Originally Posted by
Eich
Have you read any of the explanations in this thread? They're dead on. At the time Tomlin made the call, I was scratching my head for a second and then the obvious dawned on me... Tomlin had ZERO confidence in the offense at that point in the game and complete confidence in the defense. So, he kept the defense on the field for one more play, hoping to give the offense a little better field position. I think he was pretty sure that by taking the penalty, Cleveland wasn't going to do anything but play ultra-conservative with a lead and that gave his defense the chance to pin their ears back and try to make something happen. It did actually give them better field position than they otherwise would've had.
Smart move by Tomlin IMO.
Tomlin makes some questionable decisions here and there but I like his willingness to go with his gut on what's working and what's not. He's made decisions like this in this past, keeping the ball away from the struggling unit as much as possible.
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