It’s easy to Monday morning quarterback football games and second guess coaching decisions from the sofa, but fair or not Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll brought hell onto himself by choosing to have Russell Wilson throw a slant from the 1-yard line to go for the likely game-winning touchdown against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX instead of just handing the damn ball to Marshawn Lynch. Had the pass not been intercepted, no one would care, but it was, and with a dude nicknamed Beast Mode standing in the backfield it’s easy to look back and say they should have just run the ball a couple times–even though there was little time left and only one timeout remaining, so a pass in that situation really wasn’t a bad idea. Throwing a slant was ill advised; a bootleg pass/run option would have made more sense given Wilson’s skillset.
(I’d also remind folks criticizing the play call to look back at the Steelers vs. Colts playoff game from years back, when in a similar situation the Steelers appeared ready to ice the game by giving the ball to Jerome “The Bus” Bettis for a presumably easy goal line TD charge. He wound up fumbling the ball–and he was a player that was a short yardage beast and rarely ever fumbled–and the game was only saved by Big Ben making a miraculous shoestring tackle on the Colts defender who had picked up the ball and was running for a return TD the other way. Sometimes shit just happens, is all I’m saying.)
Anyway, EA Sports is getting in on the snarky fun by releasing an alternate ending video which uses Madden NFL 15 to show how the Super Bowl might have concluded had the ball been put in Beast Mode’s hands. Sorry to rub salt in the wound, Seahawks fans, but this is going to hurt!
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Beast Mode vs. Gronk
In a Big Game Showdown ahead of Super Bowl XLIX as part of the latest episode of Conan O’Brien’s Clueless Gamer sketch, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, a.k.a. “Beast Mode,” and New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, a.k.a. “Gronk,” engaged in a fight to the death playing Mortal Kombat X as a way to predict who will win the big game on Sunday.
You will see a lot of blood, guts, crotch grabbing (both in and out of the game), and stunned looks of horror at the extreme level of violence. And in a shocking change of events, Lynch not only speaks, he actually gets paid $50 to teach Conan his infamous TD celebration rather than getting fined. Beast Mode and Gronk even get sidetracked for a moment and break into a surprising chat about Mario Kart characters and power-ups.
Oh, and someone kinda-sorta wins the showdown. You’ll have to watch the video to find out who.
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