Bill Simmons often jokes that NFL teams should hire a VP of common sense who's played hundreds of games of Madden and knows how to handle the clock, scoring options, and other late-game situations. It's incredibly true. After playing those games so many times and being put in those pressure situations on a regular basis, making the correct decision is just second nature.

Normally, I don't have to worry about this with Billy Belichick running the show, but last night was atrocious.

Patriots were trailing 10-3 with three-minutes-ish left in the game. San Diego was punting. I'm thinking to myself that if the Pats can put together a good drive and put up any kind of points, they'll get the ball back in the 2nd half with a chance to take the lead.

San Diego's punter nailed the punt and buried the Pats deep in their own territory. Well, that was a major game-changer. Now it's not so much about the Patriots scoring, but about making sure San Diego doesn't score. If the Patriots go three and out, they're going to have to punt, giving San Diego great field position with plenty of time left on the clock. The Patriots ABSOLUTELY had to get a 1st down.

What do they do? They go into super-conservative mode just trying not to fumble or throw a pick, do two lame runs and a short pass play, and end up punting. San Diego gets great field position and scores a TD to go up 17-3. I understand that you don't want to turn the ball over right by the goal line, but you can't get so conservative that you hand the ball right back and give them a great scoring opportunity anyway. At least with the INT, the Chargers would have to actually make a play to get the ball back. By going conservative, the Pats just handed them to it.

What boggled my mind even more was that after San Diego scored with a minute left, the Patriots nearly did the same thing again. Had San Diego not burned one of their time-outs, they would've been able to stop the clock one last time and the Patriots would have ended up punting to them again. It was totally possible that the Chargers would have been able to kick a field goal off that.



So down 17-3, the Patriots still have a shot if they can score early in the 2nd half. They end up getting 1st and goal on the 1 yard line and then screw it up by running 3 passing plays in 4 downs. Horrendous. Absolutely horrendous. You know we have a shaky QB, so why are you passing instead of just trying to gain 1 yard on four runs?

It blew my mind. After that gaffe, the ceiling fell through and the game was over. Horrible game management did us in. It could have easily been 10-10 early in the 3rd quarter, but we dug ourselves a two touchdown hole and just fell apart after that.

I was so pissed last night. Belichick needs to brush up on his Madden a little.

Well our coach kicked a PAT when we were down 10-8 in a defensive battle as the 4th quarter was approaching...he's a freakin clown. The Vikes needed a phantom fumble call and a phantom pass interference call to beat Detroit with a fill-in no name QB at home by 2. And we are tied for the division lead... Ridiculous.

BonK wrote:

God I HATE Childress. I have never liked him. I wish we would have kept Tomlin. God Childress is the WORST. I'd trade him for Billy B. any day.

Anyways, at least it was funny at the Dome when fans where chanting to fire Childress lol.

Bill Belichick is still the best coach in football hands down. I just felt he made some bad calls last night. Then again it could have been Josh McDaniels the offensive coordinator since they were all bad offensive plays.

The 49ers made some stupid calls on Sunday. They had a 2 point lead with about 11 minutes left in the 4th and they are running reverses that aren't going to work with random 4th string WR instead of running their offense through Gore. I didn't get to watch it but I listen to every game and I was frustrated as all get out to listen to them blow a game that they very well could have won but with a mix of choking by their "starting QB" (very loose use of term) and crappy offensive play calling they go three and out every single damn series in the 4th quarter.


I say it's pretty bad when I know my team is up by 9 at home with all the momentum and I still think we probably are going to end up losing the game. It just shows how much faith I have in my team.


They should probably trade the three good players they have (Frank Gore, Patrick Willis, Delante Walker who I say is one of the best because he tries harder than most everyone else on the team) to teams that might actually make the playoffs in the next decade while they are still in their prime.

I hear ya Ryan. It kills me that the Niners have been so bad for so long. They were my first favorite NFL team since I was like 3 years old. I've cheered for them ever since... sigh.

College Wolf wrote:
The Niners were the first team I really hated in pro sports. I've come around on them mainly because Joe Montana trumps Favre in pretty much any "greatest QB of all time" talks.

pants wrote:

Indeed.

P.S. Check your email. My bad.

I thought the Vikes are going to hand the Lions their first win lol. Luckily for them, despite the atrocious play they're still in it. Mainly thanks to their defense, since Patterson can't find his step after two nice games to start it off and Frerotte is... well, the Kevin Ollie of NFL. But then again, Tarvaris Jackson wasn't much better.

Trade? ^^