by monkey » Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:23 pm
Anthony...dude...let it go man!
I agree that it really wasn't something you can pin on Wilson, BUT, you see where that ball is? Is that ball a bit high, and a bit outside? Yeah...yeah it really is. It's a little too far ahead of the receiver, which is what allows the defender a chance to make an AWESOME play on the ball.
I agree that Kearse needed to get a better block, and to add to that, and again to show how stupid that play call is there, the guy he is supposed to block is none other than Brandon Browner. A guy we know for being VERY, VERY strong, and hard to block. Also a guy who knows our playbook intimately, and CLEARLY sniffed the play out. He saw it coming from a mile away.
Also, where was Chris Matthews???
But I digress.
If you were to pan the camera further back on that still shot, you would see something very sobering...you would see a VERY WIDE OPEN Marshawn Lynch, so wide open, he wasn't even covered. At all. He would have just caught the ball and walked in.
Game over.
All Wilson had to do was not throw to Lockette, but instead go through his progression there.
Again, bad play call, and no reason to put him into that position in the first place. Lockette WAS OPEN, at least he was when he threw the ball...trouble is, the defender read it and jumped the route.
As Bevell said, Lockette didn't go strong to the ball there either. He got knocked almost completely over, as a matter of fact. He acted as though he was trying to flop so as to get a flag.
Again though, bad play call putting Lockette, a guy not really known for his hands or route running, in a position where his route had to be absolutely precise, and he had to be STRONG. Lockette may in fact be a tough guy, he seems to be on special teams, but what he really is, is a track guy.
Still, no matter how you look at it, Wilson's pass was ahead of Lockette (and high) just enough that it allowed the defender to get to it. It wasn't a perfect throw.
Again, why put him in that situation in the first place?
I have no idea, and that's my problem with it, but don't completely absolve Wilson either. He took the blame (of course he did, because he's a true, stand up, class act, one who understand what it takes to be a leader of men!), let him take his share of it, rightfully so, and just say that, there is blame enough to go around*, but the vast majority of it goes to the coaching staff for putting their players in a position to fail, because they were WAY too worried about the clock. They were so over thinking the clock management part of it, that they failed to remember to trust their defense, to trust their running back, and to trust their team to do what it does best.
Pete doesn't see it that way of course, but of course he wouldn't.
*In fact, about the only guy who did his job exactly right on that play was Marshawn...WIDE OPEN MAN...ugghh!