In what can only be described as one of the most infamous moments in Super Bowl history, the Seattle Seahawks franchise remains haunted by its decision not to run the ball on second and goal in the waning moments of Super Bowl XLIX. After his team found themselves in a position to take the lead with 24 seconds remaining in the contest, Pete Carroll ignominiously called for Russell Wilson to deliver the game-winning touchdown pass in an attempt to immortalize him as a Super Bowl legend.
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The rest, they say, is history. Wilson’s arrant inside pass resulted in a Malcolm Butler interception, securing a then fourth Lombardi trophy for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The moments following the play, however, are often forgotten.
Realizing that they had just immortalized themselves for all of the wrong reasons, members of the Seattle offense were overcome with emotions. However, the Patriots still had to snap the ball on their own one-yard line with 18 seconds left in the game.
Unfortunately, an offsides penalty on Michael Bennett crushed what little hope the Seahawks had left and gifted the Patriots with a free opportunity at performing the coveted victory formation. On the latest episode of the Games with Names podcast, Julian Edelman was asked to share his insight on what the play call would have been had the Patriots been forced to snap the ball on the one-yard line.
“I want to say it was a QB sneak because we needed to gain some room. You couldn’t take a knee, so it was a QB sneak. We were actually on high alert like boys, we need to execute this play. The game is not over. Thankfully, Mike jumped off sides and that was the game.”
While the victory itself is fondly remembered throughout New England, the moments following the offside are often omitted whenever the NFL recounts the story. Clearly frustrated by the all-time blunder, members of the Seahawks roster quickly turned from shoving to throwing blows at Gronkowski and the rest of the Patriots of the Patriots’ offense.
Bewildered by the inter-team brawl leading up to their championship victory, Edelman exclaimed that,
“We had melee after melee. Man, it was f*cking WWF out there… Gronk and Michael just f*cking throwing haymakers. It was kind of at the point where I bet ya, looking back on it, you could probably throw a couple punches in and not get suspended.”
While the end of the contest may not have been the perfect depiction of sportsmanship that the NFL had hoped for, it certainly made for a wild ending to one of the most memorable Super Bowls in recent years.
While Edelman proved to be right about there being no suspensions tied to the participants of the championship scuffle, those involved didn’t get away unpunished. One of the main instigators of the debacle, Bruce Irvin, received a $10,000 fine.
Likewise, Bennett, Gronkowski, and Michael Hoomanawanui each received their own fines of $8,628. Thankfully, the brawl has become less of a talking point, as fans tend to remember Butler’s career-defining play rather than the uglier side of the game that is gridiron football.
Considering that nothing like this has really occurred since that day, it’s fair to say that the end-of-season fines proved to be enough to dissuade future competitors from engaging in such behavior while competing on the national stage.
The NFL seemingly succeeded in its attempt to revise its history.
