Well that was quite a Super Bowl. Have to begin with the discussion of That Play, even though it's far from all there is to talk about. It's the one everyone is focusing on though, understandable because it ultimately and officially lost the game. Like most (not all), I was in stunned disagreement with the call. This isn't to do with Marshawn Lynch; I would have been fine with Russell Wilson or even Robert Freaking Turbin carrying the ball down there.

What I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere, remarkably enough, is that if you watch the play in slow-motion and freeze it, even if the ball hadn't been intercepted, it probably wouldn't have even been a touchdown! When the ball and Ricardo Lockette and Malcolm Butler arrive at the spot, they're at the 1/2-yard line. Yes, maybe Butler blows the tackle and Lockette spins and bounces off him and scores. But the most likely best-case scenario there is he catches the ball, is tackled, and Seattle still has to use its last timeout and faces a 3rd down from inside the 1-yard-line. So, crummy play with arguably no great upside and a whole lot of downside. Like, it might have been tipped into the air by reserve receiver or defender and intercepted or something.

Just so I'm not seen as to be piling on after the fact, I'd like to point out that I have had a problem with Seattle offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell for years and years. He had the amazing good fortune to start his NFL career as assistant quarterback coach with the Green Bay Packers when Brett Favre was there (and a 10-year vet). He rode the coattails of Favre (who by the way didn't have his best seasons with Bevell in town) to landing an offensive coordinator gig with the Vikings, where his offenses were generally poor until they managed to sign, yes, Brett Favre. The playcalls were lousy in the NFC Championship Game loss to the Saints (that's right, Bevell has been involved in other excruciating playoff game defeats), but he managed to work his way to Seattle, running an offense that was generally poor until Russell Wilson showed up to pull wins out of his butt despite Bevell calling terrible games on a regular basis. I've ripped him before, I'll rip him again, and I thought he was incompetent long before he threw away the Super Bowl yesterday.

Anyway, moving on to the other aspects of the game. Seems pretty clear the Patriots (sigh) deserved to win. They played better. Seattle had a couple of miracle completions to even be in position to win during the game, did almost nothing on offense in the fourth quarter, and let New England march the field to score touchdowns twice after building a 10-point lead. Seattle was hurt by several injuries during the game, and prior to it. A factor in their defensive struggles. But that stuff is part of the game and New England certainly overcame a few injuries of its own.

The Patriots had a better gameplan, even though it wasn't particularly surprising. They didn't much bother with LeGarrette Blount, who's not going to pick up tough yards against a good defense. They threw a bunch of short passes, play after play after play, and Seattle never was able to handle them. The number of times Vereen, Edelman and Amendola were open for those short throws; remarkable. New England deserved to win, Tom Brady deserved the MVP, and Seattle, unfortunately for them, deserves an offseason of wondering how they let the game come down to that final goal-line series. And how they mucked it up on a pass play that probably wouldn't have even been a touchdown.

Seattle's not going to fire Darrell Bevell or anything, most likely, but they could do better on offense. Better playcalling, better thinking, better flow. Don't forget they stunk up the joint on offense against the Packers and were fortunate to be playing in the Super Bowl. Weren't great against Carolina, either, while we're at it. Russell Wilson deserves his share of the blame. But his receiving corps is mediocre at best (sorry Doug Baldwin, you of the one Super Bowl catch on a play where the defender got taken out by a referee, but it's true) and needs a better player or two.

New England, having finally won that fourth Super Bowl, can maybe now begin the shuffle down to mediocrity. Maybe? Tom Brady is 37. Eventually some other AFC East team will mount a credible challenge. Right? Next year Baltimore won't choke away their win.

It was a great Super Bowl. I don't much care for this "best Super Bowl ever" talk because we've been hearing that almost every year since Packers-Broncos. Weren't both Giants-Patriots games the best ever? Wasn't Titans-Rams the best ever? Steelers-Cardinals? Anyway, it's been overused in recent years. It was a great game between two worthy teams and seemed to be won by Seattle, then New England, then Seattle, before it ended in one of the more stunning plays in Super Bowl history. I'm still going with Giants-Patriots after the 2007 season as best ever, in part because of the incredible stakes of an 18-0 team in the game.

Halftime show was pretty good. Katy Perry's voice a little thin maybe, but the big lion was cool and the dancing sharks were charmingly ridiculous. Lenny Kravitz wasn't on stage enough, but Missy Elliott was cool. Entertained our party and didn't seem overly long.

The commercials weren't overly memorable, at least not in our party. There were some nice messages being sent here and there, which is good, but if your party was like ours, it was hard to hear everything and some points got missed or drowned out. I'm not saying we needed a dozen commercials of guys getting hit in the crotch by footballs or dogs driving cars, but hard-hitting messages about child safety and whatnot could maybe have more impact at a different time. Brady Bunch commercials are always a crowd pleaser!

I'm not going to touch Greatest of All Time debates with guys like Brady and Belichick. Belichick is certainly in the discussion, even if he's a rotten cheater. Brady is a great quarterback blessed with a great, stable coaching staff, a lot of talent around him on offense and defense, mopping up a lousy division year after year and getting a nice head start on reaching all those Super Bowls. Playing in a great era for quarterbacks.

The offseason is here, and we can now all start thinking about next year. Later in the week we'll put up some preliminary looks at the first round of 2015 drafts. Then we'll start looking at incoming rookies and 2015 breakout players. The actual offseason will be short; it's shorter all the time.

Thanks for reading this season.