End of half, going for it or taking the sure points?

[cstjohn17]

Interested in opinions on the play calling going into the half. In the past two games the Patriots have had the ball in the red zone and elected to essentially go for the kill rather than taking the sure points.

In both cases the Patriots recieved the ball to start the second half.

Buffalo - Leading 21-7
Pass to Woodhead in the flat, goes off his hands and picked off.

Jets - Leading 10-7
Throw pass to Herdandez which he muffs leading to a Cromartie return

What do people think of their approach?

In both those cases I thought they were too aggressive, even with Brady at the helm and the offense rolling my opinion would have been to take the sure points, extend the lead and plan for the second half.

 

[Pujo]

If it's not 4th down, and there would be time to kick a FG on the next down if the pass is incomplete, I say go for it. If it's your absolute last chance to kick a FG, kick a FG. By the way, since you made the poll with multiple choices allowed, I'm voting both.

 

[Snake Eyes]

Interested in opinions on the play calling going into the half. In the past two games the Patriots have had the ball in the red zone and elected to essentially go for the kill rather than taking the sure points.

In both cases the Patriots recieved the ball to start the second half.

Buffalo - Leading 21-7
Pass to Woodhead in the flat, goes off his hands and picked off.

Jets - Leading 10-7
Throw pass to Herdandez which he muffs leading to a Cromartie return

What do people think of their approach?

In both those cases I thought they were too aggressive, even with Brady at the helm and the offense rolling my opinion would have been to take the sure points, extend the lead and plan for the second half.

I think strategy and receiver error are independant of each other.

 

[Sciz]

Both were fluke plays and should not be used to defend any point.

 

[LasVegasPatsFan]

Both were tipped passes. If Hernandez held on to the ball, we wouldn't have this discussion. The way our defense is playing, we need all the points we can get.

 

[Rob0729]

If there is enough time left and you aren't on fourth down. You always go for the points. It is the chicken way out to settle for the field goal. Both games mentioned were deflected passes that were lucky bounces to defenders. It was just bad breaks.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Coaches call plays with the belief based on prior games and practice that the player has and will execute the play. Putting the ball on Brady's arm in both these situations is the right call. Sometimes good players don't execute. When you're in a game against a capable opponent you NEED to take the Killshot especially when you're fall back on the next down is the easy FG.

 

[Deus Irae]

No reason not to run the play yesterday....

With the Buffalo game, you can argue that even the field goal puts the Patriots up by 3 scores. However, the problem in Buffalo wasn't that they were "going for it", since there was more than a minute left. The problem was that they passed it instead of running it to kill clock. The interception just took a bad playcalling decision and compounded it with bad execution.

 

[cstjohn17]

No reason not to run the play yesterday....

With the Buffalo game, you can argue that even the field goal puts the Patriots up by 3 scores. However, the problem in Buffalo wasn't that they were "going for it", since there was more than a minute left. The problem was that they passed it instead of running it to kill clock. The interception just took a bad playcalling decision and compounded it with bad execution.

I agree, against the Jets redzone trips and points were at a premium. Against Buffalo the smart thing would have been to take a 24-7 lead into the half knowing the get the ball back to start the 3rd. Pretty much game, set, match.

 

[Rob0729]

There is still 30 minutes of football left after that drive. We have seen this year that even being up by 4 scores at the half does not guarantee a win. You take every point when you can get it until the game is a guarantee win. Being up 45-0 at the half is still not a guaranteed win.

 

[Deus Irae]

I agree, against the Jets redzone trips and points were at a premium. Against Buffalo the smart thing would have been to take a 24-7 lead into the half knowing the get the ball back to start the 3rd. Pretty much game, set, match.

Don't get me wrong, here. I'm not saying that they should have taken 3 knees against Buffalo. I'm saying that they should have run the ball on first down so that, if they were stopped short of the endzone, the clock would have kept running rather than it stopping due to an incomplete pass. As a lot of people here like to point out, BJGE doesn't fumble, so the risk would have been negligible.

 

[The Scrizz]

We had 7 sure points if Hernandez holds onto the ball. Why would you play safe in the 1st half when you have the best QB in the game?

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Hernandez holds onto that ball for a TD 9 times out of 10.

Woodhead had a more difficult catch to make, but even then the tip straight into the arms of the defender was pretty fluky.

These are not good pieces of evidence to use in this kind of poll.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Sciz]

Oh, and I voted for both.

 

[Reckedtrek]

Maybe we should never go for it. As soon as we hit the 20 yard line, kick a field goal.

Just being a wiseguy. Seriously, sometimes you've just got to believe in your team and take a chance. Whether you take that chance or not depends all on the situation including momentum, how the team is playing, the weather... all sorts of factors play into it.

 

[goheels22002]

Two different scenarios.

Against the Bills you have a minute plus and multiple opportunities - go for it. The Pats can't call plays with a turnover being one of the options.

In the Jets game with 7 seconds left, I vote to take the three points and get up 13-7 having gotten the last score of the 1st half.

 

[PatriotFan77]

Pats did the correct thing yesterday at the end of the half, Hernandez simply dropped it.

 

[Triumph]

Every FG is that much closer to losing.

Go for the kill always.

 

[102 Pat]

Go for the TD. Besides the obvious large lead, you send your opponents to the locker room at halftime demoralized.

 

[PatsGirl2011]

If we had Kyle Orton as quarterback, then 3 points would have been the best choice...However, Tom Brady is the best, so why settle?