This quote explains this non-story thoroughly.
If the Hawks had 3 timeouts, they would have run 4 times.
They didn't. They had 1 timeout and wanted to have one pass in the series to act as a score/timeout (if incomplete).
Like DeflateGate, this isn't all that hard to understand, the media just has another bone they can chew on and exploit peoples' ignorance of the game.
And a lot of ignorance is shown by a lot of people around here..
You don’t need to run Lynch three times. If you can’t gain three feet on two pops with Marshawn Lynch you don’t deserve to be champs.
Have Wilson run one or two zone reads and let the Pats decide which poison they want. Chances are far better than even that they’d have a second straight trophy today.
Move your running QB. If he keeps, get him to the corner. Out of bounds is the same clock saver as an incomplete pass.
If you must throw (and they didn’t have to), use your head and don’t throw to the middle of the field.