Tuesday 3 February 2015 09:23, UK
Coach Pete Carroll placed the blame for the Seattle Seahawks defeat in Super Bowl XLIX firmly at his own feet.
The Seahawks trailed 28-24 with a handful of seconds left in their clash with the New England Patriots, but they were knocking on the door of what would have most likely been a match-winning touchdown.
One yard away from the Patriots line, and with Marshawn Lynch having enjoyed success on the ground all game, Carroll inexplicably opted to throw the ball and Russell Wilson's pass was picked off by Malcolm Butler on the goal-line.
The Patriots were able to run down the remaining few seconds and leave Seattle, and Carroll in particular, wondering just how they had failed to defend their title.
Within moments of the call, the hashtag #WorstCallEver was trending worldwide, and it was widely criticised by current and former players, Deion Sanders asking 'How stupid can u be?' whiler Emmitt Smith called it 'the worst play call I've seen in the history of football.'
"I told those guys, 'That's my fault, totally,'" Carroll said. "But we had plenty of time to win the game ... we were playing for third and fourth down, give them no time left ... but it didn't work out that way."
Carroll admitted it was a tough defeat for him to take for him, the players and the fans who had made the trip to Arizona.
"I can't even feel it," Carroll added. "It's so hard to feel, just for all of these guys that have worked so hard and try so hard and have done so much to get to this point, coaches and players, the 12s and everybody, they've done everything they can possibly to do make us champions again.
"For it to come down to a play like that, I hate that we have to live with that, because we did everything right to win the football game at the end. But they did a great job, they gave themselves a shot and then they pulled it off, and they're world champs, and we're not."
Wilson, who had enjoyed a fine game until his late interception, found words hard to come by, as he took his share of the blame, saying: "We played as hard as we could. They made one more play than we did.
"I thought it was a touchdown, honestly. I put the blame on me; the guy made a play. I don't know what I could have done differently, I need to see it. We were right there so I put the blame on me."
Lynch, who was reluctant to speak to the media all week, said when asked if he was surprised not to get the ball: "No, because football is a team sport."
