GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The New England Patriots did it again. Another trick. More foolery. So sly. So ornery. They entered Super Bowl 49 with cock-eyed views, with debate over if they were cheaters in DeflateGate. But this was legal. This was all good.
They are champions because they made the Seattle Seahawks see white when they should have seen black. Made them leap when they never should have budged.
It was a costly, absurd illusion for the Seahawks.
"We just looked at each other trying to realize the gravity of what we just witnessed," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said of the exchange with his quarterback Russell Wilson after the Seahawks' horror. "We didn't say very much."
THE FINAL PLAY
Here the Seahawks were at the New England 1-yard line with only seconds left. Marshawn Lynch had run 4 yards on the previous play to get them there. He averaged 4.3 yards per rush in this game. Surely, he could get the final yard as the final seconds ticked. Surely, the ball would be in Lynch's hands. The Seahawks before the game had given him a hefty, fresh contract offer. This was carrot-stick with Lynch at its finest. Lynch extra motivated. Lynch, the beast, ready to bang.
But the Seahawks called for a three-receiver set.
The Patriots' defense answered with an eight-man front, goal-line set.
That is not the usual defensive response for that Seahawks' formation. So, the Seahawks think: It's second and 1, we don't want to run against that, we'll throw it here and then run it on third and fourth down to try to win this game.
And the Patriots are thinking: Throw it! Throw it! Throw it, please! We don't want Lynch. Please take the bait. And anything you do throw, we are going to aggressively jump on in this desperate situation.
The Seahawks threw it.
Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted it.
Game over. Seattle's repeat championship bid vanished.
Sometimes you have to win the game even when you think the game is won. Sometimes you can out think yourself, get too fancy. Sometimes simple will do.
The Seahawks got too cute, saw something they didn't see, turned gold into gravel. Lynch is more than capable, with his violent running style, of scoring from 1-yard even against an eight-man front.
I asked Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia if his call was an attempt to induce the Seahawks to throw it, if he thought he could get them to throw it?
"We did," Patricia answered.
Defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said: "That was what we were hoping for in that situation. We have always done a good job here of taking tough situations and our coaching staff finding a way to turn the scheme in our favor."
Carroll tried to explain it:
"We sent in our personnel, they sent in goal line, it's not the right matchup for us to run the football, so on second down we throw the ball really to kind of waste that play. If we score, we do, if we don't, then we'll run it on third and fourth down. And, unfortunately, with the play that we tried to execute, the guy makes a great play and jumps in front of the route and makes an incredible play that nobody would ever think he could do. And, unfortunately, that changes the whole outcome."
A winning drive, 1 yard away, turned into dust.
"On that play," said Wilson, "there wasn't really a check out of it. We had a good play. I thought it was going to be a touchdown."
The Seahawks, of course, should have run the ball three times with Lynch and lived with that.
They got bamboozled, shook, spooked on second down and never lived to see a third- or fourth-down try. And they likely would have seen eight-man fronts again on third and fourth down plays, so, their second-down decision still stinks.
It was brilliant strategy by the Patriots. But it only worked because Seattle used football logic instead of common sense.
SB Nation presents: Final thoughts on the unbelievable finish to Super Bowl XLIX
The Patriots' secondary is taught to watch the eyes of the quarterback as he leaves the huddle. To see who he is talking to. To see who he is most animated about. To see where his last words are intended before his cadence begins.
Butler said he saw Wilson chirping with receiver Ricardo Lockette. Lockette was to make a one-step in-cut from a stacked formation and get the pass quick and in the end zone. Butler read it all and saw it all.
Then he instantly flashed.
"I just knew and my instincts took over," Butler said. "I saw the look coming out of the huddle. I just didn't want to be the reason we lost the game."
Three plays before, he was covering Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse and tipped a pass before Kearse bobbled it and dramatically caught it for a 33-yard gain to the Patriots 5-yard line. The Lynch 4-yard run to the 1 followed. Then came Butler's game-winning pick with :20 seconds left.
Butler flew from devastation to elation.
You should have seen how high they all jumped on the Patriots' sideline.
We will see where the DeflateGate investigation lands and what it brings for Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady, what it means for Patriots owner Robert Kraft and head coach Bill Belichick. Really, for all of the Patriots.
But on this Super Bowl night, they outwitted the Seahawks.
Fair and square.
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