AP

The decision the Seahawks made on their final offensive play in the Super Bowl has been analyzed since the moment Malcolm Butler picked off Russell Wilson’s pass, but there hasn’t been quite as much attention paid to what the Patriots were thinking.

When there has been attention in that direction, it has been focused on the team’s choice not to call a timeout as the clock ticked away with the Seahawks on the 1-yard-line. On Tuesday, coach Bill Belichick discussed some of his thought process and started by saying that the one thing they didn’t want the Seahawks to do was run the ball into the end zone. With three wideouts in for Seattle, Belichick said “we couldn’t ask for more than that” in terms of a favorable matchup on that front.

“We certainly gave some consideration to taking a timeout there and leaving some time on the clock. I don’t know if that would have been a bad thing to do. It might have been a good thing to do, but it just seemed in the flow of the game we were OK with where we were,” Belichick said on WEEI. “I think it’s similar to the end of the game in Arizona six years ago when all the TVs and everything get on the field and at the end of the game and then your communication systems that were working OK during the game then breakdown at the end — that was the same thing that happened in [2007]. I thought the signaling and communication by Matt Patricia, the defensive players in order to get those players on and off was really good and we handled that part of it well and then Malcolm [Butler] made a great play on the two under three route. That is pretty much what happened from our end.”

Belichick admitted that there “weren’t happy thoughts” after Jermaine Kearse’s juggling catch set the Seahawks up near the goal line, but the feelings got a lot happier when Butler made his pick. Belichick credited the little-used Butler for “being prepared and playing well” and grouped his play with Duron Harmon’s interception against the Ravens as big plays from unlikely sources that the Patriots needed to win the title.

Now that they have, Belichick said he’s already working on changing the name of his boat from “Five Rings” to “Six Rings” while also making the quick turnaround to 2015 because “last year is over.”