[Conscience of a Conservative]

So, basically, they didn’t expect their receiver to catch the ball, but they didn’t expect it to be intercepted either.

That actually makes sense. What really messed this whole thing up was not that they didn’t run it, but that a pass was intercepted. That is a critical nuance.

Agreed that "wasting" a pass play in that situation makes a bit of sense. I just don't think that the pass play should have been a pick/slant right in the middle (where NE's goal line defenders were). Want to waste a play? Throw a little back-shoulder pass in the corner of the endzone.

[lepton]

just don’t think that the pass play should have been a pick/slant right in the middle (where NE’s goal line defenders were).

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Except that it wasn’t. The goal line defenders were up at the 5, and the pass was about 45 degrees to Wilson’s right, with only Browner and Butler not on the other side of the left hash mark.