Well, it wasn’t first down, it was second down.
I am no Pete Carroll fan (in fact, I despise him, and have ever since he was at USC). But when one considers the odds (and an analyst that was cited on another thread pointed this out), they actually favored (though only so very slightly) a pass play in this situation.
I was like a lot of people when I first saw that play: WTF? You didn’t RUN???
But looking at it later, after considering all possibilities, I cannot fault Carroll for the call. Of course, I’ve had almost a full day to consider the options, but Carroll (or the OC, if he in fact called the play), had only a few seconds to make the decision.
And there is the center of gravity for this down. Belichick opted not to call a time out. If he had I'm sure the Seahawk's coaches brain fart would have cleared and the logical running play would have been called.