Patriots Source Trolls Pete Carroll While Watching USC-Texas Replay on ESPN
By Adam Weinrib

Needing a play to stop Vince Young's cascading momentum, up 38-33 late in the fourth, Pete Carroll and his 2006 USC Trojans went to the ground game. It cost him; Lendale White, the ballcarrier, was unceremoniously stuffed, leading to another heroic two-minute drive from Young to capture glory in Pasadena.
It appears, with our hindsight glasses firmly strapped on, that Carroll learned all the wrong lessons from this pivotal play.
With the game top of mind thanks to ESPN's rebroadcast on Thursday night, one Patriots source reached out to reporter Pete Thamel, realizing exactly how much the future was being written on that early 2006 evening.
Patriots source texted me tonight after watching White come up short on fourth down for USC and Pete Carroll: “No wonder he threw it against us.”
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 3, 2020
Yup. Already burned once on the big stage in the so-called greatest college football game of all time, Carroll needed just a yard and couldn't get it with his bruiser back.
Given a re-do in perhaps the only situation bigger, the goal line of the Super Bowl nine years later, Carroll went with the exact opposite maneuver, and still got burnt -- this time, at least, by an outright spectacular play and a testament to Bill Belichick's preparation.
Some foolishly call Malcolm Butler’s SB49 interception lucky...
— King Brycen ? (@BrycenNFL) November 24, 2019
All preparation... the reason why the Patriots have dominated the NFL in historic fashion. pic.twitter.com/lVlTgDUGQv
If Carroll ever needs one yard again in a title game, where does he go? Fake punt?