Offensive Play Calling- The Patriots frequently give away possessions by running plays with the purpose of seeing how their opponent will line up against them. In my opinion they seem to do this in the first half once they have taken an early lead. Do they use this Intel to call certain plays later in the game, or are they harvesting information to use come playoff time? Usually, it's a little bit of both. This week I think harvesting of information was the plan of the day. While that may serve us well in February, it gave Seattle momentum on Sunday.
End of Game Play Calling- Yeah, let's waste a down by putting our quarterback at risk of injury without actually wanting to score a touchdown. The final play call to Gronk was dumb too.
Sweet Shift- Can't do it all the time, but that defensive shift is awesome when it works.
Dropping the Rope- Ever play tug of war and have your opponent drop the rope? While I don't know for a fact, I think Seattle might have done something similar on two important plays. One time I believe was on a third down play where an offensive lineman pretty much fell down when he was contacted. So he elusively took down a Patriot defender and avoided a whistle. On the last play of the game a very similar technique appeared to have happened with Gronk. He went in hard assuming there would be some contact with Chancellor. Instead Chancellor goes with it and Gronk loses his balance and Brady throws it where he can't catch it, game over.