ShareThisHere's the question.
If some other coach had decided to go for it on fourth-and-2 from his own 28 with 2:08 left and a six-point lead, what would you be saying?
Any coach.
At any level of football.
High school, college, NFL, any level.
What would you be saying?
That's the issue here, and Bill Belichick's stature, his legend if you will, only gets in the way.
For this was the wrong decision, even if it had worked.
It was wrong because it was reckless, and when it failed, the New England Patriots were doomed, its failure deciding not only the game, but also probably home-field advantage in the playoffs to boot. It was wrong because it put all the emphasis on the vagaries of one play, and when that play failed the Pats might as well have walked off the field, as dead as yesterday's news.
Maybe most of all, it was the wrong decision because the Patriots didn't need to do it, not up six with the Colts needing to score a touchdown to beat them.
It is one thing to be football gambler, which is what Belichick is, due in part to both his philosophy and his exalted position in the game as a tactical wizard. It is one of the reasons for his success, the sense that he's always pushing the envelope, whether it's with different schemes, or with being unconventional.
He's also done this before this season, going for it on fourth-and-1 on his own 24 in late September against Atlanta leading by six points in the third quarter.
But this wasn't just pushing the envelope in Indy.
This was reckless.
This wasn't the third quarter, where even if it had failed it didn't necessarily mean the game. This was a gamble that cost his team a big game. But that's the thing about gambles, right? They don't always work.
Again, take Belichick out of the argument for a second. Take away the three Super Bowls. Take away the hooded sweatshirt and the evil-genius reputation. Take away all of it and reduce it just to a football decision.
Punt on fourth-and-2 on your own 28 with just 2:08 to play, and Peyton Manning and the Colts have to go 70-something yards in the dying minutes and score a touchdown, because a field goal wasn't going to be enough.
And if they can do that?
Tip your hat and go home.
Instead, Manning and the Colts got the ball on the Pats' 29, over and out.
It simply didn't make any sense.
Even Rodney Harrison, the ex-Patriot and current analyst, said immediately after the game on NBC that it was the dumbest coaching move of Belichick's career, and that was after saying how much he respects Belichick. That had been preceded by Tony Dungy saying that you have to punt the ball in that situation, even though Dungy all but grimaces when he has to publicly criticize a coach.
Rest assured if there was even the slightest doubt about this decision, both Harrison and Dungy would have protected Belichick.
Take Belichick out of the equation and the decision didn't make a lot of sense, one of those decisions that simply make you scratch your head and wonder what he was thinking.
Not that he's going to give a lot of answers.
We've all seen Belichick after a loss. It is when he is at his worst, the one-word answers, the terse remarks, the body language that says I'd rather be anywhere in this world than here talking to you. No one likes to lose. Belichick doesn't seem emotionally capable of dealing with losing, not in public anyway. Sunday night in Indy was just one more example, clinging to cliches as if they were an old friend.
"I thought it was our best chance to win."
No second-guess there, right?
The irony was all he had to so was say that, in retrospect, it was a bad decision, and that if he could do it over again he would have punted and taken his chances. We all would have forgiven him, no question about that, because everyone makes mistakes, even one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. Instead, he was vintage Belichick -- protective, closed down, already emotionally in the bunker, bring on the Jets.
Maybe that's how he has to be, the feeling that when it's over it's over, life moves on.
But what was he thinking?
That's still the question.
And maybe it was because he's defied conventional wisdom before and benefited by it. Maybe it's because he's come to believe his own myth, that if he does that then it has to make sense. Maybe in retrospect, this is one he wished he had back, yet is too Belichickian to publicly admit it.
Whatever the reason, it blew up in his face this time.
A foolish decision, even if it had worked.
(Contact Bill Reynolds at breynold(at)projo.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The Providence Journal
