Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin said “all of us are surprised” by their decision to throw on their final offensive possession of Super Bowl XLIX. (Matt Rourke, The Associated Press)
The Seahawks’ decision to throw on their final offensive possession — the one that resulted in a Malcolm Butler interception and a Patriots Super Bowl victory — will be questioned for months, if not longer. But those watching weren’t the only ones surprised by the call.
Here’s what some Seahawks players had to say after the game when asked about that play:Richard Sherman, CB
“I’m a little bit surprised. It was an unfortunate play. Their guy made a heck of a play and that’s all you can ask for.
“What I would have done is irrelevant at this time. We went with that play. We trusted our quarterback, and unfortunately they made a play.”
Doug Baldwin, WR
“You saw it. Unfortunate series of events.
“All of us are surprised. In that moment with 20 seconds left on the clock and we still had a timeout. We felt like, from what I understand, we should take a shot, and still have another down. If we ran the ball and didn’t get in then we had to stop the clock and it would limit our abilities to run or pass. I don’t know I am just trying to come up with an explanation for it. I really don’t know.”
Bruce Irvin, LB
“We had it. I don’t understand how you don’t give it to the best back in the league on not even the one-yard line. We were on the half-yard line, and we throw a slant. I don’t know what the offense had going on, what they saw. I just don’t understand.”
Tharold Simon, CB
“I thought we were going to win the game. Then when they threw the ball and he picked it off, I was just like, ‘How do you throw the ball when you’ve got Marshawn Lynch?’ You could run the ball, but it’s the game of football. We all make simple mistakes. Now we know what we have to do next time.”
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Bobby Wagner, LB
“I don’t know. We’ve got Marshawn Lynch, one of the best running backs in the league. Everybody makes their decisions, and unfortunately, we didn’t give him the ball.”
Michael Bennett, DE
“I mean, I’m not the coach. The coach calls the plays and I’m just a player that listens to whatever they call and you believe in it. So what if he would have caught the ball? What if he would have caught the ball? Everybody would have been like, ‘That was the greatest play ever.’ That’s just how it is. Sometimes, you make a big play. That guy made a big play that time. He saw the route. He jumped it. He did a great job. That’s just how it goes.”
Kam Chancellor, S
“Things happen for a reason. That happened for a reason.
“A play was called. Anytime you get a play called, you just have to execute it. It is what it is. The game is over. You’ve just got to execute plays.”
Russell Wilson, QB
“I wasn’t surprised. I think that we’ve done a great job in those situations all year — ever since I’ve been here, we’ve been great in those situations, too. Obviously, you have different options. You hand the ball off to Marshawn — that’s a great option. You can also throw it, which is a great option. We thought we had them, and I thought it was going to be a touchdown when I threw it. When I let it go, I thought it was going to be game over.
“I don’t know what I could have done differently — I need to see it. We were right there, so I put the blame on me. I’m the one that gave him the ball, in a way.”
Darrell Bevell, Offensive Coordinator
“I mean there are a lot of guys that are upset. We came here to win a championship and we didn’t get that so there are a lot of guys that are. Everyone all around the country is going to be questioning everything and all I know is that we played really hard. All of our guys fought really hard. Marshawn ran great. The defense played great. It was a hard-fought game. It came down to the one yard line and I mean I sit here and I wish it was different, but it didn’t end up that way.”
Max Unger, C
“There’s no point in dwelling on what play gets called in the huddle because it’s up to us to actually do it.”
