SOOPER DOOPER.....Bowl time!

[DaBurglar]

without doubt, this entire postseason, starting with the wildcard games all the way to the final minute of Super Bowl, was filled with unreal (and controversial) plays by so many players & teams.....it was indeed the most exciting postseason I can ever remember.Dallas-Detroit & then Dalls-Greenbay (with the Dez bryant non-catch "Catch")!Baltimore-Pittsburgh & then BAltimore-New England (with the Pats coming back from two (2) 14 point deficits!)Carolina (with a LOSING record) beating a totally injured Arizona team (who, if they do not lose so many of their top players probably keep seattle OUT of the playoffs and probably are in the Super Bowl playing in their HOME stadium!!)Greenbay-Seattle NFC championship (Green Bay gives the game away!)New England - Indianapolis (and soft balls!!!  If the Pats cheated, which I dont believe they did, the worst part is they did not NEED to cheat as the second half totally showed, the colts were totally outclassed/outplayed/out-everything'd)and finally, the Super Bowl with its NUMEROUS "what if" moments and exciting turns and twists.I love the game of Baseball, but I have to now concede, NFL football is the BEST, most exciting AMERICAN SPORT.One final note to ponder, and then I think I will forget about football until September:   On that last Seattle drive, AFTER the miracle catch-on-his-back-prostrate by Kearse, Seattle runs a play with 1:08 left on the clock with Lynch where he ALMOST scores, stopped at the 1 yard line....now IF lynch had scored, the PAts have about 55 seconds to get into FIELD goal range to TIE the game and send it to overtime....no one is talking about THAT "almost was" scenario!!!    But what happened instead is LYNCH is stopped at the 1 yard line, and then Seattle throws that awful INTERCEPTION!    but what no one noticed on that play is New England had 6 (SIX!) of their Biggest Defensive linemen in the game specifically to STOP lynch, and 3 of the other 5 players in the backfield were RUN-STOPPING specialists (not including Butler who was in their SPECIFICALLY to stop a POSSIBLE pass play over the middle)....it is NOT a given that LYNCH, as good as he is, SCORES.....just something to keep everyone honest and to prevent a possible "LYNCH MOB" going after Pete carroll.

[edog743]

Da I think the LYNCH MOB Carroll needs to worry about is his own players questioning that call sadly he may have lost his players confidence. From which they may never recover.

[olds442jetaway]

I have to agree Edog. I mean come on. Three chances to move less than a yard with someone like Lynch and a great running quarterback too. One of those chances could have been to just dive over the pile which does work lots of times. At least Carroll did own up to the call initially and his record is great, but really now.

[DaBurglar]

You heard it here first EDOG (and good point about the players losing confidence, but I do not think that is nearly the big issue for Seattle in the long term):In two years, Seattle will be a total train wreck......Pete Carroll's "style" of coaching, the laid back-everything is cool- be yourself-rah rah style only works for a limited time with the the right exact mix of players......eventually this "lose and fast" style erodes, guys stop being team players and start thinking only of themselves, discipline breaks down an BOOM!   its a mess.....  It has happened EVERYWHERE pete carroll has coached, starting with his first coaching gig in the NFL with the JETS, followed by New England (where in 1997 he INHERITED a Super Bowl team from Bill Parcels, and their records in the 3 years he was there went 10-6, 9-7 and 8-8), he just plain could not keep the players and organization coherent and functioning as a UNIT.....then he goes to USC and has tremendous initial success but it turns out he violated a bunch of NCAA rules and he leaves the program in total shambles.......now he has done the same thing in Seattle, he put together a team with TREMENDOUS young talent (but with strong INDIVIDUAL personalities, and unfortunately in the NFL, that is NOT a recipe for LONG TERM sustained success.....oh sure you will have a few great seasons but eventually, all these  PRIMA DONNA 'strong personalities' want to do their own thing, and you lose the "TEAM")But the real reason Seattle will never be able to sustain the success they have had (where as New England HAS been able to sustain it for 15 years and counting) is that the whole TALENT management and evaluation philosophy is geared to finding the BEST/FASTEST/STRONGEST young talent out there and putting them all on the field at the same time......after 3-4 years, it is PAYDAY for all the youngsters at EXACTLY the same time......now someone want to tell me HOW SEATTLE expects to PAY MArshawn Lynch, Russel Wilson, Kearse, Sherman, Bennet, and all the other PRO BOWL defenders the money they all now know they are due under the NFL Collective Bargaining System for salary determination, while at the same time complying with the demands of the Salary CAP?!?    Answer:  it is NOT possible, not even close.....Now you will see why the "PATRIOT WAY", which at times appears RUTHLESS and CRUEL from an individual player standpoint, is really the BEST (and only) way for a Team to have a chance to be a CONTENDER EVERY YEAR (and not just field a great team every 3 or 4 years and then repeat the process...)    Belichick and Kraft understand that NFL football is all about having 55 good fundamentally solid PLAYERS and not just 3 or 4 SUPERSTARS surrounded by cannon fodder......football is the ultimate team sport, requiring a TEAM unity.