We wrap up another year of “This weekend in NFL stupid” with a quick review of Super Bowl week in Arizona:
The stupidest claim
This goes to commissioner Roger Goodell for claiming during his annual pre-Super Bowl Friday press conference that he’s “available to the media almost every day of my job.” Two days later, Goodell refused to appear on NBC’s six-hour Super Bowl pregame show. Regardless of the fact NBC pays the league more than half a billion dollars a year to air games, that type of ignorance just proved how disconnected Goodell is from the game, the fans and the media.
The stupidest fans
This goes to those who feel Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell should be fired for calling a passing play on that fateful Russell Wilson interception that sealed Seattle’s fate. First, head coach Pete Carroll has said he requested a passing play there. Second, a pass made a lot of sense. Why?
- The Seahawks had one timeout left. Passing on second down gave them a chance to keep New England on its heals on third and fourth down. Had they run there and been stuffed, they’d have had to call timeout and their options would have been limited on the next two plays.
- A total of 108 passes were thrown from the 1-yard line this season, and zero of them resulted in interceptions.
- Marshawn Lynch scored on just one of his five runs from the 1-yard line during the regular season.
- The Patriots had their goal-line defense on the field, while Seattle had three wide receivers. It was a favorable matchup.
As I wrote Monday at Bleacher Report, this was on the players for their lack of execution as much as it was the coaches for their play call. And a lot of credit has to go to Malcolm Butler for making a phenomenal play.
The stupidest call
This was a well-officiated Super Bowl, but the officials should have called roughing the kicker here on Jeron Johnson:
