The only arguments for running Lynch on 2nd down (the interception play) are 1) Russell Wilson sucks at throwing over the middle, and 2) A rollout to get Wilson away from pressure could potentially take too much time. Carroll's strategy was sound, because if you run Lynch twice and he gets stopped both times, the game is over without using the 4th down play. If you run Lynch on 2nd down and he gets stopped, the Pats know Seattle has to throw on the next play (3rd down) given the circumstances.
Lynch also had a bad year that year in short distance situations, and the year prior he'd fumbled twice on consecutive plays against the 49ers in the championship game. Him scoring was hardly a sure thing.
Wilson just made a mediocre throw that got picked on a great play by the cornerback (Malcom Butler)
Running the football was designed for gaining small amounts of yards and pass plays are supposed to cover more yards.
If a team can't run the ball for 1-2 yards, they are not championship worthy. In 2015, Lynch was one of the best RBs in the game.
Russell Wilson being bad at throwing over the middle is a good enough argument not to throw on 2nd down with 27 seconds remaining.
What made the prior year's party awesome? The game was a blowout. The first play was straight out of the Three Stooges and it went downhill from there.
The Super Bowl 48 in February 2014 party was good simply because there were no girlfriends there. Few people in my social circle were in relationships then. The ones that were in relationships at that time either did not attend that year's party or didn't bring their girlfriends mainly because the relationship was rather new. Fast forward one year to Super Bowl 49 in February 2015 discussed above and all the dynamics changed. All the guys were bringing girlfriends and all Super Bowl parties in my social circle from that point forward became romantic relationship litmus tests. Some of the girlfriends (later wives) in my social circle are biatches. Additionally, there were 2 intense male battles for certain girlfriends in the circle, creating some messy dynamics within the group. The presence of the girlfriends irked me. They didn't need to be there. They could have done some girly thing that day, like having a girly get together where they talked fashion (perhaps about Gisele Bundchen) or something else. Let us men have a Super Bowl get together.
I like poker or blackjack games because men don't typically bring their girlfriends to those.
Having a Super Bowl party become a romantic relationship litmus test seems rather unpleasant. I stopped going to our social circle's Super Bowl parties and eventually the circle stopped having them. The Patriots-Rams Super Bowl (53) in 2019 mentioned earlier in this thread where Belichick totally outcoached McVay was the last one the social circle had. I didn't even watch the most recent Super Bowl (56).
