Fred “Bonehead” Merkle

Fred Merkle was a first-baseman for the New York Giants way back in 1908. On September 23 of that year, in a game played in New York, the Giants were deadlocked 1-1 with the Chicago Cubs as the game moved into the bottom of the ninth. With two outs and a runner on first, Merkle stepped to the plate.

Fred Merkle singled and the runner moved to third.

So now it’s first and third with two outs.

The next batter singled and the runner on third scored the winning run. Giants fans spilled onto the field to celebrate and Merkle ran to the clubhouse to join his teammates in celebration.

There are various accounts of exactly what happened next, but here’s the bottom line: Fred Merkle never bothered to touch second base before running to join his teammates. One of the Cubs noticed the mistake. The ball wound up in the hands of Cubs second-baseman Johnny Evers – of Tinkers-to-Evers-to Chance fame – and Evers stepped on the bag. The umpire called Merkle out on a force out. The Giants hadn’t won after all and the game moved into extra innings.

Forever after, Fred Merkle came to be known as Bonehead Merkle – you can look it up. He was the only Bonehead I knew before yesterday’s Super Bowl – when a new “Bonehead” was born.

From here on out, to me, Pete Carroll will be known as Bonehead Carroll.

Most of you saw the game and most of you can’t believe what you saw. For all intent and purpose, Marshawn Lynch was going to plow his way into the end zone and the Seahawks were going to win Super Bowl XLIX and make it two straight super bowls – but that never happened.

After the game, Bonehead Carroll gave two excuses for calling for a pass rather than running Marshawn Lynch into the end zone for the game-winning score.

According to Bonehead Carroll, he sent out a three-wide set, but the Patriots trotted out their goal-line defense. He didn’t like the match-ups. So he was willing to waste a play and then run Lynch on the next play.

Waste a play? In the Super Bowl? With 0:26 left and the Seahawks on the one-yard-line? With Marshawn Lynch already having steamrolled for 102 yards on 20 carries and having scored on a 3-yard run in the first quarter?

So Bonehead Carroll called for a pass.

The play he called was a mirror-play – meaning the identical pattern was being run on the left side and on the right side. It was also a pick-play, or a rub-play – meaning that one Seahawk receiver was going to set a basketball pick on a Patriots defender to free the other receiver on his side of the field.

But there were two problems with the play call.

#1 – Patriots cornerback Brandon Browner played for the Seahawks last year and knew the play well.

#2 – Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler, who was playing alongside Browner, had been beaten on that play, in practice, by the Scout team, remembered it, and swore he wasn’t going to be beaten again.

Both Browner and Butler sensed that play was coming and alerted each other.

So the play unfolded like so:

For the Seahawks, on the right side of the field, Jerome Kearse lined up on the inside and Ricardo Lockette lined up on the outside. The Seahawks were in man-to-man coverage. Brandon Browner was covering Kearse and Malcom Butler was covering Lockette.

Kearse and Lockette were going to run a crossing pattern. Kearse was going to slant outside and Lockette was going to slant inside.

Kearse was supposed to pick off Butler – thus allowing Lockette to come free over the middle – and Lockette was going to catch Russell Wilson’s pass for the game-winning TD.

But on the snap of the ball, Browner jammed Kearse and prevented him from picking off Butler.

And then Malcolm Butler – the rookie undrafted free agent out of tiny West Alabama – jumped the route, wrestled the ball away from Lockette, and made the interception – and thus made one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history.

Say goodbye to Pete Carroll.

Say hello to Bonehead Carroll.

Barry Bowe is the author of 12 Best Eagles QBs.