NFL 3 Up, 3 Down

[Metaphors]

Up
1. Greg Camarillo - All the Fins needed was a quick slot receiver (#83, undrafted and released by the Chargers) running slant patterns. Why couldn't they find a guy like that last year?

2. Brian Westbrook - How many players would have dropped down at the 1 (letting his team run out the clock) instead of scoring a touchdown? Heads up by him and/or great situational coaching.

3. Cleveland - 49 yard FG in that mess? Lewis runs for 163? This team must make the playoffs. Good for Romeo!

Down
1. Joe Gibbs - Up 22-3 early in the 3rd quarter after scoring a TD and goes for 2? Plenty of time left for the Giants to score 2 TD and 2 FG to win. He needs to get back to NASCAR where the playcalling is easier ("turn left").

2. TO & Romo with an 'R' - We understood the clunker in primetime at Buffalo...but not at home against Philly. That ticking sound is TO's anyone-but-self-destruct mechanism. Average high temp in Dallas in January? 54 degrees. Green Bay? 23. Getcha mukluks ready!

3. Pittsburgh - Does "Best Defense in Football" work like "Academy Award Winner"? Meaning once you've achieved it you can continue to use it forever? Someone should tell the Steelers that it is not unreasonable for them to lose the division...and it is still possible for them to miss the playoffs completely!

 

[sieglo]

Up
1. Greg Camarillo - All the Fins needed was a quick slot receiver (#83, undrafted and released by the Chargers) running slant patterns. Why couldn't they find a guy like that last year?

Nice!

 

[psychoPat]

Up
....
2. Brian Westbrook - How many players would have dropped down at the 1 (letting his team run out the clock) instead of scoring a touchdown? Heads up by him and/or great situational coaching.

....

Berman and Jackson were gushing over this also.

It makes NO SENSE to me.
Westbrook had an uncontested td in front of him.
He passed that up.

Why is "running out the clock" better than scoring 7 ?
The very worst that can happen is the trailing team runs the KO back for their own td.
At that point you'd be even ... compared to giving yourself up at the 1.

But every other outcome is better for the team with the lead.
That lead would then be 11 points, not 4 ...
and the opponent needs to drive for a td to get back to where he was
when you surrendered at the 1.
With the clock ticking.

 

[Metaphors]

It makes NO SENSE to me.
Westbrook had an uncontested td in front of him.
He passed that up.

Why is "running out the clock" better than scoring 7 ?
The very worst that can happen is the trailing team runs the KO back for their own td.
At that point you'd be even ... compared to giving yourself up at the 1.

By downing the ball, the Eagles run out the clock and can't possibly lose the game. If he scores, they have to kick to the Cowboys and leave open a slight possibility of a comeback. Granted it is unlikely that Dallas scores 2 TDs in 2 minutes, but stranger things have happened. With an onside kick, they have hope. Ask Buffalo.

 

[Patjew]

Berman and Jackson were gushing over this also.

It makes NO SENSE to me.
Westbrook had an uncontested td in front of him.
He passed that up.

Why is "running out the clock" better than scoring 7 ?
The very worst that can happen is the trailing team runs the KO back for their own td.
At that point you'd be even ... compared to giving yourself up at the 1.

Because if they did score a quick TD on a run back, they would then kick an onside kick. Why even chance it?

 

[Disco Volante]

I'd love to see the Cowboys lose home-field advantage for the playoffs, which looks quite possible right now.

Their final two games are on the road against Carolina then Washington, two teams coming off impressive wins today.

Green Bay finishes up @ Chicago then hosts the dead Lions.

There's a good chance Dallas finishes 1-1, and Green Bay 2-0, thus giving them the #1 seed.

 

[Metaphors]

I'd love to see the Cowboys lose home-field advantage for the playoffs, which looks quite possible right now.

I wanted to see the Cowboys go 17-1 into the Super Bowl, losing to the Pats in a way so devastating that Wade Phillips soils himself on the sideline, Romo has trouble getting a date with Kathy Bates, TO kills Jason Garrett by shoving "TD Towels" down his throat and Jerry Jones starts cutting players at halftime.

 

[PatsDeb]

Yeah, Tony Romo better break up with Jessica Simpson fast. It appears she is bad karma.

 

[PaulThePat]

It makes NO SENSE to me.Westbrook had an uncontested td in front of him.
He passed that up.

I actually posed this question a few weeks ago regarding players intentionally not scoring. This is the first time I've ever seen anybody do it and full credit to Westbrook for having the brains to ice the win by flopping at the 1. As others have said his actions guaranteed victory...scoring would have given the Cowboys the ball back.

Talking of the Eagles...any chance we could trade the 49'rs 1st rounder to Philly for Westbrook and Shepherd

 

[Boston Jay]

It was a heads-up play. Like when opposing defenses just let the other team score if they get down to the 1 yard line to conserve time.

 

[PaulThePat]

Like when opposing defenses just let the other team score if they get down to the 1 yard line to conserve time.

In what circumstances would you do that ? Wouldn't you at least try and get the goal line stand instead of giving up a score ? I'm assuming you would only do this if you were not going to be more than 1 score behind afterwards

 

[Boston Jay]

I think Chicago just let NYG score since they would be down by 5 a few weeks ago and they almost came back.

I'm drunk. Don't mind me.

 

[sieglo]

It was a heads-up play. Like when opposing defenses just let the other team score if they get down to the 1 yard line to conserve time.

It's more like taking an intentional safety.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

^^Must of had Westbrook on a fantasy team^^

heads up play. Boys never touch the ball again.

Which has a greater chance of happening, a botched Eagles snap giving the Cowboys possession and then they score on a 99 yd drive.....or
scoring to get an 11 point lead forcing the cowboys to score on the reurn, get the onside kick and then kick a field goal.....?????
I vote for scoring the TD (sure points) and force them to score twice....

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Which has a greater chance of happening, a botched Eagles snap giving the Cowboys possession and then they score on a 99 yd drive.....or
scoring to get an 11 point lead forcing the cowboys to score on the reurn, get the onside kick and then kick a field goal.....?????
I vote for scoring the TD (sure points) and force them to score twice....

The odds of botching a snap when that is the ONLY thing you need to worry about, it almost 0%. Botched snaps generally happen when the center is worried about his block, the qb worried about getting back into his drop fast, or a miscommunication brought on by crowd noise.

I know the odds of a TD followed by 2 pt conversion followed by an onsides kick followed by a FG with about 2 minutes left is rather slim, but I still think westbrook did the right thing. They had the game on ice with the ball in their hands. No point risking it when they could easily run the clock out and end it.

 

[alamo]

Which has a greater chance of happening, a botched Eagles snap giving the Cowboys possession and then they score on a 99 yd drive.....or
scoring to get an 11 point lead forcing the cowboys to score on the reurn, get the onside kick and then kick a field goal.....?????
I vote for scoring the TD (sure points) and force them to score twice....

The TD+onsides kick+FG is MANY MANY more times more likely to happen.

I can only think of once EVER that a botched kneeldown has led to the losing team's winning, the Giants in the 80s.

Also, characterizing what the Eagles did as "running out the clock" is misleading. If they really needed to "run out the clock", i.e. run some real plays in hope of getting a first down to keep the clock running, then I think they do take the easy points instead. But the Eagles needed just three kneeldowns to prevent the Cowboys from touching the ball at all, thus giving them ZERO chance.

 

[SamBam39]

anyone who knows football knows that was a great, heads-up play.
it killed the clock. dallas was bummed on the sideline.

it is much more likely they make a quick score, then recover an onside kick and make another quick score. not very likely, but possible.

when they killed the clock, they kept control of things in THEIR hands.
smart move. I've thought befoe that players should do this, but have never seen one do it.

 

[psychoPat]

anyone who knows football knows that was a great, heads-up play.
it killed the clock. dallas was bummed on the sideline.

it is much more likely they make a quick score, then recover an onside kick and make another quick score. not very likely, but possible.

when they killed the clock, they kept control of things in THEIR hands.
smart move. I've thought befoe that players should do this, but have never seen one do it.

Well then ... color me iggerant.

But just give me 7, and you can have the ball.
Every time.

 

[Mungo]

anyone who knows football knows that was a great, heads-up play.
it killed the clock. dallas was bummed on the sideline.

it is much more likely they make a quick score, then recover an onside kick and make another quick score. not very likely, but possible.

when they killed the clock, they kept control of things in THEIR hands.
smart move. I've thought befoe that players should do this, but have never seen one do it.

thats exactly what Matt Light said today on the radio (WAAF). I think some caller asked him about running up the score vs. the class westbrook showed. Light said class is taking your jacket off and putting it over a puddle to let a lady walk over it, taking a knee to kill the clock instead of a td is a heads up play. He went on to say about 99% of the players would go for the td, he said it was an awesome play.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Down
1. Joe Gibbs - Up 22-3 early in the 3rd quarter after scoring a TD and goes for 2? Plenty of time left for the Giants to score 2 TD and 2 FG to win. He needs to get back to NASCAR where the playcalling is easier ("turn left").

Going for 2 works about 50% of the time i.e. it will get you about the same amount of points over the long run as going for 1. To call someone out for going for 2 in a game where it's not obvious whether 0, 1 or 2 points is important is foolish, IMO.