Seahawks coach Pete Carroll admits he got pop pass from Auburn’s Gus Malzahn
By Dan Zinski
Thursday night’s season opener between the Packers and Seahawks featured plenty of memorable plays, none bigger or more fascinating than Russell Wilson’s touchdown pop pass to Ricardo Lockette.
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The play broke down like this: Russell Wilson faked a read-option hand off to Marshawn Lynch, suckering the Packers cornerback who naturally came up to stop Wilson.
Once the corner left Lockette, Wilson stopped and popped the ball to him (hence the play’s name). The only man left standing between Lockette and the end zone was safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix who made a feeble effort on the attempted tackle, allowing Lockette to score.
Or, in handy GIF form (via):
That particular triple-option play may have looked like an alien concoction to fans who only follow the NFL, but college football people instantly recognized it as the same play Auburn ran to get a touchdown against Alabama.
After the game, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll had no choice but to admit that he copped the play from Gus Malzahn’s Auburn playbook (via MMQB):
"“We’ll go anywhere to find a play,” the Seattle coach said afterward. “And that one—uh, Muschamp at Florida, no … Auburn. They ran it. Give Gus Malzahn credit. That’s a great play. I kept telling them [the offensive staff and players] this summer, ‘It’ll work, it’ll work.’ But it didn’t work all summer.”"
It may not have worked all summer, but it worked beautifully against the Packers, who simply were not ready for that level of trickery.
Interestingly, later in the game the Seahawks tried the same play but this time the cornerback didn’t bite and Wilson was forced to hold onto the ball. So I guess the Packers adjusted. Good for them. It was too late because they still lost.
Teams will now have to account for the pop-pass whenever Wilson keeps on the read-option. Stay disciplined, cornerbacks. And keep on raiding college for new plays Pete Carroll, you unpredictable gum-chomping rascal.