Another Super Super Bowl

Before I get into any of the machinations of the game I just want to say how lucky I feel to be in an unprecedented run of great Super Bowls. Surely it will be as fleeting the run of blowouts that marred my childhood.

I still rank Steelers-Cardinals as the great Super Bowl I ever saw, with Giants-Patriots I (Helmet Catch) but this one certainly makes an argument for that third spot.

It had an amazing ending, a goal line interception in the final seconds. That was a terrible play call, absolutely the worst. How do you not try with Marshawn Lynch there, at least on second down, if it doesn't work call time out and then consider your options. Nothing else needs to be said about it, it was a terrible move, a risk he didn't need to take. There is no argument in favor of it. Even though the Patriots would know it was coming, their odds of stopping it were low.

It's possible that Carroll was just caught off guard by that ridiculous catch by Jermaine Kearse.

Because Belichick certainly wasn't planning for a goal line situation either. After that first down play he should have called timeout and told his guys to just let Lynch score on second down. That would have been their best chance to get the ball back with some time remaining to kick a field goal and take their chances in overtime.

That is of course barring something colossally stupid by the Seahawks. We should also mention that even though it was absolutely, positively the wrong play-call, the odds of it turning into a game-losing interception were still very, very low.

You'd hate to say a team that cheats every time it wins benefited from good karma, but look at the NFC playoffs this year. Dallas beats Detroit on a questionable pass interference no call. Then the Cowboys lose on a properly-enforced but iffy ruling that Dez Bryant's catch was not a touchdown. The Packers took that break into Seattle and dominated the Seahawks until a series of fluke plays including a rainbow 2-point conversion gave the Seahawks the win. And then of course, this happened to them in the Super Bowl.

The Seahawks are likely to be decimated by free agency and there is no telling how many guys will stay and how many will go and how the team will perform after that, such is the reality of the modern-day NFL.

Which makes it even more amazing that Brady and Belichick have been to six Super Bowls and won 4 in the 14 seasons since Brady became the starter. Kudos to them for a great Super Bowl that unfortunately will be remembered for mistakes, rather that great plays.