Why didn't the Chargers go for it on 4th down (1 Viewer)

[Addai's Adidas]

Was watching the game and could not believe the Chargers did not go for it. They were down two scores. The pats drove the ball on their last two drives. You are on the 32. Is 47 yards to far to even try a field goal? Chargers did not even touch the ball again.

Where is the killer instinct? That was a blown call. I just don't get it. This is not the regular season. You play against good teams in the playoffs. This is the Patriots we are talking about. YOU HAVE TO GO FOR IT THERE!

 

[porkins]

Was watching the game and could not believe the Chargers did not go for it. They were down two scores. The pats drove the ball on their last two drives. You are on the 32. Is 47 yards to far to even try a field goal? Chargers did not even touch the ball again.Where is the killer instinct? That was a blown call. I just don't get it. This is not the regular season. You play against good teams in the playoffs. This is the Patriots we are talking about. YOU HAVE TO GO FOR IT THERE!

Agree.

 

[Duke1948]

guess they thought the D maybe could get a TO, but i agree they should have gone for it.

 

[BelichicksRevenge]

I thought they should have gone for that as well. The announcers didn't even question it.

 

[fred_1_15301]

Was watching the game and could not believe the Chargers did not go for it. They were down two scores. The pats drove the ball on their last two drives. You are on the 32. Is 47 yards to far to even try a field goal? Chargers did not even touch the ball again.Where is the killer instinct? That was a blown call. I just don't get it. This is not the regular season. You play against good teams in the playoffs. This is the Patriots we are talking about. YOU HAVE TO GO FOR IT THERE!

That last drive was a complete joke. They completely abandoned the run for no reason. 8 minutes left and down by 9, you have to concentrate on at least one score there. They were moving the ball well on the Pats with a mix of run and pass.

 

[TD Ryan]

agree that they should have gone for it but a FG wasn't really an option there either with the weather and somewhat shaky play of Kaeding.

The whole "up by 2 scores with time running out" is how NE wins every tight game... the clock is almost ALWAYS playing for NE and if you don't convert with only 9min. left, you don't get the ball back until September.

 

[fred_1_15301]

agree that they should have gone for it but a FG wasn't really an option there either with the weather and somewhat shaky play of Kaeding.The whole "up by 2 scores with time running out" is how NE wins every tight game... the clock is almost ALWAYS playing for NE and if you don't convert with only 9min. left, you don't get the ball back until September.

......They needed a fg at some point and Kaeding hadn't missed a kick all game. I think a fg with about 6 mins left would have put the Chargers in a good position. They would have been down by one score with enough time left on the clock. They had shown that theyhad the ability to stop the Pats.

 

[bostonfred]

agree that they should have gone for it but a FG wasn't really an option there either with the weather and somewhat shaky play of Kaeding.The whole "up by 2 scores with time running out" is how NE wins every tight game... the clock is almost ALWAYS playing for NE and if you don't convert with only 9min. left, you don't get the ball back until September.

Even when the clock isn't working in New England's favor, they have one of the best comeback quarterbacks in the history of the game, armed with better receivers than he ever had when he developed his clutch reputation. If you think about it, a team would have to be up by two scores in the fourth quarter to really have them down, and even then, the Pats have come back from that this season en route to 18-0. It's pretty incredible to think about.

 

[fred_1_15301]

agree that they should have gone for it but a FG wasn't really an option there either with the weather and somewhat shaky play of Kaeding.The whole "up by 2 scores with time running out" is how NE wins every tight game... the clock is almost ALWAYS playing for NE and if you don't convert with only 9min. left, you don't get the ball back until September.

Even when the clock isn't working in New England's favor, they have one of the best comeback quarterbacks in the history of the game, armed with better receivers than he ever had when he developed his clutch reputation. If you think about it, a team would have to be up by two scores in the fourth quarter to really have them down, and even then, the Pats have come back from that this season en route to 18-0. It's pretty incredible to think about.

Doesn't matter. New england is clearly superior to every other team. The only thing that their opponent can ask for is to be within one score with about 5 or 6 mins left and pray for a mistake by the Pats. I know it's a long shot but it's the only chance you have of beating the Pats. In this game, Brady had made several mistakes. If there was ever an opportunity to capitalize on a mistake, this would be the game. Down by 2 scores with 5 or 6 minutes, forget about it. The Pats are simply too good to make enough mistakes to blow a 2 score lead with 6 mins left. When they decided to punt, they conceeded the game.

 

[Keepers]

I thought they were on the 36 yard line? ... a 53 yard field into the wind on a cold day was not an option. Agree they should have gone for the 1st down though.

 

[JAA]

Worst O call of the game was passing on 2nd and 7 at ~Chargers 20. How can you pass on 2nd and 7 with 9 min to go in your own redzone? Pass goes incomplete and its 3rd and 7.

 

[fred_1_15301]

I thought they were on the 36 yard line? ... a 53 yard field into the wind on a cold day was not an option. Agree they should have gone for the 1st down though.

Yeah they can't kick the fg from that spot but they have to go for it. 4th and 9 is not unsurmountable against the Pats defense and worst case scenario the pats get the ball back at their own 36. Trying to overcome a 2 score deficit against the Pats with 8 mins left is unsurmountable. Somewhere out there, Marty is smiling.

 

[Liquid Tension]

Was watching the game and could not believe the Chargers did not go for it. They were down two scores. The pats drove the ball on their last two drives. You are on the 32. Is 47 yards to far to even try a field goal? Chargers did not even touch the ball again.Where is the killer instinct? That was a blown call. I just don't get it. This is not the regular season. You play against good teams in the playoffs. This is the Patriots we are talking about. YOU HAVE TO GO FOR IT THERE!

They should have and this has nothing to do with hindsight. if they were down by 8 kicking was fine, but two scores they need to go for it.

 

[J R]

This is totally armed-by-hindsight armchair criticism.

 

[TD Ryan]

......They needed a fg at some point and Kaeding hadn't missed a kick all game.

Kaeding had 3 20 yarders and one 40 yarder. Yes, he made them but even those 20 yard chip shots weren't going straight thru the uprights.I don't think making a 50+ yarder was an option... I don't think making a 45 yarder is a high percentage with that wind and cold.so, I stand by my original thinking. They needed a 1st down there and should have gone for it. A FG wasn't a reasonable option.

I thought they were on the 36 yard line? ... a 53 yard field into the wind on a cold day was not an option. Agree they should have gone for the 1st down though.

 

[BelichicksRevenge]

This is totally armed-by-hindsight armchair criticism.

I thought they should have gone for it at the time they were punting. As a Pats fan, I was happy they were punting.

 

[tombonneau]

The first thing I thought when Norv sent out the punt team there was a story the Sports Guy likes to tell about Norv turner:

His buddy was in Vegas at a blackjack table with Norv Turner and Norv was *constantly* standing on 16. Don't know if you know anything about blackjack, but a basic rule is you always hit on 16 when the dealer shows 7+.

The SG goes on to say how this mentality really typifies Norv as a coach and his whole risk-averse philosophy.

And punting at that spot in the AFCCG was the football equivalent of standing on 16.

 

[FavreCo]

I think they should have gone for it every time it was 4th down inside the 10. How could they think FG's would win against the Pats?

 

[Liquid Tension]

This is totally armed-by-hindsight armchair criticism.

Not in the least. You are down by two scores and you don't gain that much by punting. You need to score that drive, hold them and score again. Even if you don't get the first, you still will need to hold them so going for it was the no doubt call. I was watching the game with 10 other people and every one of us were surprised they punted. The nicest thing one person said was, "wow, that was very conservative and this coming from someone who is not a risk taker...I would have gone for it"No hindsight at all, just a poor % decision.

 

[Liquid Tension]

The first thing I thought when Norv sent out the punt team there was a story the Sports Guy likes to tell about Norv turner:His buddy was in Vegas at a blackjack table with Norv Turner and Norv was *constantly* standing on 16. Don't know if you know anything about blackjack, but a basic rule is you always hit on 16 when the dealer shows 7+.The SG goes on to say how this mentality really typifies Norv as a coach and his whole risk-averse philosophy. And punting at that spot in the AFCCG was the football equivalent of standing on 16.

Good analogy

 

[J R]

This is totally armed-by-hindsight armchair criticism.

Not in the least. You are down by two scores and you don't gain that much by punting. You need to score that drive, hold them and score again. Even if you don't get the first, you still will need to hold them so going for it was the no doubt call. I was watching the game with 10 other people and every one of us were surprised they punted. The nicest thing one person said was, "wow, that was very conservative and this coming from someone who is not a risk taker...I would have gone for it"No hindsight at all, just a poor % decision.

Well, if you took a poll of 10 guys, then I stand corrected. Who are you, Peter Keating?I don't think 4th and 10 versus the Patriots is a high % play. It seems to me that a stop after the punt could have given them the ball back in good field position. How would the odds of getting a stop there compare to the odds of getting a 1st on 4th and 10? I'd be more persuaded by the answer to that question than I would a sports guy analogy. But I also don't really get into criticizing playcalling much, so I recognize I'm in the minority already of the people who would click on this thread in the first place.

 

[David Yudkin]

I think the thing to do was to try to get a few yards on 3rd down, forgeting about getting a first down, and try for a field goal instead. I forget exactly what they tried on third down, but a draw/sweep/screen/dumpoff for even 5 yards would probably have put them in field goal range. At that point, field position was less important then scoring, as no matter where NE got the ball at that point it really didn't make much difference.

 

[biggyd]

3rd and 10 at NE 36 (9:26) (Shotgun) P.Rivers pass incomplete short middle to C.Chambers [R.Harrison]

I thought they should have run on third down to set up a shorter distance for 4th down.

 

[Liquid Tension]

This is totally armed-by-hindsight armchair criticism.

Not in the least. You are down by two scores and you don't gain that much by punting. You need to score that drive, hold them and score again. Even if you don't get the first, you still will need to hold them so going for it was the no doubt call. I was watching the game with 10 other people and every one of us were surprised they punted. The nicest thing one person said was, "wow, that was very conservative and this coming from someone who is not a risk taker...I would have gone for it"No hindsight at all, just a poor % decision.

Well, if you took a poll of 10 guys, then I stand corrected. Who are you, Peter Keating?I don't think 4th and 10 versus the Patriots is a high % play. It seems to me that a stop after the punt could have given them the ball back in good field position. How would the odds of getting a stop there compare to the odds of getting a 1st on 4th and 10? I'd be more persuaded by the answer to that question than I would a sports guy analogy. But I also don't really get into criticizing playcalling much, so I recognize I'm in the minority already of the people who would click on this thread in the first place.

The % play is to go for it and even if you don;t make it you will need a stop. Either way, your chance of winning are slim when needing two scores and not having the ball. At that point in the game the % play is to go for the 1st down. if you get it, then you are in FG range and you only need one stop to either get a TD or FG. Punting it made it so that if they were going to win, they would have had to do something risky that was less likely than converting a 4th and 10.

 

[Liquid Tension]

This is totally armed-by-hindsight armchair criticism.

Not in the least. You are down by two scores and you don't gain that much by punting. You need to score that drive, hold them and score again. Even if you don't get the first, you still will need to hold them so going for it was the no doubt call. I was watching the game with 10 other people and every one of us were surprised they punted. The nicest thing one person said was, "wow, that was very conservative and this coming from someone who is not a risk taker...I would have gone for it"No hindsight at all, just a poor % decision.

Well, if you took a poll of 10 guys, then I stand corrected. Who are you, Peter Keating?I don't think 4th and 10 versus the Patriots is a high % play. It seems to me that a stop after the punt could have given them the ball back in good field position. How would the odds of getting a stop there compare to the odds of getting a 1st on 4th and 10? I'd be more persuaded by the answer to that question than I would a sports guy analogy. But I also don't really get into criticizing playcalling much, so I recognize I'm in the minority already of the people who would click on this thread in the first place.

I get a crew at my house for the games

 

[Liquid Tension]

I think the thing to do was to try to get a few yards on 3rd down, forgeting about getting a first down, and try for a field goal instead. I forget exactly what they tried on third down, but a draw/sweep/screen/dumpoff for even 5 yards would probably have put them in field goal range. At that point, field position was less important then scoring, as no matter where NE got the ball at that point it really didn't make much difference.

My thinking would always be, I am in 4 down territory now so how do I want to approach this? Teams don't do that nearly enough IMO

 

[Ksquared]

JR

This is not "monday morning QBing" (is that a word?), but common sense if you watched the flow of the game. Your going against a NFL top 5 all time offense (if not the best offense ever) at their home. They have the wind. They just finished driving for two long drives against your defense. You need two scores. You are at the 36, go for the 1st down (not the FG - too far). I believe they were down to 2 time outs. They gained 19 yds on the punt, the best SD could come up with is 35 yds if the ball was downed on the 1. You are not giving up much field position in the first place, and secondly you have not stopped their offense in the second half. What happened is what I predicted to the others watching the game at the time - either NE will score, or run the clock out. SD never saw the ball again.

I guess the frustration is you can not play it safe or conservatively at that point if you want to beat an undefeated team in their home stadium.

Just my 0.02

 

[Black Box]

I think they should have gone for it every time it was 4th down inside the 10. How could they think FG's would win against the Pats?

I was upset with them for kicking the 1st field goal. You're playing the Pats. You need TDs. Did the Chargers coaching staff even watch any game tape?The punt alluded to in the OP ought to have been a Saturday-night coaching decision. Decide the night before to not punt in stupid situations and go for the win. It's really that simple.

 

[Ghost Rider]

3rd and 10 at NE 36 (9:26) (Shotgun) P.Rivers pass incomplete short middle to C.Chambers [R.Harrison]I thought they should have run on third down to set up a shorter distance for 4th down.

I thought not doing so was a huge mistake. They needed points on that drive, and trying to make a potential 4th down a little easier should have been the goal on 3rd down, I thought.

 

[Black]

In general, when you start kicking FGs vs. NE, you are calling it quits (or really, really demented about having your DEF stop Brady and Co.).

1 FG? Maybe. 2 FG...pushing it. 4 FG?...Mailing it in. You aren't playing the Ravens.

 

[J R]

This is totally armed-by-hindsight armchair criticism.

Not in the least. You are down by two scores and you don't gain that much by punting. You need to score that drive, hold them and score again. Even if you don't get the first, you still will need to hold them so going for it was the no doubt call. I was watching the game with 10 other people and every one of us were surprised they punted. The nicest thing one person said was, "wow, that was very conservative and this coming from someone who is not a risk taker...I would have gone for it"No hindsight at all, just a poor % decision.

Well, if you took a poll of 10 guys, then I stand corrected. Who are you, Peter Keating?I don't think 4th and 10 versus the Patriots is a high % play. It seems to me that a stop after the punt could have given them the ball back in good field position. How would the odds of getting a stop there compare to the odds of getting a 1st on 4th and 10? I'd be more persuaded by the answer to that question than I would a sports guy analogy. But I also don't really get into criticizing playcalling much, so I recognize I'm in the minority already of the people who would click on this thread in the first place.

The % play is to go for it and even if you don;t make it you will need a stop. Either way, your chance of winning are slim when needing two scores and not having the ball. At that point in the game the % play is to go for the 1st down. if you get it, then you are in FG range and you only need one stop to either get a TD or FG. Punting it made it so that if they were going to win, they would have had to do something risky that was less likely than converting a 4th and 10.

You calling it a % play isn't the same thing as it being so. That's not an explanation, just a repetition of your previous assertion.To that point San Diego was 1-8 on all 3rd downs with more than 3 yards to go. That data suggests to me at least that the odds of San Diego making a 4th-10 are pretty poor, enough so that this is a perfectly debatable call that is hardly the slam dunk it's being made out to be here.

 

[Liquid Tension]

This is totally armed-by-hindsight armchair criticism.

Not in the least. You are down by two scores and you don't gain that much by punting. You need to score that drive, hold them and score again. Even if you don't get the first, you still will need to hold them so going for it was the no doubt call. I was watching the game with 10 other people and every one of us were surprised they punted. The nicest thing one person said was, "wow, that was very conservative and this coming from someone who is not a risk taker...I would have gone for it"No hindsight at all, just a poor % decision.

Well, if you took a poll of 10 guys, then I stand corrected. Who are you, Peter Keating?I don't think 4th and 10 versus the Patriots is a high % play. It seems to me that a stop after the punt could have given them the ball back in good field position. How would the odds of getting a stop there compare to the odds of getting a 1st on 4th and 10? I'd be more persuaded by the answer to that question than I would a sports guy analogy. But I also don't really get into criticizing playcalling much, so I recognize I'm in the minority already of the people who would click on this thread in the first place.

The % play is to go for it and even if you don;t make it you will need a stop. Either way, your chance of winning are slim when needing two scores and not having the ball. At that point in the game the % play is to go for the 1st down. if you get it, then you are in FG range and you only need one stop to either get a TD or FG. Punting it made it so that if they were going to win, they would have had to do something risky that was less likely than converting a 4th and 10.

You calling it a % play isn't the same thing as it being so. That's not an explanation, just a repetition of your previous assertion.To that point San Diego was 1-8 on all 3rd downs with more than 3 yards to go. That data suggests to me at least that the odds of San Diego making a 4th-10 are pretty poor, enough so that this is a perfectly debatable call that is hardly the slam dunk it's being made out to be here.

I didn't go into the other issues because I thought they were pretty much common sense? Punting gains you a maximum of 35 yards but most likely around 25 yards (it turned out to be 19 - but that is hindsight). When you are playing NE you need to take some chances especially when you are down as they were. Punting made it so that they would have needed to recover an onside kick and that is only if they stopped and scored...a big if. Why in the world would you want to give another opportunity to perhaps the greatest offense of all time? As for the %'s, I will not waste my time showing all the permutations, but think about what would need to happen to win that game if you punt?I really can't see any argument for punting the ball there, unless you are conceding the game

 

[cstu]

Was watching the game and could not believe the Chargers did not go for it. They were down two scores. The pats drove the ball on their last two drives. You are on the 32. Is 47 yards to far to even try a field goal? Chargers did not even touch the ball again.Where is the killer instinct? That was a blown call. I just don't get it. This is not the regular season. You play against good teams in the playoffs. This is the Patriots we are talking about. YOU HAVE TO GO FOR IT THERE!

Agreed, that pissed me off.

 

[cstu]

3rd and 10 at NE 36 (9:26) (Shotgun) P.Rivers pass incomplete short middle to C.Chambers [R.Harrison]I thought they should have run on third down to set up a shorter distance for 4th down.

There are a lot of things they could have done if they were willing to take chances. The last thing the Pats would have expected was a run.