Which is the correct NFL winning strategy? (1 Viewer)

[Statcruncher]

Near the end of the Vikings/Jets game Minny had no timeouts, down by 2, and about 1:30 left. Favre throws a pick and the Jet player runs it back 26 yards for a TD.

Up by 2 you have 1st & 10 on the Vikings' 26 and they have no timeouts with 1:30 left.

Up by 9 and you have to kickoff to the Vikings with no timeouts and 1:30 left.*

* Keep in mind on their previous possession the Vikes received a kickoff at their 2 yard line and after the return it only took them 5 plays and 1:21 to score a TD.

 

[Jerry Lawler]

You can just take a knee and win the game. No TD needed.

However, I can't fault a defensive player for not planning his INT return before the play starts. He needs to be thinking about his coverage, reading the QB, etc.

 

[Gatorman]

You can just take a knee and win the game. No TD needed. However, I can't fault a defensive player for not planning his INT return before the play starts. He needs to be thinking about his coverage, reading the QB, etc.

The player should have dropped to the ground or run out of bounds, but the truth is game theorists these guys are not. Only one player ever showed off that he understood the game from a "madden perspective" and that was stokely,.

 

[GregR_2]

You can just take a knee and win the game. No TD needed. However, I can't fault a defensive player for not planning his INT return before the play starts. He needs to be thinking about his coverage, reading the QB, etc.

I can... fault the defensive player that is. And the coaching staff. They should be going over this stuff during the week and doing situational awareness in practice.Then on top of that, they have radio communications with a player on the defense. Call your defensive play over the radio and have him remind the defense if they get possession to just go down and the game will be over.

 

[videoguy505]

The player should have dropped to the ground or run out of bounds, but the truth is game theorists these guys are not. Only one player ever showed off that he understood the game from a "madden perspective" and that was stokely,.

Westbrook too, took the knee on an easy TD.

 

[GregR_2]

The player should have dropped to the ground or run out of bounds, but the truth is game theorists these guys are not. Only one player ever showed off that he understood the game from a "madden perspective" and that was stokely,.

Westbrook too, took the knee on an easy TD.

And there are plenty of examples of players who go to the ground after getting a turnover late in the game. Sometimes even when the clock can't fully be run out, but even then it's probably a better idea to go to ground and let a RB who is used to carrying the ball try to run the clock out than it is return it and get stripped.

 

[dhockster]

The player should have dropped to the ground or run out of bounds, but the truth is game theorists these guys are not. Only one player ever showed off that he understood the game from a "madden perspective" and that was stokely,.

Westbrook too, took the knee on an easy TD.

Boy, were fantasy owners pissed about that one.With Stokely, didn't he just run clock by running parellel to the end zone before finally scoring? If I recall his team was behind and he had toscore to take the lead. With Westbrook he gave up the TD because his team could just run out the clock with the lead.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

You can just take a knee and win the game. No TD needed. However, I can't fault a defensive player for not planning his INT return before the play starts. He needs to be thinking about his coverage, reading the QB, etc.

I can... fault the defensive player that is. And the coaching staff. They should be going over this stuff during the week and doing situational awareness in practice.Then on top of that, they have radio communications with a player on the defense. Call your defensive play over the radio and have him remind the defense if they get possession to just go down and the game will be over.

Agreed. With 1:30 left and no timeouts it's easy to throw in a quick reminder to just drop to the ground if you get the ball on defense. We did this in our flag football league for christ's sake, it's ridiculous to me that NFL coaches getting paid millions of dollars can't remember the same.It seems to me that most NFL coaches are NFL coaches because of things outside of game management. They are good at running practices, developing talent, preparing a gameplan, finding the right players, etc. Their time is focused on so many other things during the week and during the games that I would actually say the majority of NFL coaches are worse at game management than the average poster here, and far worse at that. There are just so many things we see every week that are so mind numbingly stupid that you wouldn't expect a 3rd grader to make that mistake.That's why I've always said, and still believe, that teams should have a guy to handle game management. That should be his only responsibility. Coaches are too distracted figuring out what to do on 3rd and 8 that when the result of that 3rd and 8 play comes up as 4th and inches, or when they score a long TD they weren't expecting, or when something like that happens it catches them offguard and they don't know what to do and just react, often stupidly. There should be a guy who, on 3rd and 8, isn't distracted by play calling, personnel, etc, but rather is sitting their with the sole focus of determining what they should do if various scenarios play out.EDIT: The Vikings game is another good example. Whether you believe they should have gone for 2 early in the 4th or not, the fact that they decided to kick an XP and then called a timeout and changed their mind to go for 2 just shows how unprepared they were. The Vikings coaching staff was too caught up in trying to make sure they actually scored a touchdown to think about what they would do if they actually scored it. They needed another guy who wasn't distracted by all that other stuff to determine ahead of time whether they would kick the XP or go for 2 if they did end up scoring.