As the NFL regular season approaches with vigor, the one play Seattle Seahawks fans would rather forget will be replayed over and over and over and over again.
Malcolm Butler's interception to seal the New England Patriots' Super Bowl victory is the nightmare the Pacific Northwest can't wake from.
The man who might have taken the most heat for the play call, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, admitted to MMQB's Peter King this week he will always be haunted by it, but he wouldn't change the call.
"It's never going to leave you," Bevell said. "That play we called will always be there to drive me. I wouldn't change it, I think it was the right thing. Coach (Pete) Carroll has done a great job with it as well. I think to answer your question, in terms of totally moving on, that night is rough, the next morning is rough, getting on the plane is rough, but as soon as I got here and I was able to watch it for myself on the tape and see our copy and look at it that way and do the analyzing of it, once that was over I was able to put it behind me. I'm okay. I really am."
The discussion of the play call is a well-worn path. Carroll has taken ownership of the call from the start and never wavered that the call was correct -- despite the outside outbursts decrying the pass. Quarterback Russell Wilson has discussed moving on multiple times during the past six months.
But it's a play that won't go away. Marshawn Lyncheven spoofed it during a television cameo.
It is notable that while Bevell gave credit to Patriots defenders when talking to King this week, he didn't discuss his initial comments the night of the Super Bowl, when he said receiver Ricardo Lockette "could have been stronger through the ball." That comment didn't sit well in the Seahawks' locker room in the aftermath.
According to Bevell, however, players have moved on and the play has galvanized them in 2015.
"I think the players are probably more ... I don't know what the best word is ... I think they are driven, I think they are upset, all those kinds of things. It's good to get back to work," he said.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast continues with its fantasy extravaganza and takes you behind the scenes in Cleveland with Marc Sessler.
