Which play calling was worse
kane
Senior Member
Pete Carroll having Russell Wilson throw it from the one yard line when you have Lynch in the backfield, or Shanahan having Ryan throw it from the Pat's 20 yard line when a couple of runs keeps you in FG range to go up by 11 with only a few minutes remaining. My vote goes to Shanahan. It was bad enough he threw it on third and 1 earlier in the quarter which led to the Hightower sack and strip, but after the Julio Jones catch they had the ball at the 20 up 8 with 4 minutes and change left, you run it three times, kick the FG and force NE to score twice in 3 minutes. Brady should give the MVP trophy to Shanahan, without his inexplicable play calling the Pats almost assuredly lose
Comments
Last night was worse. Seattle had time management strategy in their favor. It was correct to throw on 1st down. The call was stupid, should have been more of a rollout run/pass option with Wilson than what they called. Last night was brutal. The first down pass was terrible, but if Freeman does what he is supposed to do, the only harm that will come is stopping the clock if it is incomplete. Why he looked inside first was a mystery. 3 down lineman, even if they blitz one up the middle, that is covered. His guy from the start was the outside blitzer. Even if he just stands there and either make him change his angle or run him over, the sack doesnt happen. Your QB is expecting you to pick him up, that's why you are over there. When he doesn't, all you can do is take the sack. You can't throw it away in that half second you realize he has a free run at you. Even with that, ok, run the ball or throw a screen on 2nd down. Nope. Ok, 3rd down, run a draw, look to get you RB matched up on a quick route because NE hasn't covered RB/TE's most of the year. Nope. You start off with one bad call/blocking mistake, and you compound it after that. It's nice to be aggressive sometimes but time and score. A FG ends the game. Sometimes the least flashy way is the best way.
Yep, I noticed the same thing, I couldn't believe they weren't milking the clock to the final second on each snap. It almost seemed like the Falcons just panicked, one minute they're thinking about post SB celebrations, the next they're in a dog fight that they weren't expecting to be in, between not bleeding the clock and the awful play calling in the fourth, they literally handed NE the game. I'll give NE and Brady credit for coming back from such a huge hole, but the Falcons choked, and that's not a word I throw around very often, but in this case I think it's apropos
It shows how much has to happen to come back from a deficit like that. Throw everything else aside, they run three times or throw something quick and safe and kick a FG on their last possession, game is over. All the other stuff means nothing at that point.
That was a tough game for me. For the last 38 years, I have rooted for two NFL teams, NE and Atl. Been rooting for NE since the days of Stanley Morgan, Steve Grogan and Andre Tippett, and Atl when Big Ben wasn't a QB, but a hail mary play. Growing up halfway between Detroit and Chicago, I took a lot of shit in 1984 when the Bears blew out NE. Almost every August, between the end of my baseball season and the start of football season, we would go visit my grandparents in Georgia. We always took a couple days to drive down I-95 to the Falcon Inn and watch Atl's training camp. I thought it was going to be a peaceful game for me but I was basically yelling at both teams last night.
What was also puzzling to me was the playing calling just prior to the OT. Atlanta starts from it's own 11 after Pats tied it. No time outs and NE sitting with 2. Both teams errored on clock management. NE hadda chance to possibly win it in reg. The genius Belichick has been known to make errors that somehow get erased.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPeoVPbO5c4
Funny Stuff, and You were right.