Well, this is a rare treat.
Just three days after handing the “Ass-Clown of the Year” award to d-bag Chris Surette – whose “Walk of Shame” column is currently being specially printed onto 20 rolls of toilet paper for use in my apartment building’s public bathroom – I am blessed with the honor of handing out yet another prestigious award:
Congratulations Bill Belichick, you’re this year’s recipient of “The Arrogant Bone-headed Call of the Year Award.”
And to think, I thought it was going to Rick Pitino* …
The only possible way you can explain Belichick’s decision to go for it on 4th and 2 from his own 28 while leading by 6 last night is pure and unadulterated arrogance. Even Andy Reid knows you punt that ball and trust your defense to hold the opposition to a field goal in that situation!!!
(Though apparently Reid does not know you go for it on 4th and 1 from the opposition 1-yard line when trailing by two scores in the second quarter**.)
For anyone who might have packed it in and gone to bed after the Pats scored on the opening drive of the fourth quarter, putting them up 31-14, here’s a quick recap of what happened in the final 12:00 minutes of play:
• Peyton drives 79-yards and hits Pierre Garcon on a 29-yard touchdown strike when Leigh “Toast” Bodden bites on the pump fake.
• Pats fail to do anything with the ball on their next possession and punt.
• Peyton throws an interception on the first play of the Colts next possession. Pats drive 51-yards for a Gostkowski FG, putting them ahead 34-21 and seemingly sealing the victory with 4:12 remaining in the game.
• Peyton leads another 79-yard touchdown drive – greatly aided by a horrendous pass interference call on Pats DB Darius Butler – scoring in just 1:23 to put the Colts within 6 with 2:23 left to play.
That’s when it happened… when Belichick inexplicably morphed into “Reid 2.0: Bigger, Bolder, Dumber.”
The Pat’s got the ball back on their own 20 after a touchback on the Pat McAfee kickoff, and before even running the first play of the drive Brady was forced to burn a timeout***.
THE FIRST PLAY OF THE DRIVE!!!
How do you take the field on the first play of a drive without knowing which play you’re going to run and which plays you can audible to depending on where the defense lines up?
So, now the Pats run their first play with only one timeout remaining, getting just under a yard on a Kevin Faulk run up the gut. Indy calls its first timeout. Brady completes an 8-yard pass to Wes Welker on second down, but he’s still 2-yards shy of the 1st down. Indy calls its second timeout. Brady tosses a short pass to Welker on 3rd down that falls incomplete. The clock stops because of the incomplete pass.
The play clock starts to tic, and the Pats face a 4th and 2 from their own 28. Belichick has roughly 15-seconds to decide whether to punt, go for it, or line up and try to draw the defense offsides and then call his remaining timeout and punt. Those are your three options as a coach in this situation.
INSTEAD of doing any of those things, Belichick calls his third and final timeout without even having his offense line up and try to draw the Colts offsides!!!
Why?!? Why Bill?!? WHY?
This is about as classic Andy Reid as it gets – indecisive play calling, squandering timeouts, just overall poor clock management.
Then, it happens. The Patriots offense returns to the field and lines up for the snap as the following conversation takes place in living rooms across New England:
Person A: What is he doing? Are they going for it?
Person B: They can’t be. They’re on their own 28. You can’t give the ball back to Manning inside the 30 with this much time left and expect him not to score. They must be trying to see if they can draw them offsides then they’ll punt.
Person A: They just used their last timeout though, they can’t make the switch. They’re going for it.
Person B: (Nervously in a low tone) They can’t be.
Person A: They are.
Person B: (Silence)…… I like it! I like the call!!! Let’s go!!!
Barack was right, the human disposition toward optimism and hope when facing seemingly insurmountable odds certainly is audacious.
There is 2:08 remaining in the game at this point. If you have a good punter – and the Patriots have a fantastic one in Chris Hanson – you have him kick it high here in order to bring the clock down to the two-minute warning. So then, you potentially have Peyton getting the ball on his own 25-40 yard-line with 2:00 minutes left and only 1 timeout.
Dangerous? Absolutely. Peyton might be one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the game in that situation. But when the alternative is giving him the ball on your 28 with 1 timeout and the two-minute warning???
Yes, I’m aware there was another scenario in play; the one where the Pats make the first down, run out the clock, Peyton stays on the sidelines and Belichick is heralded as a “genius” once again for his gutsy play-calling. But therein lies my point.
Belichick was well aware of everything I just broke down in the previous paragraphs when he made the decision to go for it on fourth down.
He knew the potential consequences of his decision, and rather than make the simple call, the call to punt the ball, the call that the majority of coaches in the NFL would have made under the same circumstances and might have given HIS TEAM its best chance to win, he chose to make the riskier call with the potential to make HIM look like genius.
In an unapologetic display of arrogance, Belichick chose the chance for individual glory over the potential for shared victory.
If the Patriots punt the ball and manage to stop Manning and earn a win, the story in today’s headlines reads “Patriot’s 4th QTR defensive stand saves victory.”
But, if the Patriots make that first down? If Kevin Faulk doesn’t bobble the ball and gets his forward progress awarded? If Belichick had saved that one last timeout and challenged the forward progress? If the Patriots somehow get that first down, then the story in today’s headlines reads “Belichick’s gutsy call seals victory.”
Bill Belichick decided to turn 2:08 of clock into a one play game that was all about him on Sunday night, and that’s why on Monday morning he’s the proud recipient of 2009’s Arrogant Bone-headed Call of the Year Award.
Congrats Bill. Make sure you talk with Chris Surette at the after-party, he might have some pointers on how you can still pick up chicks now that you’re no longer a football genius.
___________________________________________________
*You know, for the whole get woman pregnant, force her to abort, convince assistant to marry her and pay them to keep quiet thing, Allegedly.
**See Philadelphia Eagles at San Diego Chargers, Nov. 15, 2009. Reid elected to kick a FG in this spot, as well as again in the 3rd quarter when facing a 4th and 1 from the Chargers 7-yard line. The Eagles lost by 8 points. For those of you lacking in the math department, the point differential between a FG and TD (plus PAT) is 4. The difference between the two FGs kicked on 4th and 1 instead of the TDs that could have been scored had Reid elected to go for it? 8 points.
***Now might be a good time for an NFL Replay Challenge Semantics refresher. In order to initiate a coach’s challenge in the NFL, you must have at least one time out remaining. This is because the way a coach is penalized for an incorrect challenge is via the loss of a timeout. If you could still challenge without a timeout, then what’s to prevent a coach from challenging every play after he’s burned his final timeout, he’s got nothing to lose, right? Keep this in mind as we continue.
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2 comments:
I cant help but disagree with you, your arguments are purely based on the results, a turnover on downs, not what it really was chance to win the game with the ball in bradys hand. Do you really think that peyton would not have scored in the same fashion if he started on his own say, 40 or 35. I didnt think so, peyton and wayne were hooked up and the pats defense could not get any pressure to disrupt there timing. So therefore why not put the pressure on colts defense and have them make a play. Unfouratantly they did make the play but it was the right decision to go for it.
And if you do want to question the coaching, which is awfuly brazen considering the resume, I feel the third down play was the real issue. If going for it on fourth, then third down should have been a run, but unfourtantly the patriots do not have a power back that can hold a football.
And finally the replay concerns you brought are valid but the whole replay system is bogus. If the idea is to have plays called correctly then there should only be booth challengs and be unlimited so every play is scrutinized in slow motion. If making the right call is what the NFL wants. But this is a discussion for another time.
- I just want to clarify my original point, because there might be some confusion due to my "morning headlines" example.
I don't think Belichick necessarily wanted to be a hero, or be the topic of the morning headlines. I don't think he cares about the limelight or the headlines. He only cares about one thing: winning.
It's just a byproduct that the media would focus on him rather than the team given the call. However, I do think he made the game all about him because of his arrogance. It's that, "I'm Bill Belichick, I can do something unconventional and out-coach my opponent to a victory."
That type of thinking contributed to him making the call to go for it, and ultimately might (key word being might, as we don't know how punting the ball would have turned out, as I TRUST IN BILL (belichick) pointed out) have cost them the game.
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