If that pass had been completed we'd be talking about what a gutsy call Pete Carroll made ...
just like the TD pass he called that ended the first half.
It's too easy to second guess.
Speaking of bad calls ... Greg Roman/Jim Harbaugh (49ers) repeated calls to throw to Michael Crabtree in SB 47 and the 2014 NFC Conference game were far worse IMO.
= new reply since forum marked as read
But we'd be wrong 
Still, let's also acknowledge that Butler just made a great, great play on the ball. Great recognition, very aggressive move - Wilson made a good throw, and given the situation and route that's probably a TD 8 times out of 10.
What makes it a bad call is that there are too many risks associated with a throw and nothing forcing you to do it. And lots of reason to believe you can pick up a yard on the ground. Sure, if you run and don't pick up the TD you have to burn a time out and throw on 3rd down. But if you still don't pick up the TD (assuming an incomplete pass) you can run any play in your playbook on 4th down. Either way, you're looking at running at least one pass play among the four downs. Your best bet on 2nd & goal on the one is to run the least risky play likely to score a TD, and there are more ways for a pass to turn sour than a run.
It is possible that he knew what he was doing after all. 
But, oddly, Belichick didn’t call timeout. He let the Seahawks run the clock all the way down to 0:26, which is when Russell Wilson threw the fateful pass to Ricardo Lockette that was picked off by Pats rookie Malcolm Butler.
Unless you have a DeLorean, flux capacitor, and a crazy, wild-eyed scientist, there’s no way to know what would have happened if Belichick had called timeout with 1:02 left on the clock. But we do know that Seattle was backed into a corner with Belichick’s game of clock chicken.
It starts with Seattle’s lone remaining timeout. If the Seahawks had run on second down with 26 seconds left and not scored a touchdown, they would’ve had to call their final timeout to stop the clock. That almost ensures that both third and fourth down would be passes, a theoretical advantage for New England. (Or it might have had the reverse effect: With New England playing for a pass, there’s more room for Russell Wilson to run.)
But calling timeout back at 1:02 probably likely would have caused Seattle to run the ball on 2nd and 1 to either score a touchdown or flush out Belichick’s final timeout. A pass would have been almost out of the question since it would have stopped the clock with, say, 0:56 remaining and put Seattle into a third down with New England still holding two timeouts. (Although, given Bevell’s night, I suppose every play call, including a punt, was on the table.) The Patriots would have been certain to get the ball back with around 0:45, but with no timeouts.
By the Pats not calling timeout, Seattle had the opportunity to throw the ball without fear of New England regaining possession. In essence, Belichick dared the Seahawks to make the most ill-advised pass in NFL history and the Seahawks were all too happy to comply.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/02/bill-belichick-timeouts-super-bowl-seattle-interception-new-england-patriots-brilliant-seattle-sehawks
