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Unlike others I will not blame the Seattle coaches for going to the air when everyone said they should have stuck with Lynch. At the point they had all their timeouts, a couple of downs and most importantly, the Patriots were bunched up on a very strong goal line defense. Lynch punched a lot of holes through the Pats line but he also bounced off a few times.

Again, it was no sure thing that Lynch could have punched through. Just look at the lineup in that play!

So going to the air was an effort to breakup that solid line a little, and with two downs left it made some sense.

Because the NFL is a results oriented business and the result was bad that makes the play bad. But great coaches generally become great coaches for taking risks. 2 weeks ago Carroll faces 4th and 10 in easy FG range to get his team’s first points of the game, calls a fake, gets a TD, and those 4 points are the difference between a noble attempt at a come back and actually getting the tie and the win. If the fake fails it’s a dumb move, it didn’t so it was great. If the pass yesterday is completed for a TD it’s a brilliant move, going against expectations and playing boldly for the win. But it wasn’t.

Also remember the game wasn’t really over at that point, thanks to over celebration the Pats get the ball back on the one and cannot kneel. A kneel lands in the endzone, safety, 2 points, kick it back to Seattle sitting on 1 time out and about 15 second only needing a FG to win. The game really ends when the Pats say “Seahawks jump offsides a lot, let’s draw them, and get those 5 yards”.