It’s been two years, and still there are people trying to take away credit from Malcolm Butler. Whenever they talk about the end of Super Bowl XLIX, they talk about Pete Carroll’s decision to pass the ball, instead of handing it to Marshawn Lynch. This makes one of the more massive and inane assumptions in the history of the NFL, and is done to complete dismiss the most clutch play in the history of the NFL – Malcolm Butler’s brilliant interception. This assumption is that if the Seahawks simply hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch that he’d stroll into the end zone untouched, and the Seahawks would have been on to the parade-planning stage. But you can never assume something like that – especially when the evidence shows that there was certainly no guarantee that Lynch scores on the play.

The Representative Meme

So this came across my twitter feed a few days back.

#StayWoke pic.twitter.com/17ZnCzIYW4

— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) February 28, 2017

Exhibit A – Lynch Was Stopped on a Similar Play Earlier in the Game

We don’t have to go all that far back to find a similar example of Lynch being stopped when needing a yard. We only have to go back to the Seahawks first drive of the 2nd half. Having driven down the field, the Seahawks had a 3rd and 1 at the Patriots 8. What did they do – they lined up in the exact same formation that they did on the Butler play, and instead, they gave the ball to Lynch. Rob Ninkovich stopped him for no gain. So we’d been in a similar situation earlier in the same game, and the Patriots defense had held.

Now you may point to Lynch’s 3-yard score earlier in the game, but that happened when Dont’a Hightower was out of the game. Hightower was back for the 3rd quarter stand, and was in the game for the Butler play.

Exhibit B – “Beast Mode” Wasn’t Great on the Goal Line in 2014

How did Marshawn Lynch do in goal-to-go from the one situations in 2014?

If “what everybody knows” is correct, he must have been unstoppable from there, right? But of course, he wasn’t unstoppable at all. He was 1-5 from the opponents 1.

That’s right – “Beast Mode” in that situation in 2014 was right at the Mendoza line.

That’s hardly a sure thing, especially with the clock running, under a minute to go in the Super Bowl.

Exhibit C – Butler Made a Play Nobody Else Made

So, how risky was the choice to pass?

The Seahawks threw the ball twice from the opponents 1 in 2014. There was a sack against the 49ers, and a touchdown pass against the Chiefs – but no interceptions.

But I grant you, that’s a small sample size. So let’s make it larger. In the entire NFL in 2014, teams threw from the 1-yard-line 112 times. They scored 66 touchdowns, and completed 58.5% of their passes. And there were zero interceptions! Not a single one. 

Summation

So we can see that the clock was a factor. We can see that the Patriots were set up to stop the run, and had done so in a similar situation earlier in the same game. We can see that Lynch wasn’t stellar in that situation all season. We can see that

So, we can put this stupid idea that Lynch would’ve walked in to bed. If you’re making this argument, stop it.

And instead appreciate the great play that the undrafted kid from West Alabama University made.