You may or may not have heard about Royals fans coordinating, mobilizing, and voting by the millions for all the Royals players to start in the All-Star game.
According to ESPN's AL voting tracking, if the All-Star game were played today, 7 position player Royals, Mike Trout (OF), and Miguel Cabrera (1B) would start. Royals 1B Hosmer is right behind Cabrera in voting. Cabrera passed Hosmer in the past week. This isn't because the Royal players just all happen to be hitting/fielding/playing lights out baseball. It is a concerted effort by Royal fans to get as many Royals into the ASG as possible. For those of you who don't know how ASG voting works, you can vote up to 35 times per person online (I'm guessing more if you use different computers, email addresses, names, etc.) and unlimited voting at ball parks. Un. limited. voting. Right next to the beer vendors, so you know the decision making is going to be at its sharpest right around the 8th inning of a home team blowout.
The talking heads (when they're not talking about last night's draft, Tom Brady, or Pete Rose) are all sorts of up in arms about the Royals essentially representing the AL starters in the ASG. How can this happen? Why would anyone other than Royals want to watch essentially a "Royals vs. the best of the NL game?" Starters play four or five innings. Usually, with the quality of pitching in the ASG, getting 2 maybe 3 at bats. Then, the manager, this year--NL: Bruce Bochy, SF, and, of course, Ned Yost, KC, start rotating players through so that all teams are represented. Now, I'm guessing that if most of the starters are Royals, Yost will pull them as soon as he can so they are rested for games that actually matter. Managers and a lot of players use the Al Star break to rest, heal, and get ready for the second half of a long season. Still, this will be about half the game with KC players.
How many of those KC players getting votes (so, the seven who would be currently starting + Hosmer because it isn't out of the realm of possibility) are hitting over .300? You can look it up here. 1-Moustakas. I would say that Moustakas deserves to go. He's hitting .328 with 7 dingers. Catcher Salvador Perez should go because I can't think of an AL catcher who is having a better year. Perez has 11 HR and a decent .276. Catchers are rarely hitters. Mike Piazza, a young Jorge Posada, and the NL's Buster Posey are exceptions that spring to mind.
So what about Hosmer, 2B Omar Infante, SS Pablo Escobar, Out fielders Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon, and DH Kendrys Morales? If they get the votes they should start. Let the Royals start at nearly every position. Let players hitting below .300 (when they are facing all pitchers, so that would include good teams' 4 & 5 rotation guys AND bad teams' rotation guys, not to mention relievers) start over better hitters/fielders. Don't change the All Star Game this year. This is a monster that MLB has created. Royals fans just elevated it to the roof of the castle in the lightning storm. Let it happen.
And then bet H E A V I L Y on the NL.
The AL will essentially spot the NL All Stars (you know, the legitimate ones) 4-5 innings before the Real AL All Stars get to play. Royals fans will get to watch their .236 (Infante) to .292 (Hosmer who, ironically might be the one NOT to start) average hitters go up against the likes of Max Scherzer (1.76 ERA, 123 strikeouts, 1 no-no, which just missed being perfection by a hit batter in the 9th), Zack Greinke (1.70 ERA, 75 strikeouts), Clayton Kershaw (3.33 ERA--they might hit him, 131 strikeouts--on second thought, nope), Shelby Miller (1.94 ERA, 70 strikeouts), and Gerrit Cole (2.16 ERA, 102 strikeouts). Now, ASG pitching is interesting since pitchers only pitch two innings, tops. But those NL pitchers, even at 1 inning each, gets the NL through the warm-up crew the AL will be starting. Let the Royals start nearly their entire team. Then sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy the shut out, possibly 4-5 perfect innings where the AL doesn't put a runner on. Watch the Royals lose. Just for fun, start Madison Bumgarner if only to give Kansas City flashbacks to losing the World Series when they couldn't touch his stuff. Right now Bumgarner isn't even a statistical top ten NL pitcher in ERA (he is 6th in strikeouts, though).
Unless the AL pitching (Sonny Gray, King Felix, Chris Sale, Dallas Keuchel, Dellin Bettances) can limit what is going to be an NL murderers row--Posey (.293 11 HR), Paul Goldschmidt (.354,20 HR), Dee Gordon (.351, 107 hits already), Matt Carpenter (.286 8 HR), Jhonny Peralta (.305, 11 HR), Bryce Harper (.340, 24 HR), Giancarlo Stanton (.269 27 HR), and Matt Holliday (.303 26 HR), the NL is going to blow this game out. Now, there are a couple of the NL All Stars who are there on name and team (Carpenter) rather than stats. Stanton is coming back from a horrid facial injury that took him out last year and his average has suffered, but putting 27 balls into the cheap seats before mid-season warrants inclusion. Carpenter, Posey, and Stanton are the only players batting below .300. Posey is tied for first in batting average with Yadier Molina (who is a close second in catcher votes), but leads him in all other stat categories. Stanton, with the worst batting average of the vote getters, has the most HR. Carpenter is the one "Royal" on the NL, statistically doesn't belong, but gets support from fans.
The NL is going to field a legit All Star team. Baseball fans who have looked at the players and voted have put together a team I would like to watch--a team that can function and perform. The AL is going to roll out a team predominately voted for by fans of one team, blindly checking the KC ballot box regardless of performance or ability.
If you think about it, maybe it isn't just MLB voting that needs examining in the upcoming voting season.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
The Media and Sports
Last week, Aaron Rodgers got into "trouble" with members of the media. Rodgers was on the court after Wisconsin's win over Arizona in the Elite 8. Officially, only official workers, NCAA team members (usually just the winners), and credentialed media are allowed on the floor after games. Rodgers was invited by the Wisconsin team to come down with them. CBSSports.com writer Dennis Dodd called him out on it but only after Rodgers refused an interview with Dodd. Dodd then took to twitter to point out Rodgers wasn't supposed to be on the floor and was being given special privileges that regular fans didn't have.
There is so much stupid shit to respond to in the Dodd complaint and the ensuing arguments the least of which would be to ask if Rodgers had talked to you would you still have acted like a tattling little sibling who didn't get his way? Dodd then said that he should be allowed to attend Rodgers' wedding to Olivia Munn because "he's a fan." I love how Mike & Mike and Colin Cowherd responded to this idiotic false analogy: He was wanted there; you won't be. Then, all this boils down to Rodgers HAD a pass to go on the floor. He was given it by the Wisconsin athletic director. Rodgers has since pointed this out on twitter and called Dodd a joke. Which, really, thanks to Dodd's childish reaction to being blown off by a sports star who was being a fan in a completely different sport, Dodd really is a joke. He committed the sin of making the media the news.
If the media IS the news, then something is wrong with the news and the media. Now, there are obvious exceptions: a special (good or bad) event, the retirement, or death, of a long time prominent personality (Dan Rather breaking down reporting on 9/11, the deaths of Peter Jennings and Walter Cronkite). Media is a lens. It should act like one. It should present the story not make the story. Think of a window. When you're looking outside, the window is showing you outside. The only time you really notice the window is when there is something wrong with the window (cracked, broken, dirty). Media SHOULD function the same way. The only time we notice the media is when something is wrong with the media (Brian Williams' fake story earlier this year which earned him a 6 month suspension without pay).
But when the media MAKES the story about themselves, it seems either grandstanding or petulant (or both). When the media starts reporting about how certain athletes won't talk to the media or certain media members, then the media becomes the story and that defeats the purpose. Don't get me wrong, it is nearly impossible to report without at least some bias coloring the reporting. There are whole classes, journals, and professions dedicated to the analysis of language in media and how it affects perception. I'm not looking at that. I'm looking at the media getting in the way of the story. I'm looking at the window that winds up being so broken or dirty that it is opaque. This is paying attention to the window, not the view.
In addition to the Rodgers story, we only have to go back a couple of months to the phrase "I'm just here so I don't get fined." Remember that? Marshawn Lynch made headlines by talking about not talking to the media. And they ATE. IT. UP. The only stories I remember from the week leading up to Superbowl XLIX were that phrase, Seattle teammates defending Lynch, and Deflate-gate. 2 stories about the media and one manufactured by the media.
Another key example of media stupidity/general uncouthness takes us back to the 1999 World Series between the Yankees and the Braves. Controversial figure Pete Rose was allowed back in an MLB ballpark for the first time since his ban. He was allowed because of his role in the All-Century Team (All-Century (insert noun here) was huge in 1999 and 2000 as an excuse to start conversations and arguments about who had been really good the previous 100 years). Jim Gray, in interviewing Rose, chose instead to focus on Rose's ban, gambling, and his not being in the Hall of Fame. It was uncomfortable to watch as Rose tried to focus more on the good (which is why he was there) rather than the bad (which he had dealt with since his ban began). There was no reason for Gray to press the issue, keeping Rose from enjoying one baby step back into baseball. People responded. NBC was inundated with complaints about Gray. The Yankees did the best thing you can do to punish a reporter, they refused to give him anything to report. As NBC's field reporter to the Yankee dugout, Gray was expected to interview the team before and after the game. As at team, New York took Gray's one purpose for being at the stadium away. They boycotted him. Instead of telling him privately, they did to him what he had done to Rose the night before. They embarrassed him on national TV. When Chad Curtis, who had just hit a walk off home run, was approached by Gray with cameras rolling, Curtis told him that the Yankees weren't going to speak to Gray after his interview with Rose. After seeing the previous night's ambush reporting, Curtis' words offered more than a little schadenfreude at Gray's expense.
Athletes are going to not talk to the media. They're going to want to walk away. Some cases are given a pass, other's aren't. Michael Jordan was famous for not talking to the media during the playoffs--pass. The NFL media rights didn't allow Lynch that luxury and it became the story that shouldn't-have-been. The media gave Lynch a stage and he played them like a fiddle. He said just enough to get his message about not wanting to talk to the media out. The media did the rest by creating a feeding frenzy about nothing.
Sports fans have our favorite announcers and commentators. Dave Niehaus has a special place in the hearts of Mariner fans over radio waves. the way Bob Sheppard was the Voice of God for Yankees fans at the stadium. Those of us who lived and loved the Jordan years associate Marv Albert's "A SpecTACular Move" with Jordan. A lot of us have the announcers we revile. I will mute a broadcast, even the Super Bowl if Joe Buck is announcing. I felt the same way about Bill Walton when he was on the NBA on NBC. We already notice the window because of how the window shows us the view. In most cases, that is impossible to avoid. We are going to agree or disagree with the announcers. It is when they are getting in the way of the game, the news of the game, and the news around the game, that is unacceptable.
AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP SHOWING RANDOM RELATIVES, FRIENDS, AND ASSHOLES IN THE STANDS DURING GAMES! THAT IS THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAD WITH THE WHOLE RODGERS THING! THEY KEPT SHOWING HIM WHEN I WANTED TO WATCH BASKETBALL!
There is so much stupid shit to respond to in the Dodd complaint and the ensuing arguments the least of which would be to ask if Rodgers had talked to you would you still have acted like a tattling little sibling who didn't get his way? Dodd then said that he should be allowed to attend Rodgers' wedding to Olivia Munn because "he's a fan." I love how Mike & Mike and Colin Cowherd responded to this idiotic false analogy: He was wanted there; you won't be. Then, all this boils down to Rodgers HAD a pass to go on the floor. He was given it by the Wisconsin athletic director. Rodgers has since pointed this out on twitter and called Dodd a joke. Which, really, thanks to Dodd's childish reaction to being blown off by a sports star who was being a fan in a completely different sport, Dodd really is a joke. He committed the sin of making the media the news.
If the media IS the news, then something is wrong with the news and the media. Now, there are obvious exceptions: a special (good or bad) event, the retirement, or death, of a long time prominent personality (Dan Rather breaking down reporting on 9/11, the deaths of Peter Jennings and Walter Cronkite). Media is a lens. It should act like one. It should present the story not make the story. Think of a window. When you're looking outside, the window is showing you outside. The only time you really notice the window is when there is something wrong with the window (cracked, broken, dirty). Media SHOULD function the same way. The only time we notice the media is when something is wrong with the media (Brian Williams' fake story earlier this year which earned him a 6 month suspension without pay).
But when the media MAKES the story about themselves, it seems either grandstanding or petulant (or both). When the media starts reporting about how certain athletes won't talk to the media or certain media members, then the media becomes the story and that defeats the purpose. Don't get me wrong, it is nearly impossible to report without at least some bias coloring the reporting. There are whole classes, journals, and professions dedicated to the analysis of language in media and how it affects perception. I'm not looking at that. I'm looking at the media getting in the way of the story. I'm looking at the window that winds up being so broken or dirty that it is opaque. This is paying attention to the window, not the view.
In addition to the Rodgers story, we only have to go back a couple of months to the phrase "I'm just here so I don't get fined." Remember that? Marshawn Lynch made headlines by talking about not talking to the media. And they ATE. IT. UP. The only stories I remember from the week leading up to Superbowl XLIX were that phrase, Seattle teammates defending Lynch, and Deflate-gate. 2 stories about the media and one manufactured by the media.
Another key example of media stupidity/general uncouthness takes us back to the 1999 World Series between the Yankees and the Braves. Controversial figure Pete Rose was allowed back in an MLB ballpark for the first time since his ban. He was allowed because of his role in the All-Century Team (All-Century (insert noun here) was huge in 1999 and 2000 as an excuse to start conversations and arguments about who had been really good the previous 100 years). Jim Gray, in interviewing Rose, chose instead to focus on Rose's ban, gambling, and his not being in the Hall of Fame. It was uncomfortable to watch as Rose tried to focus more on the good (which is why he was there) rather than the bad (which he had dealt with since his ban began). There was no reason for Gray to press the issue, keeping Rose from enjoying one baby step back into baseball. People responded. NBC was inundated with complaints about Gray. The Yankees did the best thing you can do to punish a reporter, they refused to give him anything to report. As NBC's field reporter to the Yankee dugout, Gray was expected to interview the team before and after the game. As at team, New York took Gray's one purpose for being at the stadium away. They boycotted him. Instead of telling him privately, they did to him what he had done to Rose the night before. They embarrassed him on national TV. When Chad Curtis, who had just hit a walk off home run, was approached by Gray with cameras rolling, Curtis told him that the Yankees weren't going to speak to Gray after his interview with Rose. After seeing the previous night's ambush reporting, Curtis' words offered more than a little schadenfreude at Gray's expense.
Athletes are going to not talk to the media. They're going to want to walk away. Some cases are given a pass, other's aren't. Michael Jordan was famous for not talking to the media during the playoffs--pass. The NFL media rights didn't allow Lynch that luxury and it became the story that shouldn't-have-been. The media gave Lynch a stage and he played them like a fiddle. He said just enough to get his message about not wanting to talk to the media out. The media did the rest by creating a feeding frenzy about nothing.
Sports fans have our favorite announcers and commentators. Dave Niehaus has a special place in the hearts of Mariner fans over radio waves. the way Bob Sheppard was the Voice of God for Yankees fans at the stadium. Those of us who lived and loved the Jordan years associate Marv Albert's "A SpecTACular Move" with Jordan. A lot of us have the announcers we revile. I will mute a broadcast, even the Super Bowl if Joe Buck is announcing. I felt the same way about Bill Walton when he was on the NBA on NBC. We already notice the window because of how the window shows us the view. In most cases, that is impossible to avoid. We are going to agree or disagree with the announcers. It is when they are getting in the way of the game, the news of the game, and the news around the game, that is unacceptable.
AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP SHOWING RANDOM RELATIVES, FRIENDS, AND ASSHOLES IN THE STANDS DURING GAMES! THAT IS THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAD WITH THE WHOLE RODGERS THING! THEY KEPT SHOWING HIM WHEN I WANTED TO WATCH BASKETBALL!
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
I am Finally (Relatively) Calm Enough to Talk about This
Welp, I've calmed down enough to write about the worst play call in the history of the Super Bowl and possibly football. AAAAnd MLB teams have reported! Spring Training is almost here! Opening Day is a little more than a month away!!
The asinine play call. Just for fun, I reread my previous post about the Seahawks @ Chiefs, reminding myself, as if I needed to, about my loathing of Darrel Bevell. Yup, still think he has one of the best teams and has no worldly clue what to do with it, glad I confirmed that. Now, on to the play call. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING????
Breakdown: 2nd and goal from the 1. 26 seconds left, down by 4 (so needing a TD), 1 timeout left. 2 plays earlier Kearse made a spectacular catch of a ball literally dropping in his lap (yet another amazing catch that SHOULD HAVE doomed the Patriots to a Super Bowl loss). In the previous play, Lynch rattled off a four yard run to get to the 1 yard line. Everyone at the Sports-in-Laws' house is already celebrating near-victory (maybe we jinxed it, but I still blame Bevell). The Seahawks have arguably the best running back in the league, especially in short yardage situations, and three (at least two, given the clock and a time out) chances to punch it in with Lynch. Darrel f-ing Bevell lines up a shotgun 3 WR, two TE set. I was actually encouraged to see the two TE's as it could (possibly should) have been a read-option. The two WR's on the right side are stacked. Lynch is lined up next to Wilson in the backfield on the left side, he eventually runs a flat route to the area cleared out by the one receiver on the left. The stack formation on the right, however, told New England all they needed to know. Butler, a little used DB, had had enough training to read the formation and know that it was going to be a pick route. With the NFL's rules on pick routes (mostly thanks to Denver's "legal" offensive pass interference plays) limit them to a point that if the DB knows a pick route is coming, there is only a few places on the field it can possibly go (within 5 yards, the front receiver can only make brief contact, etc). On a goal line play, it is almost assuredly going to be a quick slant, which it was. Butler saw it, jumped the route (within 5 yards, you can jam/hit the receiver, especially if playing the ball), hit Lockette while simultaneously picking off Wilson's pass.
Why the play call (and f-ing Bevell) is to blame: This quick slant would have worked wonderfully if Bevell had added the two little letters "PA" to the play call PA=Play Action. Faking a handoff to Lynch would (should) have frozen Butler just long enough for the quick slant to be open. With no trickery whatsoever, other than Bevell's "cuteness" mentioned in my previous post, Butler didn't have to respect a run, especially since the play called for Lynch to immediately sprint to the flat. Making the stack/pick read of the formation (DB 101), no play action to keep the db's honest, especially with Lynch being such a threat in short yardage situations, was beyond asinine. It should cost Bevell his job.
Breaking down the excuses:
"We didn't want to run into the center of that goal line D." So you THREW it into the center of that goal line D? A quick slant, even with the pick play was right into the jaws of the D! Lockette was running RIGHT AT THE CENTER OF THAT FORMATION!
"We were conscious of the clock, it was meant to kill the clock." Then have Wilson scramble out of the pocket and chuck the damn thing safely out of bounds. NOT INTO THE CENTER OF THE DEFENSE. That was a risky play call with some of the best QB's, and while Wilson, up to that point was undefeated against the best of the league, he had never had an amazing stat line against any of them. Marshawn Lynch was undefeated against the best of the league since Wilson had been drafted. The Legion of Boom (banged up, injured throughout the game) was undefeated against the best in the league since Wilson had been drafted. Wilson makes a hurried throw on an undisguised quick slant that was read by a nickelback (no, not that Nickelback), although I bet they could have also read that formation. Also, you were conscious of the clock and you decided to run a play that you had already planned to fail, just not to the magnitude of which it did? You were worried about the clock and still called a wasted play??
"They were in a formation ready for Marshawn."
THEN FUCKING FAKE IT TO MARSHAWN!
I don't have a problem with this being a passing play on the 1 yard line. I am actually a fan of the goal line pass. However, short yardage situations ALWAYS need misdirection. Play action, a draw, fake a handoff to one back and then give it to another, read option...SOMETHING! I will concede, even support, that a pass play here makes sense. The particular play call (shotgun from the 1??), obvious formation (stacked receivers basically holding up signs saying "I'm going to pick" and "I'm going to slant"??) and no trickery at all? Bad move.
The answers:
1. At the risk of repetition: PLAY ACTION
2. Wilson under center, full house or at least FB/RB backfield. Do you think New England could have stopped Lynch from the 1 with a pulling guard, double TEs AND a lead blocker? Maybe, but I put my eggs in that basket over the play called.
3. Wilson under center, full house or FB/RB play action quick slant, play action fade to Chris Matthews who had been picking apart New England's D until he got a trip to Revis Island. I could see a jump ball in the back of the end zone. Matthew is 6'5". Revis 5'11".
This isn't the first time F-ing Bevell has made bonehead calls. This isn't even the first time he's cost them a game. This is the first time he has done it at the most important time on the biggest stage where even casual spectators were wondering WTF. Yet, it appears he will be back next year.
Good Luck with that Seahawks fans.
The asinine play call. Just for fun, I reread my previous post about the Seahawks @ Chiefs, reminding myself, as if I needed to, about my loathing of Darrel Bevell. Yup, still think he has one of the best teams and has no worldly clue what to do with it, glad I confirmed that. Now, on to the play call. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING????
Breakdown: 2nd and goal from the 1. 26 seconds left, down by 4 (so needing a TD), 1 timeout left. 2 plays earlier Kearse made a spectacular catch of a ball literally dropping in his lap (yet another amazing catch that SHOULD HAVE doomed the Patriots to a Super Bowl loss). In the previous play, Lynch rattled off a four yard run to get to the 1 yard line. Everyone at the Sports-in-Laws' house is already celebrating near-victory (maybe we jinxed it, but I still blame Bevell). The Seahawks have arguably the best running back in the league, especially in short yardage situations, and three (at least two, given the clock and a time out) chances to punch it in with Lynch. Darrel f-ing Bevell lines up a shotgun 3 WR, two TE set. I was actually encouraged to see the two TE's as it could (possibly should) have been a read-option. The two WR's on the right side are stacked. Lynch is lined up next to Wilson in the backfield on the left side, he eventually runs a flat route to the area cleared out by the one receiver on the left. The stack formation on the right, however, told New England all they needed to know. Butler, a little used DB, had had enough training to read the formation and know that it was going to be a pick route. With the NFL's rules on pick routes (mostly thanks to Denver's "legal" offensive pass interference plays) limit them to a point that if the DB knows a pick route is coming, there is only a few places on the field it can possibly go (within 5 yards, the front receiver can only make brief contact, etc). On a goal line play, it is almost assuredly going to be a quick slant, which it was. Butler saw it, jumped the route (within 5 yards, you can jam/hit the receiver, especially if playing the ball), hit Lockette while simultaneously picking off Wilson's pass.
Why the play call (and f-ing Bevell) is to blame: This quick slant would have worked wonderfully if Bevell had added the two little letters "PA" to the play call PA=Play Action. Faking a handoff to Lynch would (should) have frozen Butler just long enough for the quick slant to be open. With no trickery whatsoever, other than Bevell's "cuteness" mentioned in my previous post, Butler didn't have to respect a run, especially since the play called for Lynch to immediately sprint to the flat. Making the stack/pick read of the formation (DB 101), no play action to keep the db's honest, especially with Lynch being such a threat in short yardage situations, was beyond asinine. It should cost Bevell his job.
Breaking down the excuses:
"We didn't want to run into the center of that goal line D." So you THREW it into the center of that goal line D? A quick slant, even with the pick play was right into the jaws of the D! Lockette was running RIGHT AT THE CENTER OF THAT FORMATION!
"We were conscious of the clock, it was meant to kill the clock." Then have Wilson scramble out of the pocket and chuck the damn thing safely out of bounds. NOT INTO THE CENTER OF THE DEFENSE. That was a risky play call with some of the best QB's, and while Wilson, up to that point was undefeated against the best of the league, he had never had an amazing stat line against any of them. Marshawn Lynch was undefeated against the best of the league since Wilson had been drafted. The Legion of Boom (banged up, injured throughout the game) was undefeated against the best in the league since Wilson had been drafted. Wilson makes a hurried throw on an undisguised quick slant that was read by a nickelback (no, not that Nickelback), although I bet they could have also read that formation. Also, you were conscious of the clock and you decided to run a play that you had already planned to fail, just not to the magnitude of which it did? You were worried about the clock and still called a wasted play??
"They were in a formation ready for Marshawn."
THEN FUCKING FAKE IT TO MARSHAWN!
I don't have a problem with this being a passing play on the 1 yard line. I am actually a fan of the goal line pass. However, short yardage situations ALWAYS need misdirection. Play action, a draw, fake a handoff to one back and then give it to another, read option...SOMETHING! I will concede, even support, that a pass play here makes sense. The particular play call (shotgun from the 1??), obvious formation (stacked receivers basically holding up signs saying "I'm going to pick" and "I'm going to slant"??) and no trickery at all? Bad move.
The answers:
1. At the risk of repetition: PLAY ACTION
2. Wilson under center, full house or at least FB/RB backfield. Do you think New England could have stopped Lynch from the 1 with a pulling guard, double TEs AND a lead blocker? Maybe, but I put my eggs in that basket over the play called.
3. Wilson under center, full house or FB/RB play action quick slant, play action fade to Chris Matthews who had been picking apart New England's D until he got a trip to Revis Island. I could see a jump ball in the back of the end zone. Matthew is 6'5". Revis 5'11".
This isn't the first time F-ing Bevell has made bonehead calls. This isn't even the first time he's cost them a game. This is the first time he has done it at the most important time on the biggest stage where even casual spectators were wondering WTF. Yet, it appears he will be back next year.
Good Luck with that Seahawks fans.
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