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Friday, Nov 21, 2008
NFL coaches in orgy of supposed risk taking! Plus: Drink to the "SNF" crew.
Nov 14, 2005 | I think we may have ourselves a genuine trend here. Jon Gruden of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday became the second coach in as many weeks to play for the win instead of the tie at the end of regulation.
Down 35-34 to Washington with 58 seconds left after scoring a touchdown, the Bucs tried an extra point, which was blocked. But Washington was offside. The penalty moved the ball to the 1. Gruden sent in the offense, and bruising running back Mike Alstott slammed in for the two-point conversion. The Bucs won, 36-35.
It's a journalism convention that when three people do something, it's a trend, so we're almost there, kids. With the go-for-it crowd 2-for-2, I like our chances.
"It's the newest, coolest, most exciting play in football: going for two points to win instead of settling for a point-after kick to tie and take the game to overtime," gushed Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post, even though Gruden was the first to do it. "After years and years of playing it safe, men from the most conservative fraternity in sports, pro football coaches, are now suddenly saying, 'What the heck?'"
Ahem. Working my side of the street, there, Mike. Cease and desist on the What the Heck™, if you don't mind.
Anyway, first Dick Vermeil of the Kansas City Chiefs goes for and gets the winning touchdown instead of the tying field goal on the last play of regulation against the Oakland Raiders in Week 9, and now this. Forgive Wilbon for getting confused. They both went for it is the main thing. You watch: The next coach faced with this situation will go for it too.
Know why? Because something's changed, but not everything. NFL head coaches are still conservative. They still play not so much to win or lose but to avoid criticism.
Vermeil and, to a lesser extent because there was Vermeil's precedent, Gruden went against that impulse by calling the play that would have set them up for the most criticism had it not worked, rather than the one that would have resulted in overtime, a lesser chance at winning, and the dodge of avoiding blame because hey, overtime's a crapshoot.
An aside: The replays made it look like Mike Alstott was actually stopped short, his elbow on the ground shy of the line, and the ball in the crook of that elbow. But after a review the officials let the play stand, I think correctly, because it wasn't conclusive. Alstott might have broken the plane with the ball before his elbow hit the ground. I don't think he made it, but I can't say for sure.
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