Photo: The Post and Courier
In another instant classic the Seattle Seahawks battled back late to take a one point lead with seconds left. In what was thought to be another debacle for the Falcons, the Seahawks defense allowed Matt Ryan to make two deep passes to allow the Falcons in field goal range for the winning score. As usual in the NFL, coaches will try to ice the kicker with a last minute time out. But what we have seen in the last couple of years, this has gone to backfire because the although the timeout is called, the kicker still gets a chance to kick the field goal and basically gets a practice shot to make the real one.
This is what happened Sunday as Pete Carroll waited until the last second to call the timeout. As it happened, kicker Matt Bryant missed wide right but a timeout was called. On the subsequent kick, Bryant nailed it right between the uprights sending the Falcons to the NFCCG.
So why did Pete Carroll call the timeout? According to him at his press conference, he was told before the game that the kicker would not be allowed to kick the ball. Well that didn’t happen and the rest is history.
Let’s see if any coaches will pull a last second timeout next week.