For over 10 years, Seattle Seahawks fans have wondered why former coach Pete Carroll didn’t hand the ball off to Marshawn Lynch on the goal line against the New England Patriots in the waning moments of Super Bowl XLIX.
The Patriots are glad the Seahawks went the alternative route by attempting a throw with quarterback Russell Wilson. That pass was quickly picked off by then-rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler.
After all of this time, Butler admitted he was surprised the Seahawks threw the ball. He also said the one thing every Seahawks fan has been saying for the last decade.
“Just run the ball.”
“I was very surprised they threw the ball,” Butler told ESPN’s Mina Kimes. “But look, being a student of the game, it’s second and goal. If they run the ball, a cornerback cannot make that tackle, but I tell you what, I can cover now.
“And if you throw that ball—like Ricardo Lockette was like, ‘Okay, I’m [about] to act like Allen Iverson. I’m [about] to plant.’ And I sent him flying. Just run the ball. Just run the ball.”
It was one of the more shocking endings to a Super Bowl game, but it ultimately fell in the Patriots’ favor. Seahawks fans will look back on that mistake as a moment that destroyed a potential dynasty.
They were never the same again after that game.