The Seattle Seahawks had greatness in their grasp, the end zone in their sights, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on the ropes and Marshawn Lynch in their backfield.
What could go wrong?
between the two teams who are playing again Sunday in came down to this: Trailing 28-24, Seattle had the ball at the Patriots 1 with 26 seconds, a timeout and three plays to try to win the game and hoist their second straight Lombardi Trophy.
Lynch had just bulled his way to the 1 after Jermaine Kearse鈥檚 juggling 33-yard catch bounced off his legs and into his arms while he was on the ground at the Patriots 5-yard line.
鈥淚 tipped the ball and Kearse still caught it,鈥� former cornerback Malcolm Butler recounted this week in a with Boston’s WEEI-FM. 鈥淚 said this game is over. We lose, it’s my fault, even though I made a great play. It wasn’t good enough.鈥�
On the New England sideline sat Brady, who had witnessed two other improbable catches that led to devastating Super Bowl defeats: David Tyree’s 32-yard helmet-pinning catch that helped the New York Giants deny the Patriots a perfect season, and Mario Manningham’s 38-yard sideline reception four years later that again helped Eli Manning prevail.
鈥淎nd then I got another opportunity,鈥� Butler said.
A second chance
Second-and-goal from the 1, the stage was set for the unknown, undrafted rookie out of West Alabama to become the unlikely hero.
There are a handful of iconic moments in sports that live in glory or infamy, or both.
Tiger’s chip-in on 16. Auburn’s kick-six. Gibson’s pinch-hit homer. LeBron’s chase-down block. The Miracle on Ice. Vince Carter’s Dunk of Death. Kobe’s 81 points. Brandi Chastain’s penalty kick.
The calls live in our heads.
鈥淒own goes Frazier.鈥�
鈥淗avlicek stole the ball!鈥�
鈥淒o you believe in miracles?鈥�
Bill Belichick sent in a three-cornerback personnel grouping he hadn’t used all season and Pete Carroll decided eight big guys would be hard to score against if Russell Wilson handed the ball to Lynch again, so he called for a quick slant to Ricardo Lockette.
Butler saw the stacked receivers on the right side of the field and asked cornerback Brandon Browner, 鈥淲ho I got? Who I got? He said, 鈥榊ou got the guy in the back,鈥�” Butler told WEEI. 鈥淚 said this guy hits any kind of crossover, it鈥檚 on. And he did. And I just drove on the ball.鈥�
Butler ducked inside of Lockette and beat the receiver to the ball, intercepting Wilson’s pass to preserve New England’s win and stamp his name in Super Bowl history.
鈥淚’m sorry, but I can’t believe the call,鈥� exclaimed NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth, who was in the broadcast booth alongside Al Michaels that day. 鈥淚 cannot believe the call. You’ve got Marshawn Lynch in the backfield, you’ve got a guy who’s been borderline unstoppable in this part of the field. I can’t believe the call.鈥�
The call is still a talker today
Collinsworth, who’s doing the game again Sunday, said this week that he thinks about that play 鈥渁ll the time鈥� and is still stumped by the call.
“When the interception actually happened, I didn鈥檛 know what happened,鈥� Collinsworth said. 鈥淚 can tell you that now. I was watching the field. I started to watch the monitor so I could see it up close, and I remember going, no, this is a piece of history. I want to see it with my own two eyes. I didn鈥檛 want to just watch it on the monitor.鈥�
What he saw he couldn’t believe: Wilson firing into a cluster of blue and white shirts, Butler digging inside of Lockette and corralling the first interception of his career.
鈥淭here was an explosion of bodies that all hit at the same time, and the crowd went crazy, and my first thought was, 鈥業 don鈥檛 know who has the ball,鈥欌�� Collinsworth said. “Secondly, it was, 鈥業 don鈥檛 even know who those players are that just ran into each other.鈥� It was so chaotic.
鈥淎nd then in a moment鈥檚 time, Al screamed out, 鈥楳alcolm Butler, interception!鈥� And I’m just sitting there going over and over again in my mind thinking, Marshawn Lynch had two tries from the 1. If he didn鈥檛 make it the first time, then so be it; but you鈥檙e also going to take additional clock off, which is going to give Tom Brady less opportunity to make a play.鈥�
It wasn’t just the play call but the pass itself that took Collinsworth by surprise.
鈥淚 did consider the possibility of it being a pass, but I thought for sure it would have been a run/pass option out of the pocket in some way,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o the play shocked me in every way imaginable.鈥�
He had plenty of company in his bewilderment.
鈥淒umbest play call in the HISTORY of NFL football,鈥� tweeted former 49ers receiver Dwight Clark, who made a pretty good grab himself: The Catch.
And this from NFL career rushing leader Emmitt Smith: 鈥淲orst play call I鈥檝e seen in the history of football.鈥�
Carroll explained that he figured it would have been tough for Lynch to score against eight big guys in the box: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a great matchup for us to run the football, so we were going to throw the ball, really to waste a play. If we score, we do, if we don鈥檛, we鈥檒l run it in on third or fourth down.鈥�
They never got the chance, and Carroll insisted he and not offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell was to blame: “I made the decision. I said, 鈥橳hrow the ball.’ Nobody to blame but me.鈥�
Wilson, who would later have a falling out with Carroll and bounce around the league trying to recapture his old form for a shot at Super Bowl redemption, said he was ultimately the one responsible.
鈥淧ut the blame on me,” Wilson said after the game. “I鈥檓 the one who threw it.鈥�
The one who caught it was Butler, who was on the bubble in training camp and eight months later had an inkling he’d make a big play in the Super Bowl, 鈥渂ut not that big.鈥�
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