The Worst Play Call in NFL History
By 
49ers fans, meet your new head coach:
After Freeman was stuffed on a first-and-10 pitch for a loss of one, the Falcons ran the clock down and had second-and-11 on the New England 23-yard line with 3:56 to go. If the Falcons had simply kneeled twice, they could have kicked what would have been about a 43-yard field goal while presumably costing the Patriots two of their three remaining timeouts. A 43-yard field goal — which all but ends the game — is hardly guaranteed, but Matt Bryant is 29-of-31 (93.5 percent) on kicks between 40 and 45 yards over the past five seasons.
Instead, inexplicably, the Falcons chose to pass the ball on second down, on a slow-developing play that ended with Ryan going down for a coverage sack at the hands of Flowers, who slipped between center Alex Mack and right guard Chris Chester. The sack is partly on Ryan, who needed to get the ball out and held onto it for more than four seconds before hitting the turf.
Ryan is at fault, but so is Atlanta’s highly regarded offensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan. I’m as aggressive as anybody when it comes to suggesting that coaches try to get their kickers in better field goal range in lieu of settling for 50-plus-yard field goal tries, but if there was ever a situation that called for conservatism given the game situation, it was this one. Shanahan admitted after the game that he couldn’t remember the playcalling decisions he made at this point of the game, conflating the ensuing plays with the sack, which is fair. It seems the entire Falcons team blacked out right around this point of the game.
I agree that Ryan deserves some of the blame — it wasn’t a blind side hit, and he needed better awareness of the situation. Bur, still, a sack in a major inherent risk in a slow-developing deep drop. You cannot take that a risk in that situation, where 3 points is worth essentially as much as 7. As Petchesky says, he seemed to panic after the first Freeman run was stuffed. But you have to know that it’s going to be tough to gain on the Pats there, and keep focused on the fact that you don’t need to — something the staff on the other sideline does so well.
It’s particularly hard for me to say that this is the worst Super Bowl play call ever by a team with Dan Quinn on the sidelines, but I think it’s pretty clear. Bevell’s play call was awful, and I have less than no patience for contrarian defenses of it. But, still, Bevell and Carroll were balancing multiple variables — they had to score, not merely avoid a turnover or sack, and they had to worry about the clock on both ends (not running out of time, but also considering how much time you’re leaving Brady to work against your completely decimated defense.) They made a bad choice, but in the chaos of a last-minute drive (and whether Belichick was lucky or good when he didn’t use his timeouts, it worked) it can be understood if not defended. Shanahan and Quinn had a much simpler choice — they just needed to avoid a turnover or major loss. And since the issue with Super Bowl 49 was not so much calling the pass per se but the specific call minimizing Seattle’s strengths and emphasizing New England’s, I also think Quinn deserves more blame than Carroll — let Shanahan pick the specific play but you need to make clear that you’re keeping the ball on the ground. And the Rex Ryan-caliber management of timeouts also has to rest on Quinn’s shoulders.
Having said that, Quinn did his primary job as a defensive coach — before they got completely gassed, the Falcons put on a pretty fair impression of Quinn’s Seahawks defenses with significantly inferior personnel. On the other hand, even beyond that call, Shanahan did a brutal job the whole fourth quarter — sort of a reverse Andy Reid. Which takes us back to the master who won #5 — very few former star coordinators are as involved in both side of the ball as Belichick is. Shanahan blew it, but the buck has to stop at the top too. The Falcons blew it, but in fairness they blew it to the most accomplished team in NFL history.