcolm Butler knocked him off his route and intercepted the pass in the same fell swoop to become a Super Bowl hero.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell have been the central targets of criticism in the days since the Super Bowl ended, but there are still those wondering what Belichick was thinking, including Tom Brady. Belichick told WEEI radio that he considered calling timeout, but changed his mind after seeing that the Seahawks were putting three wide receivers on the field.
“We put our goal-line defense in probably around the same time they were sending in their multiple receiver group, and that’s kind of what we wanted to be in there, to make sure they didn’t run the ball in,” Belichick said.
“I’d like to think had they tried to run the ball against our goal-line defense, with three receivers on the field -- we couldn’t ask for any more than that in terms of trying to stop the running game. We saw that matchup and we certainly gave some consideration to taking a timeout there and leaving some time on the clock. I don’t know if that would have been a bad thing to do. It might have been a good thing to do. But it just seemed like -- in the flow of the game -- that we were OK with where we were.”
SB Nation presents: What could have been for the Seahawks
After the game, many criticized the Seahawks coaching staff for deciding to pass the ball instead of handing off to Marshawn Lynch, needing just one yard for the score. Belichick’s comments suggest that he, too, was surprised that the Seahawks didn’t roll out a run-heavy package. He chose to run time off the clock, giving his offense little time to respond if the Seahawks scored, in favor of letting Seattle run a play he felt would be advantageous for his defense.
The gamble worked in this instance, and Belichick looks wise in hindsight. Had the Seahawks ran the ball or Russell Wilson’s simply fallen incomplete, we might be writing a different story.
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