We have not seen a coach’s call as controversial as the one Bill Belichick made last Sunday night. With Indy needing a TD to go ahead, and 8 seconds and two minutes to go, owning one time out, the coach decides to go for it on 4th and a little less than 2. The Pats are stopped short, and Peyton Manning goes right down the field to score the go ahead touchdown for the victory.
Now everyone and their brother has commented on this, so why not NFL GUY?
IS THIS THE RIGHT CALL? Who is anyone not on the sideline to say? We do not know how badly gassed the defense was at the time. If they were as tired as we are lead to believe than maybe this is the right call. This is because out of the three possible outcomes, only one will lead to victory. Believing his defense cannot hold back the Colts, here are Belichick’s three options:
PUNT: Defense cannot keep offense out of end zone. Result: Loss
FAILING ON FOURTH DOWN CONVERSION: Defense cannot hold back offense on a long or short field anyways. Result: Loss
SUCCEEDING ON FOURTH DOWN CONVERSION: Offense keeps the ball, and runs out the clock. Result: Win.
The coach’s job is to steer the team to victory. If the Pats do convert, Belichick’s legend grows even larger. In this case it was a calculated gamble, which failed, resulting in a loss.
A larger question is did the coach disrespect his defense in this case, and will there be a fall out from that?
The Jets game looms large now.
