Did the Patriots make the right play call on the goal line?

The Patriots were stopped at the goal line as time expired against the Seahawks.

The “you should’ve thrown from the one-yard line” jokes wrote themselves after the Patriots were stuffed on the goal line against Seattle to lose Sunday night’s game as time expired. It’s an easy, arguably lazy joke, which doesn’t sting as much when you remember that things worked out for New England in the Super Bowl.

The joke does bring us to a legitimate question, though. Did the Patriots make the right play call as time expired in Seattle?

Up until that moment, running Cam Newton in short yardage situations had been unstoppable — the offensive line has had good push and Newton’s patience waiting for the holes is the perfect complement. Even if there hasn’t been a hole, Newton’s size and strength has let him crash through for a few yards. With only one yard to go, it just made sense to run Newton.

Seattle, of course, knew this was New England’s strength, especially in short yardage and goal line situations. As a result, they sold out to stop Newton as he ran to his left. Newton decided to push through the line, but got cut down by LJ Collier before they could reach the goal line.

It was strength on strength, and the Seahawks won.

You can’t say that the play call was outright bad, because it was simply rolling with what was hot. You can, however, say that the play was a little too simple and predictable. There was no misdirection or secondary options. This meant that Seattle could send the house without worrying about anything else.

No motion to draw off the linebackers? What would have been even better is if there was a pop-pass option. Perhaps done most famously by Tim Tebow as a Florida Gator, the play sees a quarterback start to run a power keeper, only to pull back and throw it when the defense crashes in to stuff the goal line. The person who catches the pass is usually a tight end, but the Patriots ran the play to a fullback earlier in the game.

By adding this option, Newton could still keep it if he has an opening. If not, he can toss a gentle pass over the top to (likely) an open receiver. With this added option, and Newton making the correct read, the Patriots probably would have scored and won the game.

Of course, If Newton had used his vision to bounce the ball to the outside instead of trying to run through the teeth of the defense, he also would have scored, which he acknowledged.

Perhaps this wasn’t a case of a bad play call. Rather, it was simply a poorly executed play. The result looked bad, but the opportunity was there. Then again, adding some creativity/options to this run call would’ve gone a long way, but we’re sure the Patriots will have that taken care of next time they’re in this situation.

Bill Belichick was awkwardly silent when being asked about not taking timeout

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was awkwardly silent when he was asked about not taking a timeout in the final minute on Sunday night.