That long bomb with 6:00 to go in the 4th...

[Timbo717]

I was among the many who had the knee jerk reaction of "What are you thinking! Why Why Why!!!" And I still think it was a bad idea to toss it deep when you see the triple or double (giving him the benefit of the doubt) coverage.

But you really have to stop and give the Ravens DBs a truckload of credit on that for a phenomenal play. I would say 99 times out of 100 that is an incomplete pass. There was a small amount of luck in them both being in exactly the right place for that to occur, but even with that being said they both made exceptional plays. Hats off.

 

[goheels22002]

This. I don't know who called that, but let's hope it's not repeated in the Super Bowl. It can wait until next year, after the Patriots get a legitimate medium-deep receiver.

First of all, it was a spectacular interception by the Ravens' Jimmy Smith and Bernard Pollard. The ball awareness, body control, concentration by two guys was a thing of beauty. Good for them. If the Ravens had won the game (which they should have) that one play would be the iconic moment the game. My hat is off to them.

It was the worst call of the game by the Patriots. It looked to me like it was a called from the bench since Brady just wound up and let it fly. The bet was that the Slater would draw single coverage if any once he got down the field, but the Raven stayed right there with him stride for stride. Weird bet up three, though. The running game was working and Welker was getting his catches in front of Rat Lewis who could not keep up in the middle of the field.

My guess is that honorary captain Drew Bledsoe called for the bomb on 1st down from the press box.

 

[mosi]

Also, right before the 2 minute warning the pats ran the ball and lost yards. This forced them to throw the ball on 3rd down, where an incompletion stopped the clock.

Shouldn't they have thrown the ball right before the 2 minute warning. That way, regardless if they completed the pass or not, the clock would stop. That way, they could call a rushing play after the 2 minute warning and take more time off the clock or force the ravens to use a time out.

 

[WhiZa]

It seemed like an obvious run play and they thought they could catch the Ravens on their heels and end the game. I don't have a problem with the play call. The problem was Brady throwing into triple coverage to a guy not named Randy Moss. It should never happen in anything other than a hail mary situation.

 

[p8ryts]

I was among the many who had the knee jerk reaction of "What are you thinking! Why Why Why!!!" And I still think it was a bad idea to toss it deep when you see the triple or double (giving him the benefit of the doubt) coverage.

But you really have to stop and give the Ravens DBs a truckload of credit on that for a phenomenal play. I would say 99 times out of 100 that is an incomplete pass. There was a small amount of luck in them both being in exactly the right place for that to occur, but even with that being said they both made exceptional plays. Hats off.

Call was ok, execution sucked. The QB fakes the play action, looks to see if the play is open sees, double coverage, checks down to Welker on the right. WHAT?? He threw the ball deep? Don't blame the play call.

 

[reflexblue]

It seemed like an obvious run play and they thought they could catch the Ravens on their heels and end the game. I don't have a problem with the play call. The problem was Brady throwing into triple coverage to a guy not named Randy Moss. It should never happen in anything other than a hail mary situation.

I could see a short high percentage pass, but not a long bomb where the chances of completing the pass aren't very good. Sometimes you can out smart yourself, which is what happened yesterday.

 

[Bella*chick]

Tom admitted on EEI that the bomb was the play that kept him up all night.

Imagine if we had lost. He may have become an official insomniac.

 

[JMarr]

Call was ok, execution sucked. The QB fakes the play action, looks to see if the play is open sees, double coverage, checks down to Welker on the right. WHAT?? He threw the ball deep? Don't blame the play call.

There are a lot of people around here who apparently are blind, or know very little about football. Did you see Brady look at any other receivers on that play? No. I guarantee you that play is designed to be thrown deep, regardless of the coverage. Matt Slater, Randy Moss, doesn't matter--Brady and the receiver are expected to execute, period. It was a spectacular interception by the Ravens, so props to them.

But it was just a horrible play call in that situation which has Josh McDaniels' footprint all over it. Do you think he's up there in the press box, not wired up, playing checkers or something? Yes, Brady should have pulled the ball back, BB should have overrriden the call, but whoever called the play in the first place, whether BOB or McDaniels almost cost us the game.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

There have been a group of people (I am a part of that group), who thinks that BOB sucks, well that's why.

I'm no apologist for BOB and would be happy if he started his Penn State career this week, but I don't think the play design called for just throwing it up for grabs like a Hail Mary if there wasn't an open receiver.

In this case, I think we should take TB at his word; he "sucked" at times yesterday and this was probably one of the things he was thinking about when he copped to that. Time to move on.

 

[SVN]

There are a lot of people around here who apparently are blind, or know very little about football. Did you see Brady look at any other receivers on that play? No. I guarantee you that play is designed to be thrown deep, regardless of the coverage. Matt Slater, Randy Moss, doesn't matter--Brady and the receiver are expected to execute, period. It was a spectacular interception by the Ravens, so props to them.

But it was just a horrible play call in that situation which has Josh McDaniels' footprint all over it. Do you think he's up there in the press box, not wired up, playing checkers or something? Yes, Brady should have pulled the ball back, BB should have overrriden the call, but whoever called the play in the first place, whether BOB or McDaniels almost cost us the game.

Its very much like pats to take a killer shot right after a turnover. See the 2003 AFCCG in pitt. They didnt run it right and I still expect brady to see the triple coverage and pull the ball down and dump it elsewhere .Iam quite sure BOB didnt tell him , throw this ball to slater even if he is covered because he will catch it..

 

[deroc5050]

they were moving the ball against the ravens all day. I can see if the Ravens were forcing 3 and outs but they were not.. You had good field position and the lead.. I hated the play call right there.. but Brady should be smart enough to know the situation and throw the ball out of bounds but he got greedy and risked the teams chances of going to Indy. If they lost that game I would be killing them for that play.

 

[robbomango]

Can these threads be merged? there's 3 of them all the same topic in rotation.

 

[Bella*chick]

they were moving the ball against the ravens all day. I can see if the Ravens were forcing 3 and outs but they were not.. You had good field position and the lead.. I hated the play call right there.. but Brady should be smart enough to know the situation and throw the ball out of bounds but he got greedy and risked the teams chances of going to Indy. If they lost that game I would be killing them for that play.

That and Brady just flat out missed a TD to Gronk on the first field goal series. Flat out gave up four points. I feel like we blew a lot of scoring opportunities.

I also changed my mind from yesterday and now believe we should have challenged that Gronk pass that was ruled out of bounds. It was inbounds.

 

[Guts]

For the ravens and everyone else complaining how Pats got lucky...that interception grab that smith made on the Pollard deflection was extreme luck at its core

 

[MoVaughn4Prez]

If Matthew Slater is on the field for an offensive snap, he is running a deep route. No if ands or buts about it. He is not running a hitch, he is not running an out, he is not running a slant. If a pop warner D would recognize this, certainly one of the best defenses in the NFL is going to realize this.

 

[Deus Irae]

There are a lot of people around here who apparently are blind, or know very little about football. Did you see Brady look at any other receivers on that play? No. I guarantee you that play is designed to be thrown deep, regardless of the coverage. Matt Slater, Randy Moss, doesn't matter--Brady and the receiver are expected to execute, period. It was a spectacular interception by the Ravens, so props to them.

But it was just a horrible play call in that situation which has Josh McDaniels' footprint all over it. Do you think he's up there in the press box, not wired up, playing checkers or something? Yes, Brady should have pulled the ball back, BB should have overrriden the call, but whoever called the play in the first place, whether BOB or McDaniels almost cost us the game.

Blaming McDaniels is ridiculous. BOB is the offensive coordinator.

 

[PatriotSeven]

There are a lot of people around here who apparently are blind, or know very little about football. Did you see Brady look at any other receivers on that play? No. I guarantee you that play is designed to be thrown deep, regardless of the coverage. Matt Slater, Randy Moss, doesn't matter--Brady and the receiver are expected to execute, period. It was a spectacular interception by the Ravens, so props to them.

But it was just a horrible play call in that situation which has Josh McDaniels' footprint all over it. Do you think he's up there in the press box, not wired up, playing checkers or something? Yes, Brady should have pulled the ball back, BB should have overrriden the call, but whoever called the play in the first place, whether BOB or McDaniels almost cost us the game.

Yep. They were 83% favorite to win when they simply had the ball midfield. Hitting that bomb would have made them a 97-99% favorite to put the game away with nearly 7 minutes left.

Throwing an interception that got returned for that much left them as 61% favorites to win despite giving the ball away.

Advanced NFL Stats Win Probability - Current Games

Click on the yellow line. Look at the win probability before and after the play. THIS is what OC base their decisions on most of the time. Risk/reward.

Announcers were shocked that they took a knee before the half. People assume they did it because of fear. No. They did it because they were only a 51% favorites to win where they were on the field by trying to advance the football. Made no sense to take the risk at that point. Made all the sense in the world to throw the bomb to become a 97-99% favorite to win the game with 7 minutes left to play. Even though they were only up by 3 points. That's when you are supposed to strike, not get conservative. When it doesn't hurt you if you don't succeed.

Great call, regardless of the outcome. Don't judge a play by the outcome but by whether it was the right decision. It WAS the right decision.

There is NO better time to throw it up in a football game then when you get the ball at the 50 yard line and are an 83% favorite to win. None. If you wanna take a chance, THATs when you do it.

If they were tied, down by 3, backed up in their own territory, in the red-zone after traveling the full field...throwing an interception hurts you badly. It's worse to throw an interception either in your own half, OR, in the red-zone when you have a first down in the red-zone.

At that point they had less than a 50% of putting up 3 points which would have still kept the game within 1 score, but had a 15-17% chance of WINNING the football game on one play and still remained a 61% favorite despite failing to convert.

It's a no brainer. You throw it up. This is what the Patriots do and this is what they base their decisions on just about every call. They are one of the most efficient teams because they play the odds when they are in their favor, and don't, when they are not. They are smart, from the coaches to the players.

They do things that don't make sense to the general public. All you need to know is it all adds up to one thing: winning. And they proved that.

 

[MSU]

Yep. They were 83% favorite to win when they simply had the ball midfield. Hitting that bomb would have made them a 97-99% favorite to put the game away with nearly 7 minutes left.

Throwing an interception that got returned for that much left them as 61% favorites to win despite giving the ball away.

Advanced NFL Stats Win Probability - Current Games

Click on the yellow line. Look at the win probability before and after the play. THIS is what OC base their decisions on most of the time. Risk/reward.

Announcers were shocked that they took a knee before the half. People assume they did it because of fear. No. They did it because they were only a 51% favorites to win where they were on the field by trying to advance the football. made no sense to take the risk at that point. Made all the sense in the world to throw the bomb to become a 97-99% favorite to win the game with 7 minutes left to play.

Great call, regardless of the outcome. Don't judge a play by the outcome but by whether it was the right decision. It WAS the right decision.

There is NO better time to throw it up in a football game then when you get the ball at the 50 yard line and are an 83% favorite to win. None. If you wanna take a chance, THATs when you do it.

If they were tied, down by 3, backed up in their own territory, in the red-zone after traveling the full field...throwing an interception hurts you badly. It's worse to throw an interception either in your own half, OR, in the red-zone when you have a first down in the red-zone.

At that point they had less than a 50% of putting up 3 points which would have still kept the game within 1 score, but had a 15-17% chance of WINNING the football game.

It's a no brainer. You throw it up.

I don't think those probabilities account for Matthew Slater as a receiver in double coverage.

 

[SVN]

NBC Sports via tom curran on PFT live ..says the raven players in the locker room after the game said something like "can you believe the arrogant bastard try that deep pass on us and who is #18 anyway?"

 

[Keyser Söze]

I was just telling the family that now we can milk the clock...and then Brady does a Favre throw and "MOTHER ****ER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He cant throw the deep ball like he used to.