Sorry VV but Dids has been crushing since his SB winning rants earlier. IMO this game had less to do with bad coaching and more to do with **** happens. There were about 8 or so pivotal plays in the game, all of which Seattle crushed in. The fact that they nailed the first 3 (Safety, INT, INT-TD) drastically swung the outcome of the others in Seattle's direction.

A 15 point lead against a defense that's DOMINANT as a front-runner is likely going to lead to the worst of possible outcomes, and unfortunately it did. I doubt Fox's coaching had much to do with this to be honest, and I have a feeling that 100% of teams, including Seattle, would be pretty shell-shocked and perform similarly given the situation. This isn't like the regular season or even earlier playoff rounds due to the magnitude of the game. I think there's a reason why no team has come back from 9 points down in the SB.

It was a perfect storm of events, ones that make the outcome look a lot more lopsided than it should have. The fact that HOU/TB kept their games close only adds strength to this argument imo. They played it close because they kept it close.

Fox had a number of documented idiotic decisions throughout the game. You don't think this reflects on his character or gameplanning in other areas?

this is a line often repeated by noobs who think they sound smart

I think with this we're getting into such unknown stuff that I could argue "well, Fox has had two NFL HC gigs and it's sure as **** not because of his in-game strat so maybe he's great at that other stuff".

I mean that's not a great argument and a dumb appeal to authority, but we're still all making assumptions. Even if you grant that Denver wasn't well prepared, I'd still be interested in what a well prepared Denver team could have done. (the one thing I wonder is less shotgun, but that seems to be too much of who they are to change).

I don't to be honest. If he had a history of this we'd probably have seen more blowouts no (character reflecting gameplanning)? I do think he made some rough (not terrible) decisions, but as with the players I think getting bitchslapped early on is going to lead to such things.

I know the draw-punt play is getting a lot of criticism, but I actually think it was a 4th they would have went for if it was manageable. The box was light and they were playing tight on the receivers... once it went for negative yardage you're sort of stuck in a spot where neither decision is going to look good.

Afa going for it at the end of the half, isn't that like the standard play in that situation?

With respect to game planning, I just don't think there are many instances where a coaching staff prepares for getting your *** handed to you for 15 points in the blink of an eye, which is sadly what happened. And we're really talking about 2, maybe 3 game-swinging plays that led to that early outcome.

1st quarter percy harvin 30 yard run and 37 yards pass to baldwin or the flea flicker play from lynch
sea looked way more prepared , den relied to much on things that worked all year for them

what do u mean crushing seadood?

edit: and to elaborate....Peyton even said that the bad snap on the 1st play was because of crowd noise...this really didnt occur to them that they might have to deal with Hawks fans outnumbering Broncos fans and playing in a hostile environment? They had no way of countering this? Gimme a ****in break man.

Dids has been completely reasonable since the win, and one of the few to admit that Seattle ran pretty well in order to put them into a position to unleash their monster defense on Denver without impunity.

Afa the Manram snap, I thought it was pretty clear that he was just trying to deflect blame on his center.

Either way it's a moot point now, SB is over and Seattle are the champs. If you had told me Clady/Von/Harris would be out for most of the season, I would have never predicted they'd have gone this far. Add Moore/Wolfe/Champ, and it's pretty cool that they were able to do what they did. It sucks that they laid such an egg in the final game, but **** happens imo.

Different sport but Haralabob has been pretty firm in stating over the years that this is a myth and the books often don't care about taking a side if they think it's right.

People go around and say this shows DEN wasn't prepared and had all the momentum. But that's just hindsight thinking. Just like the story for one of those early Bills Super Bowls was that they weren't ready because Thurman Thomas couldn't find his helmet for one play.

After DEN spotted SEA two points, they held SEA to a FG. If DEN ended up scoring a TD there and taking the lead, everyone would be saying that DEN had the momentum by stopping SEA. But by DEN not scoring, the story becomes "momentum" without any real proof. It's a word without meaning in many sports contexts.

Lol everytime someone hits a buzzer beater three to tie?

What I never understood about people who buy into this crap is: if momentum exists, how could you ever possibly steal it away? I guess I can see how you might lose it when you have it (ex. unforced fumble), but I don't understand how you could take it away from the other team if they have it. Momentum is (almost by definition) a completely results-oriented factor; in other words, you can't know momentum has shifted until it has already shifted. Dumb.

Also, for people who are saying Fox was conceding the game with his punt, keep in mind that Aikman and Buck defended the decision. I think Aikman even used some variation of "play the percentages" as his reasoning. I don't think Fox was conceding at all...he's just an idiot.

Yeah- I don't know that I've mentioned in this specific thread, but as the guy defending Fox in the name of greater Seahawks glory- I would have fired him on the spot for that punt (especially because he kinda hung out his QB/OC to dry, as there's no ****ing way they call that draw on 3rd if they don't think they're going for it on 4th). You just ****ing gave up in the Superbowl, an arm-punt and pray for PI would have been 1000% better. Just horrible.

I was on a flight and saw den punting early 3q and assumed I missaw the opening ko getting housed and that it was a 2 score game somehow

lol at me

I know it's ridiculous. Everyone knows the reason they lost is because the city of Buffalo assassinated Billy McKinley.

Right, and then after DEN forced a pretty quick 3 and out and got the ball back, both Buck and Aikman went on rants about how you really need to hurry because there is so little time left and time is of the essence. Never for one second realizing the contradiction of saying "Oh you gotta punt" and then, when you get the best possible outcome, "Oh well there probably isnt enough time left now, too bad."

Basically they are all morons. I dont think anyone is saying that Fox is LITERALLY intentionally giving up the game and just quitting, they are simply saying he is a typical criticism-averse and risk-averse moron and the decisions made by such a moron are often-times indistinguishable from someone intentionally quitting.

Why in the world would you assume Fox called the draw

Pretty sure it woulda been Mr. Omaha

I didn't lol but I got it

Yes, that's my point. He make their reasonable playcall look bad by punting when they had to have assumed he wouldn't.

Ya my bad on the reading comprehension

Yeah. In last year's Super Bowl, who had the momentum when it became 28-6 (the same lead as in this year's SB)? How then did SF get within a 2 point conversion of tying it?

Of course momentum exists. Just look at how into it the fans get when they are winning compared to when they are losing. Stadiums alone go from incredibly loud to super quiet depending on momentum. Just because you can overcome momentum some of the time doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Just because it can't 100% be measured doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

This is like the dumbest counterpoint argument ever. No one is saying its impossible to overcome momentum just that you are an underdog to do so.

some would say you are an underdog because you are down 22 points not because of a mystical force

Some smart people would say its a combination of many things, momentum being one of them, and not just one specific thing.