seeing it in slow motion, it appears he could have done better on the ricochet. It hit him in the thigh and he tried to grab it with his hand(s). The problem is, the play didn't happen in slow motion. I give him a pass both ways.
You are correct.
He should have fallen/dove for it; it is the last game of the season, and if he doesn’t want to get dirty at this point he doesn’t deserve to win. Plenty of other QBs that have won Super Bowls have risked injury to recover their own fumbles. He played as though he was injured anyway (and I think he is a great QB).
He could have had the ball. It was right there. Yeah, six hundred pounds was also headed for it but there are a lot of QB’s would have gotten in there to try and save the game (Rothlesberger). This fumble ended the game. Had this been the first quarter, or if Carolina had something going, I might have given him a pass. But it wasn’t, and by backing away, he showed that he didn’t want it as badly as the others.