Marshawn Lynch Says He Laughed At Pete Carroll After 'Dumbest Call In Football History'

One yard.

That's all it would have taken for the Seattle Seahawks to punch the ball over the goal line in Super Bowl XLIX and claim their second consecutive Super Bowl championship. We all knew the ball was going to two-time NFL rushing touchdowns leader Marshawn Lynch.

Until it didn't.

Russell Wilson threw a pass intended for Ricardo Lockette. But it was wrestled away by New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler. Patriots win 28-24.

(Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

More than eight years later, that play is what everyone remembers about that Super Bowl — including Marshawn Lynch.

In fact, the five-time Pro Bowler calls it "the dumbest call in football history."

Marshawn Lynch Reflects on Super Bowl

Beast Mode was not afraid to tell Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll what he thought about the call, either.

During an episode of the Club Shay Shay podcast this week, Lynch spoke to host Shannon Sharpe about his strained relationship with Carroll.

"I don’t think he understood where I was coming from," Lynch said.

He did admit, though, that the longtime NFL head coach is a solid motivator.

"My relationship with Pete was interesting," the five-time Pro Bowler said. "I like Pete as a coach because he gets sh-t ready to go. That's the truth. He's the same way every day. He's a great motivator in getting sh-t ready. But it was just that I didn't need that."

And that play call in Super Bowl XLIX didn't bring them any closer. Instead of giving Lynch the opportunity to run the ball into the end zone as he had done so many times before, Carroll decided to have Wilson throw. And Lynch let him hear about it afterward.

"I usually don't take my helmet off... but you know, I take my helmet off, and I go right to Pete Carroll's face, and I'm talking 'bout I hit with the biggest ahahaha," Lynch said.

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Lynch joined the Seahawks in 2010 retired after the 2015 season. He returned to football in 2017 to sign with the then-Oakland Raiders. After two years with the Raiders, he went back to Seattle for the final game of the 2019 regular season and the playoffs.

But things weren't the same then.

Lynch believes that decision to pass at the goal line "most definitely" ended Seattle's run as one of the NFL's top teams. He said the franchise is "suffering from it still to this day."

Maybe. But it seems more like Russell Wilson has taken that suffering with him to Denver.