When most of the world expected Marshawn Lynch to get the ball, Russell Wilson saw a formation that made passing from the 1 the right call for the Seattle Seahawks with the Super Bowl on the line.
It didn’t work.
Malcolm Butler stepped in front of Wilson's pass intended for Ricardo Lockette and made his first career interception to seal the New England Patriots' 28-24 win over the Seahawks on Sunday.
“I don’t know what I could have done differently,” Wilson said. “I put the blame on me. I’m the one that gave him the ball.”
Wilson twice rallied the Seahawks (14-5) from deficits in the first half and his 3-yard touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin gave Seattle a 24-14 lead going into the fourth quarter.
But he made the biggest mistake of his career on the final pass. The interception came two weeks after Wilson threw four picks in the NFC championship game only to rally Seattle to an overtime win over Green Bay.
“It definitely hurts,” Wilson said. “I hate the feeling that I’m the one who lost it. I keep my head up, though. I know that I prepare and I get ready. I know I play my heart out.”
Wilson finished 12 of 21 for 247 yards and had two TD passes. He ran for 39 yards and was sacked three times. The third-year pro will hear criticism for his final pass throughout the offseason and longer.
“I hate losing,” Wilson said. “It was one play that he made a great play on.”
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell tried to take the blame for making the call to pass the ball with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
“We sent in our personnel and they sent in goal-line (defense); it’s not the right matchup for us to run the football,” Carroll said. “So on second down, we throw the ball really to kind of waste the play. If we score, we do. If we don’t, then we’ll run it on third and fourth down. We had three wide receivers, a tight end and one back in that situation. They had extra guys at the line of scrimmage so we don’t waste a run play at that.”
Lynch powered his way to a 3-yard TD run in the first half and finished with 102 yards on 24 carries. Bevell said the clock was a factor, however.
“We wanted to use as much time as we could,” Bevell said. “I make the calls and I wish Carroll would tell me to do something different, but we communicate, we talk and I make all the calls.”
Lynch didn’t speak to reporters, as usual. Many of his teammates supported the call, though All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner questioned it.
“We’ve got Marshawn Lynch, one of the best running backs in the league, and everybody makes their decisions and unfortunately, we didn’t give him the ball,” Wagner said.
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