Three years ago, I wrote about Carolina Panthers v. New Orleans Saints game in which the Saints, down by four points with 1:56 left to go, failed to stop DeShaun Foster from getting a key first down and let him run into the end zone for a touchdown. The Saints then scored a TD of their own less than a minute later and made a two-point conversion, cutting the 11-point lead to 3 and giving them a shot at winning.
I suggested that DeShaun Foster was better off taking a knee after getting that first down, rather that running into the end zone, because then the Saints never would have gotten the ball, and the Panthers could have run out the clock with a 4-point lead. As you might expect, the FanHouse commenters thought mockery was the proper response to that idea, in part because the Panthers still won the game.
Three years later, Maurice Jones-Drew takes a knee at the 1-yard line for the Jacksonville Jaguars, setting up a game winning 21-yard field goal and preventing the New York Jets from getting the ball back. It was a riskier move, because the Jags were trailing by a point with 1:48 left, but Jones-Drew seems to be attracting universal praise for making a smart strategic play.
The point here is that you don’t give your opponent the opportunity to score if you don’t have to. This is why Bill Belichick really went for it on 4th down on his own 28-yard line against the Colts. Converting meant Peyton Manning would not get the ball, and the Pats could run out the clock. Punting meant Manning was all but guaranteed to get the ball and engineer a game-winning drive. Plus, Belichick put his faith in his best player — Tom Brady — to get the job done.
We shouldn’t criticize Belichick for choosing to go for it. We should, however, get on his case about the play he chose to call. Honestly, the coaches couldn’t have picked something better than that?
Here are some other interesting football stories you might have missed:
- UNC serves up its most fortunate illegal forward pass since 1895. [WRAL FANKind]
- Dan Marino inadvertently shares his true feelings about the Wildcat formation. [Awful Announcing]
- Chicago Bears fans are sore losers, even when they win. [FanHouse]
- Allen Iverson as a Philadelphia… Eagle? Right. [The Sporting Blog]
- Japan calls on South Africa to ban the vuvuzela. Yeah, good luck with that, fellas. [The Guardian]
- Katy Perry launches new line of West Ham United lingerie. Now we know what Michelle Obama is getting for Christmas. [The Guardian]
- Belated congratulations to the Raleigh Venom, champions of Division II USA Women’s Rugby. [WRAL FANKind]
