Ken Whisenhunt stands behind BB

[SVN]

New England Patriots Blog - Whisenhunt stands behind Belichick - ESPN Boston

 

[condon84]

NFL Network has a show called "Coaches Corner" or something like that. THey had Martz and Mariucci defending Belichick's decision.

They said that at the time, they would have punted the ball, but upon looking back and looking at the situation, Belichick made the right call. They talked about Belichick more than anyone knew the pulse of his team by being on the sidelines and talking to his coordinators and decided that the best possible way for the team to win was to go for it.

I still would have punted and called for our D to make a final stand, but it was pretty cool listening to those guys genuinely arguing for Belichick. Especially Martz.

 

[SVN]

NFL Network has a show called "Coaches Corner" or something like that. THey had Martz and Mariucci defending Belichick's decision.

They said that at the time, they would have punted the ball, but upon looking back and looking at the situation, Belichick made the right call. They talked about Belichick more than anyone knew the pulse of his team by being on the sidelines and talking to his coordinators and decided that the best possible way for the team to win was to go for it.

I still would have punted and called for our D to make a final stand, but it was pretty cool listening to those guys genuinely arguing for Belichick. Especially Martz.

i kinda expected martz to stand behind BB. they have a lot of mutual admiration

 

[mayoclinic]

NFL Network has a show called "Coaches Corner" or something like that. THey had Martz and Mariucci defending Belichick's decision.

They said that at the time, they would have punted the ball, but upon looking back and looking at the situation, Belichick made the right call. They talked about Belichick more than anyone knew the pulse of his team by being on the sidelines and talking to his coordinators and decided that the best possible way for the team to win was to go for it.

I still would have punted and called for our D to make a final stand, but it was pretty cool listening to those guys genuinely arguing for Belichick. Especially Martz.

What bothered me was not particularly the decision to go for it, but that it seemed spontaneous and unprepared. I don't think we were prepared for a close game coming down to the last 2 minutes.

If BB knew on 3rd and 2 that he was going to take 2 downs to go for it then he should have run on 3rd down, forcing Indy to burn their last timeout. Then it might have been closer on 4th down, and we would have burned up more of the clock and left Indy with less time and no timeouts if we didn't make it on 4th down. Also, the 4th down play would have come inside the 2 minute warning and would have been reviewable.

Also, if BB made a decision that his defense couldn't stop Manning from 70+ yards out, then he should have had a strategy that if we turned the ball over on downs we would allow them to score as quickly as possible in order to get the ball back in TB's hands with time remaining to drive for a game winning FG attempt.

Finally, since Brady took a timeout after the Indy punt on the start of the drive, BB and company should have formulated their plan for the first offensive series (since if we made a first down the game was essentially over), including what to do if faces with 3rd and short. Then we wouldn't have had to take our last timeout before the 4th and short play, and would have been able to stop the clock.

Again, I don't mind going for it. But the way we did it was haphazard, unprepared, and inconsistent. Not a great recipe for success.

 

[pats1]

Good to hear from Whisenhunt. Unfortunately he and BB are the last two coaches to lose Super Bowls.

 

[SVN]

NFL Videos: Belichick bad decision?

 

[condon84]

What bothered me was not particularly the decision to go for it, but that it seemed spontaneous and unprepared. I don't think we were prepared for a close game coming down to the last 2 minutes.

If BB knew on 3rd and 2 that he was going to take 2 downs to go for it then he should have run on 3rd down, forcing Indy to burn their last timeout. Then it might have been closer on 4th down, and we would have burned up more of the clock and left Indy with less time and no timeouts if we didn't make it on 4th down. Also, the 4th down play would have come inside the 2 minute warning and would have been reviewable.

Also, if BB made a decision that his defense couldn't stop Manning from 70+ yards out, then he should have had a strategy that if we turned the ball over on downs we would allow them to score as quickly as possible in order to get the ball back in TB's hands with time remaining to drive for a game winning FG attempt.

Finally, since Brady took a timeout after the Indy punt on the start of the drive, BB and company should have formulated their plan for the first offensive series (since if we made a first down the game was essentially over), including what to do if faces with 3rd and short. Then we wouldn't have had to take our last timeout before the 4th and short play, and would have been able to stop the clock.

Again, I don't mind going for it. But the way we did it was haphazard, unprepared, and inconsistent. Not a great recipe for success.

This is the best post I've read so far. Exactly what I was thinking when that last drive transpired.

Game management was horrible. If that drive was the "win it now" drive that they eventually made it out to be by going for it on 4th down, the sequence of plays were horrible. They had two downs to get two yards and we opt for shotgun formation both times. Why not bring your goal line offense for both downs and hit the Colts in the mouth up the midddle? We only needed two yards and we had two downs to go for it.

The last two games we've played in Indy, Belichick has dumbed it up twice.

 

[bostonia3333]

Good to hear from Whisenhunt. Unfortunately he and BB are the last two coaches to lose Super Bowls.

ha, is it a stretch then to say that losing Super Bowl coaches think alike?:confused2:

 

[Satchboogie3]

No doubt Belichick made plenty of mistakes (along with his assistants) in the last 5 minutes of that game, but going for it on that 4th and 2 wasn't one of them. His biggest mistakes were letting it come down to a 4th down conversion or goal stand. I really hope this is the game that BB and Pees realize that the "prevent" defense just doesn't work.