{"id":1767,"date":"2015-02-19T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T14:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2015-02-19T09:00:28","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T14:00:28","slug":"a-bad-call-or-something-more-the-superbowl-conspiracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2015\/02\/19\/a-bad-call-or-something-more-the-superbowl-conspiracy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bad Call or Something More? The Superbowl Conspiracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Alex Mulhall – Staff Writer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Down four points with under a minute to go, the Seattle Seahawks found themselves on the one-yard line with a chance to make Super Bowl history.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Marshawn Lynch, one of the most physical runners in the National Football League (NFL), looked primed and ready to make a push to win the game.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Seahawks<\/a>
Seahawks Quarterback Russel Wilson and Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady exchange words after the Seahawks suffered a devstating loss.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instead, Seahawk\u2019s Head Coach Pete Carroll called a quick slant, which resulted in an interception and a loss on the biggest of all stages.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShocked\u201d doesn\u2019t quite describe most sports fans and media members after the game.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

NBC\u2019s broadcasting team for the game, Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels, couldn\u2019t hold back their sheer disbelief on air. Twitter quickly interrupted with \u201cworst call ever\u201d tweets.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No one could understand why Carroll would pass up what seemed like a sure thing in Lynch.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Was there something more nefarious brewing behind the scenes that might have motivated the pass call?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Following the game, columnist for NFL.com and well-respected journalist Mike Silver reported that some unnamed Seahawks believed that Carroll had a \u201cvested interest\u201d in making sure that Lynch was not the hero of the Super Bowl.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lynch became famous (or infamous) for his terse press conferences where he refused to answer questions from media members. The unnamed player proposed the theory that Carroll instead wanted quarterback Russell Wilson to become the hero of the Super Bowl.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe theory goes that there were major financial, public relations and football reasons for Wilson and not Lynch to be the one who ends the game in glory,\u201d Dave Zirin of The Nation said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Wilson is up for a contract this year, as is Lynch. If Wilson made that game winning interception, his star status would make him, and the Seahawks organization, millions of dollars, sign a long term contract extension, and tie himself to the Seahawks for years to come.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, Lynch will absolutely be a highly sought after running back, but due to his off field habits and relatively old age (running back years are basically dog years), they would be extremely hesitant to hitch their wagon to him.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While all of the \u201cfacts\u201d of the conspiracy line up relatively well, they don\u2019t hold much water with the public.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Junior Zach Montgomery, who played high school football and is a lifelong fan of the game, believes it was nothing more than a coaching error.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCarroll just dropped the ball with that one,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cHe probably thought he could catch the Patriots off guard but got burned. Give me the ball and I probably could\u2019ve scored from there.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Members of the national media also disagreed with the conspiracy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Seahawks took too much heat for the final play call,\u201d Bill Simmons of Grantland.com said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStatistically, it\u2019s slightly less likely to throw a pick than fumble from the one [yard line].\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He goes on to show how open the field must have looked for Wilson as he released the ball. Honestly, it looks like one of the simplest throws one could make.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Many Patriots fans chalk up this conspiracy talk to simple Brady-hating, a common trend among severl NFL fans.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo coach of Carroll\u2019s caliber would be concerned about making one player a star when the Super Bowl is on the line,\u201d sophomore and longtime Patriots fan Mitchell Adamic said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was concerned with the clock and the game. They just weren\u2019t expecting our defense to be that great. People just get so mad when Brady wins because he does it so often.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone loves a conspiracy theory, and this one certainly gained a lot of traction in the weeks since the Super Bowl.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps no one will ever know why Carroll decided to throw the ball instead of take the sure play, but almost everyone can agree that it probably wasn\u2019t the smartest decision.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Alex Mulhall – Staff Writer Down four points with under a minute to go, the Seattle Seahawks found themselves on the one-yard line with a chance to make Super Bowl history. Marshawn Lynch, one of the most physical runners in the National Football League (NFL), looked primed and ready to make a push to win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}