Seahawks OC Darrell Bevell on Super Bowl play call: ‘I wouldn’t change it’
From the instant Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson in the Super Bowl in February, a legion of unemployed play callers (and some who do have jobs) openly questioned THE WORST CALL IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND.
It was a somewhat unfair assault on a coach in Bevell, who called a play that — if run correctly — made a kernel of sense, targeting a reserve corner who had been thrown into the game out of necessity and who had just given up a miracle catch a few plays earlier that could have shook his confidence.
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Was it the best call? No, it was not. But questioning play calling, fan’s God-given right, is also one of the most overrated gripes in all of football (and do note the timestamp on that link if you click on it) in that play failure is almost always a function of execution.
Bevell opened up — somewhat — on that fateful play (call) in an interview with The MMQB this week, and he shed a little more light on his thinking given the situation against the New England Patriots.
For those who forget the specifics, Seattle had a second and goal from the 1 after Marshawn Lynch ran the ball four yards on first down. Thirty-plus seconds remaining. The Seahawks went with a three-wide, one-back, one-TE formation, and the Patriots countered with a goal-line front but three cornerbacks — Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner and Butler — in a defensive package they had not used to that point all season. (More on that point later.)
Three cracks at the end zone. One timeout. What do you do?
Asked if the Patriots’ heavy front nixed a Lynch run, Bevell said:
“Matchups had something to do with it, yes.”
After the game, Bevell said Ricardo Lockette, the intended receiver, could have fought harder to the ball and that Jermaine Kearse, asked to pick on Browner, could have executed his job better. In this interview, Bevell’s praise was slanted more at the work of Browner, who fought through and neutralized the pick attempt, and Butler, who broke on the ball instantly for the miracle pick.
“Yes, it was a great play,” Bevell said. “Yeah, it was. Malcolm just, it was a great break, no hesitations, great play.”
MMQB.com’s Peter King anonymously polled three quarterbacks and two head coaches about the play, and the median response seemed to be that the Seahawks probably should throw it — not slam Lynch into the Patriots’ wall — but not a stack-formation post against a physical corner. A fade pass? Maybe the better option.
But the play and play call have had an effect on everyone involved. Butler, the rags-to-riches overnight hero. Pete Carroll, the affable coach who fell on the sword for his team. Wilson’s legacy. And certainly Bevell, who faced white-hot criticism in the days following the game and on whom that play forever will be tattooed.
Has he felt people’s wrath personally?
“It’s interesting,” he told King. “The crazy thing about it is that most people who will talk to you, there are very few that are going to say something negative to your face. Obviously with the way the system is set up now, there have another way [social media] that they can hide behind and say whatever they want to say and never have to put their name on it. The people that I interact with — most of them are great. Sometimes they may ask a question, but none are mean or rude.”
But Bevell also hinted that his family has not been spared the wrath of the aftermath.
“I worry about my family, my girls, my wife, I worry about those people more than I do myself,” he said. “I understand what comes with the job we do and they [the family] understand what comes with it. That doesn’t make it any easier but once I knew all the stuff around it, why we did it and everything that happened, I was able to move on with it.”
And as for what it has felt to Bevell since that Sunday night in Arizona?
“It’s never going to leave you,” he said. “I can think back to when I was playing quarterback [at Wisconsin] and there are plays that still eat me in my gut from when I was playing. The ones that usually eat you are the bad plays, not the Big Ten Championships. It’s those other plays that you think back to that eat you in the gut.
“That play we called will always be there to drive me. I wouldn’t change it, I think it was the right thing. Coach Carroll has done a great job with it as well. I think to answer your question, in terms of totally moving on, that night is rough, the next morning is rough, getting on the plane is rough, but as soon as I got here and I was able to watch it for myself on the tape and see our copy and look at it that way and do the analyzing of it, once that was over I was able to put it behind me. I’m okay. I really am.”
The point about the Patriots’ preparation for the Seahawks and their use of a personnel package they hadn’t needed to employ all season to that point will be examined later when an NFL Network feature on the Patriots’ 2014 season called “Do Your Job” debuts on Sept. 9, the night before the Patriots open the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Here’s the fascinating-looking trailer for that show:
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
