4th and 2 from your own 28, you're up by 6 and there's less than 2 minutes to go...

[Senser81]

Terrible call by Belichick. He's scared of Peyton Manning. If this were JaMarcus Russell (or any other QB for that matter), he would have punted.

If it were JaMarcus Russell, the score of the game at that point would have been Patriots 34-0.

 

[FedEx227]

See that's not the point. The strategy of going for it there meant that you're assuming Peyton's going to score no matter what. It doesn't matter if you're giving him a short or long field. The point was to be able to get the ball back with enough time to try to kick the field goal. But then the defense was dumb and played it like they punted and ruined their chance at that.

And why wouldn't they rather show some faith in their offense to get two yards when they had over 450 already, then your defense who had gotten torn apart in two recent possessions?

I love Peyton Manning but if that's the strategy then your coach is a retard.

The game was in the Patriots hands. They are acting like they had their backs against the wall, they didn't. They had a 6 point advantage. Punt it and take your chances that you get an INT, fumble, dropped passes, bad snap, great punt, muffed punt, or even stop it.

They handed the game to the Colts and Manning.

 

[Esjay]

If the Colts had went 70 yards and scored, which is extremely possible with Manning, people would be suggesting Belichick could have gone for it on that 4th down.

No.

 

[mgoblue2290]

You have to punt the ball. The Colts had one timeout and would've been probably starting somewhere between the 20 and 30. Like Senser said, they weren't playing for field goal range, they had to score which makes it a lot different.

 

[Senser81]

They also had to score the other two possessions without burning timeouts....which they did so in under what 2 minutes each time?

Good for Manning. Make him do it a third time to win the game.

 

[mgoblue2290]

They also had to score the other two possessions without burning timeouts....which they did so in under what 2 minutes each time?

So? Odds are if you give a team the ball at say their own 30 yard line, with 2 minutes left and one timeout and they have to score a touchdown, they won't. It is just really hard to do and relatively easy to play a nice prevent defense against. You give them the middle of the field and don't let them go out of bounds or beat you deep. The fact that they did twice before is kind of irrelevant seeing as the Pats D probably went into cruise control when they went up 31-14.

 

[jms493]

the fact that we ares still arguing this is stoopid....Punting the ball is the right call anything else is just dumb/risky football. True the reward for making the first down is a win but it is 50/50 chance. When you punt and play defense your odds of winning increase dramatically as for all the things that can happen that would result in a win.

Fumble, int, holding penalty, tipped pass, big sack...and so on. You play the percentages in this one and leave your ego out of it.

/close thread

 

[dell71]

Count another one on the "you have to punt" bandwagon. Even as they were lining up to try it I was thinking there's no way in hell they're actually going to snap the ball & of course that's exactly what they did.

Punt it away, make Manning go 60+ yards instead of 28.

Yes, it was a gutsy call. That still doesn't make it smart.

 

[Juggernaut]

Good for Manning. Make him do it a third time to win the game.

qft

Make Manning do it once more, he threw a really bad pick before so its not like he was God last night.

 

[kyhadley]

Punt it away, make Manning go 60+ yards instead of 28.

Yes, it was a gutsy call. That still doesn't make it smart.

Its not about making him go 60+ instead of 28. Its about either winning the game there, or conceding the score to get the ball back with time to kick the field goal, because you're defense has been struggling recently and its Peyton Manning.

As a Pats fan, I knew that if we punted there we just were going to lose. Wilhite was the one that fucked up the strategy by making that tackle. If Addai scores there, the Pats have a minute+ to get in field goal range.

 

[Senser81]

Its not about making him go 60+ instead of 28. Its about either winning the game there, or conceding the score to get the ball back with time to kick the field goal, because you're defense has been struggling recently and its Peyton Manning.

As a Pats fan, I knew that if we punted there we just were going to lose. Wilhite was the one that fucked up the strategy by making that tackle. If Addai scores there, the Pats have a minute+ to get in field goal range.

If thats the case, then on 4th down why didn't Brady run backwards to the endzone, set the ball down, and wait for a Colt player to recover it for a TD? But what if Brady did that but the Colt player kicked the ball out of the endzone for a touchback, giving the Colts the ball as well as the opportunity to run out some clock before their "inevitable" TD?

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

Sure it was. If you convert, you WIN. If you don't, Manning has a shorter field but still has to score a touchdown.

Anybody thinking the clock was a factor is moronic, considering Manning just went 72 yards in 1:52 the drive prior to that without using a timeout (and if they punted, he would've had about 2:05 with a timeout)... so the only reason you punt the ball is to make Manning go an additional 40 yards. Is that really worth it when you can win the game right there on a 2 yard play?

I'm not gonna play the "Manning hasn't been stopped all day" card, because I do believe in trusting your players and letting them go win the game on defense. And I'm not naive enough to think there isn't a difference in 30 yards and 70 yards. I just thought it was smart to be aggressive in a makeable situation with a chance to win the football game. If you strip everything away and just look at it for what it was - two yards and you win the game - it doesn't seem that foolish of a call.

How was it worth the risk when it clearly blew up in his face? The D was doing a pretty damn good job of stopping Peyton all day, why just not trust they can prevent 7 again? Not only that but BB just alienated himself from his defense, and big time. Did you see how pissed Adelius Thomas was? Showing you cant trust your defense that had played fairly decent that game was not only a dumb decision for THAT game, it was a poor decision for his future relationship with his defense. I dont see how a single player on the Pats D couldnt be very upset with BB in that sito. Showing you basically have no faith in them to prevent a TOUCHDOWN.. not a field goal.. a TOUCHDOWN is not a good move as a leader at all. It was stupid in so many ways. And if you're GOING to go for it on 4th.. do it fucking right. Do a run play on 3rd down.. save a TO incase you need to challenge.. it was just a clusterfuck that ended up costing them the game.

 

[jms493]

If thats the case, then on 4th down why didn't Brady run backwards to the endzone, set the ball down, and wait for a Colt player to recover it for a TD? But what if Brady did that but the Colt player kicked the ball out of the endzone for a touchback, giving the Colts the ball as well as the opportunity to run out some clock before their "inevitable" TD?

lol....that's funny

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

Its not about making him go 60+ instead of 28. Its about either winning the game there, or conceding the score to get the ball back with time to kick the field goal, because you're defense has been struggling recently and its Peyton Manning.

As a Pats fan, I knew that if we punted there we just were going to lose. Wilhite was the one that fucked up the strategy by making that tackle. If Addai scores there, the Pats have a minute+ to get in field goal range.

The strategy was to.... let them score?

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

If the Colts had went 70 yards and scored, which is extremely possible with Manning, people would be suggesting Belichick could have gone for it on that 4th down.

LMAO.. not a fucking chance. In all my years of watching football ive NEVER seen someone make that move in that part of the field. Not a soul would be questioning him for not going for it for a 4th down on their own 29 yard line.

Theres a very simple concept here for me... MAKE a player beat you. Dont spoon feed him the win. You punt and pin them deep you're making Manning beat you.. would he have? Probably, but we dont know that for sure. We dont know for sure hes going to score with a 29 yard field either, but its a helluva lot more likely.

 

[celtsxpatsxsox]

The strategy was to.... let them score?

I agree. I dont know why everyone is saying that they should of let Addai score on the run. You never let a touchdown against you and in case people forgot a couple years ago we beat the Colts on a goal line stand.

 

[Bear Pand]

It's amazing how Pats fans (not all) will defend their boy Belichick no matter what.

 

[killgod]

It's amazing how Pats fans (not all) will defend their boy Belichick no matter what.

It's amazing how you are so thick to think that a Patriots fan (or any true fan of a team) would turn their opinons on a coach who has done so much for their team.


(cue belicheat jokes)

It takes 60 minutes to play a football game. Lets completely ignore the lengthy drives resulting in FG attempts and the Maroney fumble on the goalline, those had NOTHING to do with the end result yes? Lets chastise the coach for showing respect to one of the greatest players of the game and taking a risk by rolling the dice on another of the games great players of the decade. There was logical reasoning behind the move and it was extremely high risk but it didn't "cost" us the game, the 60 minutes of played football determined the winner, like it always does.

You're an idiot.

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

It's amazing how you are so thick to think that a Patriots fan (or any true fan of a team) would turn their opinons on a coach who has done so much for their team.


(cue belicheat jokes)

It takes 60 minutes to play a football game. Lets completely ignore the lengthy drives resulting in FG attempts and the Maroney fumble on the goalline, those had NOTHING to do with the end result yes? Lets chastise the coach for showing respect to one of the greatest players of the game and taking a risk by rolling the dice on another of the games great players of the decade. There was logical reasoning behind the move and it was extremely high risk but it didn't "cost" us the game, the 60 minutes of played football determined the winner, like it always does.

You're an idiot.

It may not have completely cost them the game, but it sure as hell made it a lot easier, haha. Im sure the defense was real inspired to stop a 29 yard drive after their coach just told the entire world he doesnt trust them to stop them from going the whole field.

Im not hating on BB.. hes earned the right to a stupid move like this.. but in all my years of watching football ive never seen this kind of move in a huge game like that.. ballsy is cool when it works, but obviously doesnt look great when it doesnt. I still question whether he had planned to do this or just said "fuck it" and did it cause he really wasnt about getting burned by Manning again and wanted to put the stake in the heart.. if any team could do it, its the Pats.. but it was unconventional to say the least, and will def go down in history as one of the most questionable coaching decisions of all time.

 

[kyhadley]

If thats the case, then on 4th down why didn't Brady run backwards to the endzone, set the ball down, and wait for a Colt player to recover it for a TD? But what if Brady did that but the Colt player kicked the ball out of the endzone for a touchback, giving the Colts the ball as well as the opportunity to run out some clock before their "inevitable" TD?

uh, because if they do convert they win the game?