Written by Barry Wilner at CBC.ca
This time, Seattle won it at the goal-line.
It certainly won’t make up for the Super Bowl loss two seasons back, but the Seahawks’ goal-line stand lifted them to a 31-24 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday night.
Tom Brady couldn’t connect with Rob Gronkowski on a fade pattern on fourth down as New England (7-2) failed four times from inside the 2 in the dying moments.
“He was playing off me … pretty far, farther than usual,” Gronkowski said about safety Kam Chancellor. “You don’t usually see that. A fade, I had to go up to him and initiate a move. I just wanted get on top of his toes, that is what you are taught. I just got up on his toes too much.”
Déjà vu
It was reminiscent of how the Seahawks (6-2-1) lost the 2015 Super Bowl when Malcolm Butler intercepted at the goal line to win the NFL title for the Patriots.
“When it got down to it, when you get a chance to win a game on the 1-yard line, there ain’t nothing like it in football,” said coach Pete Carroll, whose Seahawks worked on defending that exact play at the end of Friday’s practice. “It’s one of the great challenges that a team and a defence gets. And our guys just came through, and hung in there, and just fought for every inch and let us walk away with the win.”
Questionable call
Doug Baldwin caught three touchdown passes, including a 15-yarder for the final margin. Strangely, Seattle went for 2 points and failed on the conversion, leaving the Patriots a chance to tie with a touchdown and an extra point kick.
“We wanted to make it a two-possession game,” Carroll said.
Goal-line stand
But LeGarrette Blount, who earlier rushed for three touchdowns, couldn’t get into the end zone from close range, nor could Brady on a pair of sneaks.
“Our execution wasn’t great,” Brady said, “and they put a lot of pressure on you defensively. They have a lot of good players and they make you earn every yard. They play to the end, they have been in a lot of close games.”
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