Another excellent episode of Inside the NFL on Tuesday night was made outstanding thanks to some ridiculous highlights cranked out by the folks at NFL Films from Super Bowl 49.
Some highlights:
Strong Patriots Start: The Pats dominated most of the first half even though the score was eventually 14-14 at the break. After Brady's first drive, Russell Wilson played the role of soothsayer.
"They’re going to throw it 60 times," Wilson said.
Only 50, but still. Pretty good prediction. Brady and Josh McDaniels were on full alert too. When Jeremy Lane suffered an gruesome injury they got on the horn on the sideline and started figuring out who would replace him. It was Tharold Simon and he got quickly picked on during the drive, the Patriots first touchdown.
When the Seahawks answered to tie things up at 7, Brady and his OC called out the defense for "dragging ass."
“They’re tired.” Brady said.
“They’re dragging [bleeping] ass.” McDaniels said.
“We’ve had the ball for 18 minutes.” Brady said.
PUMPED UP: The Pats were AMPED up during that first half. Brady looked fairly intense after his first touchdown pass.
After the second score, Julian Edelman was equally amped.
"HEY! HEY! THAT’S A BIG F—ING SCORE!" Edelman screamed.
Late Score From Seattle: Really compelling segment right before half in terms of Pete Carroll's decision to take a shot at a touchdown pass with six seconds left.
"OK now we’ve got to take a shot at the touchdown," Carroll said in his mic before walking over to Russell. "We’ve done this a million times."
“You understand what the deal is?" Carroll asked his quarterback. "Let’s take a shot at the end zone, but we’ve got to have time for the field goal. Can you get it done? Otherwise I’m gonna kick it."
"Put Chris on the left," Russell said. "I’m going to throw that back shoulder, uh, back shoulder ball."
“Russ we have points right now.”
“I know. I’m going to throw that back shoulder quick fly.”
And just like he promised, Wilson delivered with a touchdown pass to Chris Matthews.
“You just gotta believe he’ll do it right," Carroll told an assistant afterward. "And then he did. He could screw it up. Of course he could. But he didn’t."
Brady wasn't as enthused about the touchdown as you might imagine.
“It’s alright we’re gonna beat their ass in the second half," the Patriots quarterback said.
Second Half Setup: A bunch of different items highlighted on the show set up the late-game drama.
Russell asked Darrell Bevell to "have confidence in me down there" (we assume red zone) because "there's some stuff now."
The Seahawks certainly noticed (Kyle Arrington) "25 got benched" and now (Malcolm Butler) "21's in."
Randomly: Carroll calf also "cramped up" because he "was running so much on Marshawn's long run." And there was no film of Doug Baldwin and his pooping on the ball celebration.
The Catch: Right before the Jermaine Kearse catch, Carroll looked at Russell and said "Three timeouts from the 50-yard line to win. We never give you one this easy."
The momentum swing was obvious during the game. It's even more palpable on the inside-access replay, especially when it came to Carroll (freaking out) and Brady/McDaniels (absolutely devastated).
The Pick: Just before the final interception, you hear a Patriots coach scream "Three corners! Malcolm! Go!"
And just after that, cut to Carroll, yelling "They’re going goal line. They’re going goal line."
Everything about it backs up the notion that the Seahawks wanted to throw. At least one angle of the pick itself makes it look like Ricardo Lockette could've caught the ball if he'd pushed harder on his route.
Post Game: The reaction from Brady/Wilson and Brady/Belichick was awesome. Edelman/Brady too. The facial expression between Rob Gronkowski and Robert Kraft was unreal. Brady hawked down Butler too.
“Malcolm!" Brady shouted. "Are you kidding me! What a play! You’re unbelievable man!”
Maybe the most emotional reaction was Julian Edelman talking to Belichick and saying he "gave him the best year of his life."
The epic Brady-Sherman moment actually featured Brady telling Sherman he's "a great player" and both Edelman and Mark Wahlberg told Brady he's the best quarterback ever. EV-AH.
He might be right, despite Brady's protestations. Whatever the case, Super Bowl XLIX was one of the best games EV-AH. And made only better with a spectacular behind-the-scenes look.
