I have began looking at this in a more objective manner, and quite frankely, i dont disagree with the decision. I do however disagree with the play call. Lets first look at the decision. Personally I believe it was the right call to make. You dont beat the colts with Field Goals, We are at home, with a significanly less talented team and a defense that wasnt stopping peyton. Who really stops peyton anyway. we punch it in and go for the jugular than the crowd it errupts, it forces peyton to drive for a Td and than at best were tied going into or just beginning the fourth. We needed as many points as possible. It is one of those rare situations where i didnt mind leaving the points on the field. Granted the field goal makes it a three point game, and we lost by three, but who knows what happens. I also believe that they thought the colts would get the ball at the 3 not the 20, which would put more pressure on them. Mangini isnt going to win every gamble that he takes but this was a smart gamble, It will get killed because he didnt make it. It shows guts and drive, from a rookie coach who clearly has this team beleving in his philosophy and him. Now onto the call. This is what really bothers me on 4th down, why are u throwing to james dearth in the end zone on a boot. James dearth hasnt caught a pass in 3 years, and he has like 4 catches and a Td in his career. I dont get it. I would have spread four recievers with a blocking TE or barlow, maybe even brad smith. Look at your options and call a play at the line. Let cotchery or coles get open, or use brad smith. I would not have tried to run the ball though. I think you spread out the D, let chad smartly operate. Dont bunch the line with a bootleg throwing to a TE that the colts may or may not have thought was in there for blocking purposes. You got to get the ball in a playmakers hands down there. That is my biggest problem, was poor play calling. im not sure if it was fatigue or a rookie mistake, they had run 15 plays before that, so maybe they were out of ideas, but the play call was my biggest problem. Shottenheimers only glaring mistake in the game. Chad throwig the pick, is just him trying to make a play, you cant fault him for that. The only regret is the 17 yard pick up they recieved from that. Overall, it may have been a rookie mistake, but we wouldnt say this had we scored. I like the decision, hate the call, and truly believe that they will learn from this mistake. If their was ever a time when a mistake wouldnt cost us, it would be in a rebuilding year, its not like were missing the playoffs becayse of this, and even if we do, its not like were making noise in the playoffs. You take the positives from a loss, especially in a rebuilding year, and hope that this mistake becomes a positive down the line. Now lets use the 5 second rule for the play, and Keep chugging away. Our coach is doing a fantastic job, lets let him continue to operate and learn. Its clear that he has the team on the right direction.
The score was 14-14 in the third quarter and one of their TDs came after a turnover on a very short field, so I don't think it is fair to say at that point we had a defense "that wasn't stopping Peyton". This was not fourth and inches, rather 4th and about 2 1/2. This has a 50/50 chance of working and I agree that the play they called stunk. Another problem with going for it, is you are basically telling your defense that they suck and the coach has no faith that they can stop the other team. Still don't like the decision, and as I mentioned a few times already it was the same 3 runs on 1-3 down which really sucked on that drive. No big deal though, if the defense made a stop this would just be some interesting banter instead it's an all out debate...
I agree with just about everything you say except possibly one.....I don't think you can necessarily call it a "rookie" head coaching mistake. Given the circumstances - driving the ball well, if not making it thinking the Colts are going to get the ball on the 3, knowing Peyton is going to start putting points (7 at a clip, not 3) on the board, having a personnel wide inferior team, etc, - I could easily see a Parcells or Belichick going for the seven at the same time; rather than kicking the 3. And IMAGINE, if they went for 3 and Nugent missed it. And people were not complaining about a "rookie" call when he called for the on-side kick after tying the game, or going for it on 4th and one with Brad Smith pitching out to Leon Washington which I believe led to a touchdown.........Bottom Line --- you are not going to beat the Colts kicking field goals when touchdowns are easily within reach.
Couldn't agree more, it was a bad play call Play-action was the obvious call. You aren't going to run it in from the 2+ yard-line on 4th down, especially not with the tight set. To add to the problem, it was a designed roll-out after the play fake which cut off half the field and gave Chad only one possible receiving option. Hell, even if the ran out of the spread offense it would have been a better play call. I would have preferred Shotgun Trips bunch with the RB leaking from the backfield to give Chad maximum time and options. Of course if they scored on that play, it would have been the best play call ever. However, that call isn't as bad as the half-back option run by Miami on the 2pt conversion attempt yesterday.[/
I read it was Pennington's choice at the line between run and pass. I reckon the pass play was drawn up with the anticipation that nobody will recognise Dearth and nobody will cover him. It's worked in the past for others, failed here, thse things happen, we live and learn.
I like the play call where you get the QB and TE going the same way. Often you get one defender out there who has to either stop the run or pass and that's how the play works. Give Dungy's D credit, they stopped it. I'd have been more annoyed if we just plunged into the line. Put the ball and the decision in Chad's hands and I'll take my chances every time. That was the first pick he ever threw in the red zone and he did it because it was 4th down. I didn't have a problem with it, it just didn't work.
Ok this is gonna be beaten to death this week I see. I think it was a horrible decision and a horrible play selection. You can't say you are not beating the Colts with FGs when they lost by 3 points with 3 points we left on the field. When you hold onto the ball for the amount of time the Jets did on that drive and come away with 0 points it is deflating. That point is proven by the fact that Indy scored on pretty much every possession after that decision. The playcall was even worse, you are not fooling anyone with a playaction on 4th & goal at the 2 1/2, IMO the best play in that situation is Penny in the shotgun with 5 wide, spread em out and let Penny find someone. Even though I do believe it was a horrible decision, I liked it,I love the fact that we have a HC that is not afraid to be agressive even if it backfires. In hindsight the on side kick in that situation was a bad call as well but it worked which made it a brillaint call.
I'm not a fan of the play call either and while I would've rather have seen points, Wilpon said it very well on PTI when he said that when you look at the call in the framework of what Mangini is trying to do with the team then the choice to go for it makes a bit more sense.
14-14 thru 2 3/4 quarters.. We were holding our own against Peyton. Of course, your fact was proven right, as they scored 17 from that point forward, but at the time of the decision, it was 14-14 thru 40 minutes of action. Pennington's pick hurt more than it seemed at the time, I agree. I killed the idea before the play was run. I agree it's better to err on this side than the Edwards side though. I'd say it was HIGHLY UNLIKELY the play was called with Dearth in mind, but when it broke down, we had to try something.
could one not also take the stance that since we needed all the points we could get, we should have taken the 3 when available instead of risking getting nothing
TRUE. You won't beat the Colts with FGs but you can send it in to overtime and beat them there. Soooo, yeah, the argument can go either way.
That argument could be made, but then the same people making that argument would make the argument why didn't we go for the touchdown when we kicked the field goal and still lost the game.
Actually I believe the play was called with Dearth in mind and Manging said something like the Pats caught people with Bruschi or Vrabel on those plays and they tried a similar type play.
