BB did a great job of clock management?

[MrNathanDrake]

Right? Right?

I missed the game as I had to work on Sunday, but I was following the play by play online.

So please correct me if I'm wrong.

Approximately 3 minutes to go. 4th down on our side of the field. BB decides to go for it.


If we get the first down, good. We can proceed to score a TD and put the game away.

If we don't get it (which we didn't), Saints get a quick FG or TD and we still have a chance to tie it up without too much time coming off the clock (We could still tie with 2 point conversion)

Now if we had Punted... The Saints have a whole lot of green in front of them and could've run the clock out entirely.

BB put the team in a position where Brady would've had a final chance to at least tie the game.


Of course Brady then threw an INT and ruined that plan... Luckily the defense was good enough to force a quick 3 and out and got the ball back one more time.

What did you think of BB's clock management against the Saints?

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Right? Right?

I missed the game as I had to work on Sunday, but I was following the play by play online.

So please correct me if I'm wrong.

Approximately 3 minutes to go. 4th down on our side of the field. BB decides to go for it.


If we get the first down, good. We can proceed to score a TD and put the game away.

If we don't get it (which we didn't), Saints get a quick FG or TD and we still have a chance to tie it up without too much time coming off the clock (We could still tie with 2 point conversion)

Now if we had Punted... The Saints have a whole lot of green in front of them and could've run the clock out entirely.

BB put the team in a position where Brady would've had a final chance to at least tie the game.


Of course Brady then threw an INT and ruined that plan... Luckily the defense was good enough to force a quick 3 and out and got the ball back one more time.

What did you think of BB's clock management against the Saints?

 

[Tunescribe]

What did you think of BB's clock management against the Saints?

It was masterful, helped along by clutch defense. Brady got THREE shots at winning it in the waning moments -- you've got to like those odds for the GOAT.

 

[Sciz]

It worked.

 

[JMC00]

I circle 3 plays of why it ended up working.

2nd and 6 after the Pats call a timeout, the Saints call a timeout after getting a look at the Pats defensive formation. Payton calls or Brees audibles into a run and Forston stops Thomas for a loss of 1 yard. That was the first negative run the Saints had for the game.

Next play, 3rd and 7, on a play Brees and Colston I would imagine have a great success rate on, Dennard plays it perfectly and bats it away forcing the FG.

Chandler Jones not being fooled on the fake handoff and looking at Brees the whole time and tracking him down. Dennard also gets a huge assist on the play because looking at that play to me it looked like it was a pass play to Meacham (Dennard had good coverage) with the option of Brees keeping it.

 

[brdmaverick]

It's funny, I was actually thinking about this on the train.

After all, had the Pats lost, I think clock management would have been key factor. Let me start by saying, I love aggressive coaching, so I'm glad Belichick went for it on fourth down on his own side of the field.

BUT I do think the critics would have had a point. After all, had Thompkins dropped that pass with 5 seconds left the nay sayers would have pointed out that had we punted on fourth down (and assuming we get the three and out that we DID get when Saints had the ball at that position following INT)....so anyway, had we punted, the Pats would have been in a position to win with a field goal and therefore not need the TD to win it.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

It's funny, I was actually thinking about this on the train.

After all, had the Pats lost, I think clock management would have been key factor. Let me start by saying, I love aggressive coaching, so I'm glad Belichick went for it on fourth down on his own side of the field.

BUT I do think the critics would have had a point. After all, had Thompkins dropped that pass with 5 seconds left the nay sayers would have pointed out that had we punted on fourth down (and assuming we get the three and out that we DID get when Saints had the ball at that position following INT)....so anyway, had we punted, the Pats would have been in a position to win with a field goal and therefore not need the TD to win it.

If we lost it wouldve been because of Bradys INT. Not clock management.

Going for it on 4th down reminded me of the SB a couple years ago when BB let the Giants walk into the end zone so that we would at least get the ball back and have a bit of a chance.

 

[SVN]

Monday Musings: Tom Brady bails out Bill Belichick's bad decision - CBSSports.com

Prisco doesnt agree .

But i listened to guys on WFAN new york today and both benigno and carl banks
LOVED the call for the same reasons cited above.

 

[TriplecHamp]

Monday Musings: Tom Brady bails out Bill Belichick's bad decision - CBSSports.com

Prisco doesnt agree .

But i listened to guys on WFAN new york today and both benigno and carl banks
LOVED the call for the same reasons cited above.

yep, I've seen similar headlines but even if the game didn't go our way, IMO it was the correct call.

 

[I am party]

On his weekly chat with WEEI, Bill gave the impression that he really wasn't thinking that far ahead, that the only thing he was thinking about was that they needed to convert the 4th down.

So either he was telling the truth and he just got lucky, or he really did think it all through and was just feigning ignorance to the radio hosts.

I'm leaning towards the latter.

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

As someone who is (still) a major BB homer, I disagree. I thought it was a poor decision to go for that 4th. There was alot of questionable things in that game from the coaches, but that call annoyed me most. Oh wait, the int that followed was pretty annoying too. I don't like to be one of "those" guys who questions the playcalling, but I thought it was aweful. I think we fans tend to think Bill is this mad genius, but that might not always be the case. Hell, Im still mad about going on 4th down in the SB......

IMHO, the reason they won that game was simple. Brady suddenly became TFB, and the recievers caught the balls. Protection, accurate throws, and catches. Period. Just my 2 cents

 

[Shed83]

In my humble opinion it was 100% the right call and something i was hoping for when the 3rd down pass was dropped.

It is (by some considerable distance!) easier to get a 3 and out near to or in the red zone than with a long field. Think of how many times this year we have stopped teams in the redzone and limited them to field goal attempts. If we had punted then Brees would have had a much easier time getting a couple of first downs as the field is so stretched, it opens up the running game so much.

If Brady had gone on the drive (the TD scoring final drive) on the possession after the field goal instead of trying to win the game on first down and getting intercepted then people would be hailing BB's call. Imagine getting the ball back and Brady doing that final drive the first time taking 200 seconds instead of having to do it in 113.............................................

 

[PatsDeb]

The Pats did a great job at the ends of both halfs (halves? that looks weird). NO, on the other hand, did a terrible job. First of all, I was surprised at how freely Drew Brees uses time outs. He must not need them very often at the end of halves, because he spends them like pocket change, at least during this game. At the end of the 1st half the Pats were able to run out the clock on 4th down and not punt the ball back to NO (a danger because Sproles is their punt returner) because they had no ability to stop the clock. That prevented NO from doing the Pats favorite thing, which is having back-to-back drives at the end of the first half and the beginning of the 2nd.

Then, during the game winning drive the Pats, through both clock management and quick, clutch play by the D, left enough time on the clock that Brady was able to complete passes over the middle while the NO defenders were guarding the sidelines to prevent stoppage of the clock. But, surprise! We didn't need it all that much, except for that one play where the NO defender made ANOTHER mistake and threw Dobson(?) out of bounds while tackling him.

It was genius , Jerry, I tell ya! Genius!!

 

[Triumph]

The 4th down call was the correct move.

The Saints rushed for 130 yards, Talib was out and Mayo had just got hurt and was out. The defense was beat up and tired. Punting there allows the Saints to play field position assuming their drive stalls at their end of the field burning precious clock.

BB gave them 3 or 7 points on a silver platter.

On 4th and 6th, with 3:29 left, its NE 24 - NO 23 at the NE 24 yard line. Even if NO scores a TD, its still a 1 TD victory for NE at NO 30 and NE 24 with lots of time remaining for NE to drive the field.

Absolutely perfect clock management by BB vs NO and last week vs Cinci.

Id also like to give a shout out to Keenan Lewis for throwing Dobson out of bounds and stopping the clock for NE on the game winning drive. Typical moron undisciplined Ryan brothers defense.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

I felt like it was the right call at the time, and I still think that now (though I've wavered a bit).

The simplest way I can put it is at that time, you figure that you have two drives left: your current drive, then the D has to force a punt, then the last drive. So you basically have two chances left to win the game.

Punting there ends your first chance to win. Going for it gives you the opportunity to extend that chance, and if you fail and the opposition scores, it's still a one-possession game, although that possession is a bit more difficult. (TD vs. FG). If we were down 6 and the FG could force a 2-possession game, he probably punts there.

So you're basically accepting the possibility of a more difficult second drive for the opportunity that that second drive isn't even necessary. The downside was minimal; the upside was huge. BB was trying to maximize the opportunities left to him.

Failing in scoring territory had the bonus unanticipated upside of Payton being extremely conservative to take the points. Had we punted, I think he's a lot more aggressive and tougher to defend.

Obviously results matter but the thought process wasn't bad at all. And had Dobkins held onto the perfect pass on the perfect play, this would really be moot.

 

[Shed83]

The Pats did a great job at the ends of both halfs (halves? that looks weird).

Deb, I struggle with examples like that all the time so i just re-word (reword?) my sentences all the time.

So for your example i would have said 'at the end of each half' therefore eliminating my problem!

I cant tell you how many times i struggle with spelling!!

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Right? Right?

I missed the game as I had to work on Sunday, but I was following the play by play online.

So please correct me if I'm wrong.

Approximately 3 minutes to go. 4th down on our side of the field. BB decides to go for it.


If we get the first down, good. We can proceed to score a TD and put the game away.

If we don't get it (which we didn't), Saints get a quick FG or TD and we still have a chance to tie it up without too much time coming off the clock (We could still tie with 2 point conversion)

Now if we had Punted... The Saints have a whole lot of green in front of them and could've run the clock out entirely.

BB put the team in a position where Brady would've had a final chance to at least tie the game.


Of course Brady then threw an INT and ruined that plan... Luckily the defense was good enough to force a quick 3 and out and got the ball back one more time.

What did you think of BB's clock management against the Saints?

See Sean Payton and the Saints for all clock management issues. They wrote a brand new book on how not to close out a game on Sunday.
The last second TD removed the massive and justifiable criticism of Belichick (and Brady for that matter with his Favre like pick) for that foolish 4th down call. Going for it on 4th down deep in their own end was reckless and it cost the Patriots 3 points and took a FG off the table as a game winning option.

 

[PatsDeb]

The 4th down call was the correct move.

The Saints rushed for 130 yards, Talib was out and Mayo had just got hurt and was out. The defense was beat up and tired. Punting there allows the Saints to play field position assuming their drive stalls at their end of the field burning precious clock.

BB gave them 3 or 7 points on a silver platter.

On 4th and 6th, with 3:29 left, its NE 24 - NO 23 at the NE 24 yard line. Even if NO scores a TD, its still a 1 TD victory for NE at NO 30 and NE 24 with lots of time remaining for NE to drive the field.

Absolutely perfect clock management by BB vs NO and last week vs Cinci.

Id also like to give a shout out to Keenan Lewis for throwing Dobson out of bounds and stopping the clock for NE on the game winning drive. Typical moron undisciplined Ryan brothers defense.

I hated that 4th down call. I was at the game and actually sat down and didn't see it because I was so sure they were not going to make it. I also hated the bomb to Edelman. Both times I thought there was plenty of time left and the Pats were giving the game away by taking unnecessary chances when they didn't have to. Luckily the defense held both times and gave the O the ball back in time for a brilliant game winning drive.

 

[PatsDeb]

See Sean Payton and the Saints for all clock management issues. They wrote a brand new book on how not to close out a game on Sunday.
The last second TD removed the massive and justifiable criticism of Belichick (and Brady for that matter with his Favre like pick) for that foolish 4th down call. Going for it on 4th down deep in their own end was reckless and it cost the Patriots 3 points and took a FG off the table as a game winning option.

Agreed. I couldn't believe they went for it there on 4th and 6 with so much time left on the clock and deep in our own end. Thanks to the defense we got another 2 chances.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

See Sean Payton and the Saints for all clock management issues. They wrote a brand new book on how not to close out a game on Sunday.
The last second TD removed the massive and justifiable criticism of Belichick (and Brady for that matter with his Favre like pick) for that foolish 4th down call. Going for it on 4th down deep in their own end was reckless and it cost the Patriots 3 points and took a FG off the table as a game winning option.

That ignores the fact that the 4th down play the coaches called worked. BAD drop by #17.

It ignores the strategy of making whatever the Saints did on offense occur quickly by leaving a short field. Whatever they did the Pats would have time for a TD drive. The Saints run game was cooking and they with any brains and good execution could have run out the clock had we punted and they started from around their own 30 or so.

Brady's pick was bad. He said so. Under threw. It happens. Maybe it's just me but he made up for it.