Boneheaded Fake Field Goal

[Moonie]

Rewind; 2018 game against DEN. Steelers behind 10-3 just before half time on the 2 yd line. Bos fakes the FG and throws a TD to AV to tie the game.

Looks like a very similar play to yesterday, except with the Villanueva reporting in as tackle eligible. Announcer (Romo?): "What a play call."

[Northern_Blitz]

I guess close to the GL might be on my list above too? Still a bad bet IMO, but here's the reasoning I guess?

If you are throwing it into the end zone, then the only thing you need to get more than the FG is that pass to be completed. So the expected result on that play is higher (i.e. don't have to convert the 4th, then drive another 20 yards to get a TD.

And in this case, you're still backing them up for your D if you throw an incompletion.

And you probably instruct the kicker to have 1 read. If he's not wide open (like the Denver clip above) throw it away. Then you're not holding it forever and take a big hit (like what happened yesterday). And you don't have a kicker trying to thread a pass into good coverage where the chance of a pick 6 is probably pretty high.

[hawaiiansteel]

honestly, the only time to do it is when it works.

any other time is the wrong time because you should “take the points”

this ^^^^^^^

we have a winner!

[NJ-STEELER]

You know we had a penalty, right?

Going back, it reads like you're original post was saying that the game could have been over "run the clock out".

From this post, it seems like maybe you meant run the play clock out and don't break the huddle?

That makes more sense.

And its in keeping with your obsession of blaming Tomlin for things that don't matter.

Like the onside kick thing, where we would have needed 2 onside kicks and two scoring drives without much time and obvious onside kicks probably have lower success rates than fake FGs.

1) they had a penalty because they tried running a play before the play clock hit zero.

2) romo said they snapped the ball at 6 seconds (above) when they could have let it run to 4 seconds and let the play clock expire

3) the last play therefore would have had 4 secs left on the game clock instead of 6.

4) there was a better chance the browns would get the ball back for 1 play due to having 6 sec left as opposed to 4 seconds

5) why give them that chance when you can easily control that with better planning/coaching ?

PS. you keep saying these things don't matter while week after week we see they do with teams left for dead winning .

[NJ-STEELER]

Like the onside kick thing, where we would have needed 2 onside kicks and two scoring drives without much time and obvious onside kicks probably have lower success rates than fake FGs.

what game are you referring to here?

tomlin has so many gaffs its tough to keep track

[NJ-STEELER]

No, it is like hitting on 19 against a 5. Even if you hit a 2 it was a stupid call that just happened to work out. That was a bad time to call that play.

great way to put it

[NJ-STEELER]

it was a bad call, Tomlin admitted so himself.

however, I still believe had it worked we would have been reading about how it was gutsy.

sadly he blamed the execuation.

meaning he thought the situation was correct.

what's the definition of insanity again?

[Northern_Blitz]

1) they had a penalty because they tried running a play before the play clock hit zero.

2) romo said they snapped the ball at 6 seconds (above) when they could have let it run to 4 seconds and let the play clock expire

3) the last play therefore would have had 4 secs left on the game clock instead of 6.

4) there was a better chance the browns would get the ball back for 1 play due to having 6 sec left as opposed to 4 seconds

5) why give them that chance when you can easily control that with better planning/coaching ?

PS. you keep saying these things don't matter while week after week we see they do with teams left for dead winning .

What do you think are the chances of not running a play that lasts 6 seconds if you want to run clock? It did work in this case. Probably at least 1 s extra time elapsed IMO from the video here.

If that play does fail and you have 1 or 2 second left, what do you think the chances of the opposing team running a single play 75 yard drive when the opposition knows a hail Marry is coming?

And why do you think the coach has the primary responsibility for when the team breaks the huddle? Sounds like Romo wouldn't have brought his team to the line. If this play is the catastrophic fail you seem to think it is (it's not), why is it on Tomlin and not Ben (who is the person that breaks the huddle, right)?

[NorthCoast]

Looks like a very similar play to yesterday, except with the Villanueva reporting in as tackle eligible. Announcer (Romo?): "What a play call."

He also said before the play; "I think you gotta take the points. You've already had two drives end terribly, can't have a third drive end in nothing..."

[NJ-STEELER]

What do you think are the chances of not running a play that lasts 6 seconds if you want to run clock? It did work in this case. Probably at least 1 s extra time elapsed IMO from the video here.

If that play does fail and you have 1 or 2 second left, what do you think the chances of the opposing team running a single play 75 yard drive when the opposition knows a hail Marry is coming?

And why do you think the coach has the primary responsibility for when the team breaks the huddle? Sounds like Romo wouldn't have brought his team to the line. If this play is the catastrophic fail you seem to think it is (it's not), why is it on Tomlin and not Ben (who is the person that breaks the huddle, right)?

the player has more on his plate to see the difference in actual play clock and game clock. that's what coaches are on the sideline are for.

yes, i agree, we win almost all the time in that situation. but why give them a chance?
the little chances are why you see these crazy comebacks all the time in the league.

something we could avoided all together with better coaching/planning

ex. why should ben run back after handing the ball off to jerome? he's a great goal line back that usually scores on his first try and almost never fumbles. this game is over when he gets it in his hands, right?
plus what are the actually chances ben is even able to make a tackle on a smaller faster DB?

I have seen too many crazy things with this team over the years. I rather not let any % of a chance left to a team we're playin, when we can control and eliminate whatever small chance they have

[Northern_Blitz]

the player has more on his plate to see the difference in actual play clock and game clock. that's what coaches are on the sideline are for.

yes, i agree, we win almost all the time in that situation. but why give them a chance?
the little chances are why you see these crazy comebacks all the time in the league.

something we could avoided all together with better coaching/planning

ex. why should ben run back after handing the ball off to jerome? he's a great goal line back that usually scores on his first try and almost never fumbles. this game is over when he gets it in his hands, right?
plus what are the actually chances ben is even able to make a tackle on a smaller faster DB?

I have seen too many crazy things with this team over the years. I rather not let any % of a chance left to a team we're playin, when we can control and eliminate whatever small chance they have

You are saying that the player shouldn't have to think about anything on that play. Just stay in the huddle and take the delay.

But also that it's so super complex that there's no way a HoF QB with 15 years of experience (who has seen all the crazy **** you're talking about) doesn't have the ability to come to the same conclusion that Rome (a QB with far less experience and success in the NFL) came to in the booth in real time.

I don't think this argument makes sense.

If you want to talk about how stupid the fake FG was, I'll agree with you 100%. Because that was a stupid decision. And it's a decision that had a real impact on the game.

You'll also notice that just about everyone says it's a bad decision. Which also hurts the narrative that people defend Tomlin for everything (I think you were pushing that one with Lemming last week?).

[hawaiiansteel]

Boz has a good sense of humor about it:

[Moonie]

He also said before the play; "I think you gotta take the points. You've already had two drives end terribly, can't have a third drive end in nothing..."

He changed his tune rapidly.

Anyway, should this VERY similar play in 2018 be characterized with all the same adjectives as yesterday's play? The only meaningful difference is one was successful and other wasn't.

[NJ-STEELER]

You are saying that the player shouldn't have to think about anything on that play. Just stay in the huddle and take the delay.

But also that it's so super complex that there's no way a HoF QB with 15 years of experience (who has seen all the crazy **** you're talking about) doesn't have the ability to come to the same conclusion that Rome (a QB with far less experience and success in the NFL) came to in the booth in real time.

I don't think this argument makes sense.

If you want to talk about how stupid the fake FG was, I'll agree with you 100%. Because that was a stupid decision.

its not near the level of stupidity the fake FG was. just pointing out it was another wrong decision..

after the 2nd to last play, the QB huddles up with the rest of the team in case there needs to be another play run. at this time the coach(s) should be assessing if they need to run a play or not and foward that information to the QB/players on the field

pretty simple if you ask me but you trying to blame ben for this is par for the course on this board

[NorthCoast]

its not near the level of stupidity the fake FG was. just pointing out it was another wrong decision..

after the 2nd to last play, the QB huddles up with the rest of the team in case there needs to be another play run. at this time the coach(s) should be assessing if they need to run a play or not and foward that information to the QB/players on the field

pretty simple if you ask me but you trying to blame ben for this is par for the course on this board

While you continue to search for things the HC did wrong let me point out a few things that he did right in coaching the team. After all, they DID win the game:

• Put together a defensive gameplan that held the #1 rushing team in the NFL to 60+ yds under their per gm avg
• Held a top 10 RB to -1 yd for the entire 2nd quarter
• Won the game TOP despite the Browns being #1 in TOP per game this season
• Held CLE to 3 of 10 on 3rd down conversions; and zero 4th down conversions
• Fielded a rookie studded OL that allowed just 2 sacks against the #3 sack defense
• Fielded an offense that rushed for 30 more yds than the #3 rush defense allowed per game

And oh, yea, did a mention they won the game?