The Seattle Seahawks were a budding dynasty in the mid-2010s, fresh off 43-8 blowout of the high-powered Peyton Manning Denver Broncos-led squad in Super Bowl 2013. The dominant Seahawks were seconds away from going back-to-back and starting their own dynasty, and then it all came crashing down.
Ehe Seahawks trailed the New England Patriots 28-24 in the waning moments of the Super Bowl and on the Patriots 1-yard line. Anyone watching the game figured Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell would give the football to all-world running back Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch and let him take it across the goal line for the game-winning touchdown and they’d then hoist back-to-back Lombardi trophies, beginning a dynasty.
That plan went up in smoke as Carroll, in an effort to help quarterback Russell Wilson become Super Bowl MVP, chose to throw the football and it was intercepted. To this day that has to be the oddest call in a game of that magnitude, especially with Lynch rushing and receiving for over 130 total yards and one touchdown up to that point.
Since then Lynch has touched on how he felt not getting the football in that situation. Now, during a recent appearance on the “I Am Athlete” podcast with Brandon Marshall, Lynch is going into more detail about the raw emotion of that moment.
“That was the type of situation where I’m boiling. The only thing I could think to do is I need to get in Pete Carroll’s face,” Lynch said. “What happened is you’re in that mindset of like, ‘You should have gave me the ball, you should have gave me the ball. But what it let me do is it gave me the opportunity to see how people really feel about me. When I walk in that building, that was a level of respect. That was the highest level of respect.”
Lynch even said the shock of him not getting the football in that situation led to him getting some huge endorsement deals, so, in retrospect, while it cost him and his team a second straight Super Bowl win, it also made him a bag, so to speak.
Seahawks Fumble Chance At Dynasty
One yard from a possible dynasty and the Seahawks decided to call a low-percentage play, which resulted in a game clinching interception by then Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler. To this day it’s one of, if not the greatest, what could’ve been as pertains to the Seahawks and that particular team.
“We at the peak of our careers, with the opportunity to go head and start a dynasty, and then we fumbled the bag on the two-yard line. It really helped me with that business,” Lynch said. “Now them bills are coming in and people are like, Man, they should have gave them ball!”
The Seahawks never seemed to recover from that play and as of today not one player from those teams is on the current roster. The last remaining players, the aforementioned Wilson and star linebacker Bobby Wagner both departed the Pacific Northwest following the 2021-22 seasons.
In 2015 Lynch Took The High Road
In his postgame presser following the devastating loss, Lynch was all about the team, taking the proverbial high road. Then Lynch told ESPN’s Jim Trotter this concerning the questionable play call and he also answered the question of was he surprised.
“No, because we play football. It’s a team sport.”
Some of Lynch’s teammates weren’t so understanding, and that includes then edge rusher Bruce Irvin, who told reporters he didn’t understand how they didn’t give it to the best back in the league and on the 1-yard line.
As for Lynch, he was only there so he wouldn’t get fined.
