5 Plays That Decided It @ Seattle

Mayo, Wilfork, and Ninkovich got close but couldn't
take Wilson down for a sack here.

1. Russell Wilson Scrambles on 3rd & 4 - Late in the first quarter as Seattle was driving for their first TD, they faced a 3rd and 4. The Patriots got nice pressures from Cunningham and Jones (together on the right side), but still Wilson managed to escape. Stepping up through the defenders, he looped all the way back around to elude Jones. Still, for all the world it looked as if he'd be stopped behind the line by Jerod Mayo. Uncharacteristically, Mayo missed the tackle despite getting a solid hit on Wilson. Credit goes to Wilson for making the play, but missed tackles that end in 3rd down conversions are unacceptable, especially when the gaff is made by the team's most reliable tackler. A stop here would have ended in a Seattle FG try to make it 7-6 New England instead of 10-7 Seattle.

Branch was open between the CB and S, but the ball
is badly underthrown by Brady.

2. Brady Throws A Stupid Pick To Sherman - Tom Brady had been pretty much perfect for 179 pass attempts, but with a little over 4:30 left in the 3rd quarter he threw a terrible ball to Deion Branch that was easily intercepted by the infamous windbag Richard Sherman. First of all, why is Brady lofting up a jump ball to the diminutive Deion Branch when he's covered by a guy with a significant height advantage? Secondly, why is Brady lofting a touch pass up into the Seattle wind and rain? Thirdly, why is Brady taking this chance downfield on a 2nd and 5? No doubt, this was one of the worst throws I have ever seen by Brady: it was a bad throw in bad conditions, but more importantly it was a bad decision based on the match-up/coverage/situation. Nevertheless, neither of Brady's INTs turned into points for Seattle. This one ended in a 3-and-out, and the other ended in Z. Miller's fumble. Still, both of the INTs squandered scoring opportunities for New England. Bad situational football by Brady.

Moore (left) was way out of position, but
McCourty stayed with his man

3. Seattle Starts A Drive With 65 Yards - Everything was looking good with 9 minutes left in the 4th quarter. The Patriots Defense had been shutting down Russell Wilson, having allowed only 80 yards since their first quarter TD. Seattle got the ball inside their own 20, and ran a deep play action pass on 1st and 10. The Patriots gave up a 51 yard completion to Golden Tate, and the refs tacked on 15 more yards for roughing the passer. First of all, McCourty had good coverage on Tate. McCourty stayed in front of his man the whole way, but Sterling Moore was lost in no-man's land. Moore bit on the play action, and put himself in a bad position. Still, I am putting this one on the pass-rushers. Even against a 5-man rush, Wilson had time to fake the play action, drop back, side step, and climb the pocket before unloading deep to Tate. I think it was a  questionable call on Spikes for "a blow to the head," but there was some contact between arm and helmet. Nevertheless, the result was a huge momentum shift, and it jump-started an Offensive possession that ended in 7 points for Seattle.

As you can see, Branch is being held by KJ Wright.
Still, credit Seattle for a nice 3-man rush.

4. Brady Flagged For Grounding Before Half - Obviously this was a clock management blunder that led to an empty possession, wasting great field position. Credit has to go to Seattle for getting quick pressure with only a 3-man rush. However, this was another bad decision by Brady under pressure. Brady knows that he needs to get rid of it, but he should have thrown it over the corner of the endzone toward Gronk or Welker. He did have Deion Branch cutting inward, but Brady threw it way over his head. I have to mention the fact that Branch was blatantly held by the LB, which could have influenced Brady's throw.

Still, if I am going to criticize the refereeing on this play, it would have to be the lengthy delay before a flag was thrown for grounding. No matter how far away Brady's targets were, grounding is a rare call in the red zone. This one could have gone either way, and so I wouldn't have a problem with the call if it was immediate. As it was, the referees totally gave in to Pete Carroll's demands. Likewise, refs are not supposed to watch the stadium replays to make calls, why was there no flag initially? This was a huge call because the :10 runoff is a clock-killer, even if the 10 yards wouldn't have knocked us out of FG range. An extra timeout to negate the runoff would have been nice. Plenty of blame to go around here, but Brady gets all the credit when game management goes well, so he should take the fall for his decisions during this series before halftime.

Moore gets sealed inside to spring a big return

5. Leon Washington's Big Return - The Patriots Offense stalled again in the 4th quarter, but with 2:48 left, Zoltan Mesko had an opportunity to pin Seattle inside their own 20 with a nice punt. Mesko was kicking from his own 30, so a 60 yard punt would have put Seattle at their own 10. Instead, Mesko did not get all of this one. The slippery pig-skin wobbled off his foot and Leon Washington fielded it at 18 behind a blocker. Sterling Moore was the first man down the field, but he was unable to beat his blocker to make the play. Special Teams stalwart Matthew Slater had been injured, and was not on the field for this critical punt. Leon Washington found a seam and took it 25 yards up the sideline before Shane Vereen pushed him out of bounds. Its worth mentioning that Vereen was filling in for Bolden, and its clear to see that the injuries in this game affected all 3 phases. What could have been a 90-yard field became a 56-yard field. 4 plays later, Seattle was celebrating a 1-point lead.