Ok, I've read a lot of the sports sites today, and I have to say that I am just plain sick at what I've seen. I will tell you, and you can take this to the bank, if this was Jim Caldwell, Josh McDaniels, or any other coach in the NFL that had decided to go for it on 4th and 2 with a 6 point lead over the Colts from their own 30 yard line and missed it, people would crucify that guy. Not only would they nail him to the wall, they would question whether or not he should even be a head coach in the NFL.
So why is everybody so quick to make certain we all know why Bellichick was right to make the call that he made? I can't stand this whole, "well the statistics say that he made the right call." "The pros outweighed the cons." Blah, blah, blah. To me, this is all the same ridiculous Patriot worship that is so blatantly obvious from all corners of the sports writing world. These writers, and especially the fans that all come in and say that they would have done the exact same thing because who can question the Fuhrer in his all brilliant decision making capabilities which are clearly never ever wrong, need to just bite their tongue on this one.
While the pros may have, technically, outweighed the cons, one of those cons that you list is that you're giving a red hot Peyton Manning the ball at your 29 yard line with 2 full minutes left on the clock. Now, I don't care if it's 4th down and 1/4 of an inch, I play the numbers game. The game that says that it's more difficult for you to go 70 yards in 2 minutes than 30 yards in 2 minutes. Plus, Manning had thrown 2 interceptions in that game that were really poorly thrown balls, and he had been pressured pretty consistently through the evening. Your chances of winning are a hell of a lot better giving them the ball back on their own 25 yard line, as opposed to on your 30 yard line.
Now here is probably the least educated argument that I have ever heard. Reading shutdown corner (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Counterpoint-Pros-outweighed-the-cons-on-Belich?urn=nfl,202797&post_comment=1&success=1) on yahoo sports, the author made a comment about the defense. "What, are we worried about hurting the defense's feelings? Awwww. If they don't like it, they can feel free to get better. Maybe there would be more faith in them in they didn't give up, oh, I don't know, just as an example ... 327 yards and four touchdowns to Manning." Wow. Let's take this apart a little bit at a time. As a head coach, you should absolutely be worried about whether or not your defense believes that you have faith in them. If they don't think that you believe in them, they won't play quite as hard for you, knowing that they always have your faith and trust. That should be something to consider in making a coaching decision. They can feel free to get better? Now there's an educated comment. They had Manning off-kilter all game. It was literally the last 6 minutes of the game when Manning started to dominate. Usually, you get a D that keeps him off his game for that long, you're supremely happy with it. And as for the whole we'd have more faith in you if you didn't allow so many yards, then by that logic, the Colts should have kicked the onside kick instead of booting it deep because they had given up more yardage to Brady, and 3TD. But they not only stopped them on 3rd down, they stopped them on 4th down. Was that misplaced faith as well? Give me a break.
Lastly, I just want to say to all the people who are so dead set on making certain that we all know how right Bellichick always is, get over it. Don't get me wrong here, I hate the man and believe that he has disgraced his whole career by cheating and just by beaing an overall classless jerk, but he is undeniably a very good coach. 3 SBs as a head coach is evidence enough to prove that to anybody. But as good of a coach as he is, he is still human. Just because he says that he'd do the same thing again doesn't mean that that was the right thing to do. Bottom line, it was a bad decision, and the end result of the game shows that. But you know what? It's okay. People are allowed to be wrong, so please, give me a break and just get over it.
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