Mike Tomlin: Nitwit decision

[Patriots4ever]

I feel sorry for the steeler fans, I will go as far as saying on the 2nd & 3rd down calls, they were playing just to make the Jags use their timeouts instead of trying to get a 1st down and win the game. Oh well, what can I say, at least their teams were playing in week 18, unlike the Carolina Panthers.

I am still over that 3rd and 6 call.

They weren't playing to win, and it cost them. Everyone can talk about going for 2 or not. That's BS and a stretch IMO. The fact is, the Steelers had the lead, late in the 4th Quarter, despite all that happened, and didn't finish.

Us Patriots fans are used to seeing their playmakers make plays in big situations. In that situation, you gotta go to Hines, Holmes, or Miller. JMO.

 

[bideau]

It was a atupid decision and I thought so at the time. I guess that makes me ignorant.

The percentages for converting from the 12 were very slim. At that point, with that much time left, Tomlin has to play the scenarios out in his head. Since the likelihood of converting is poor, he has to weigh begin down by 4 vs. 5. At the point, decision should be easy. He has to go under the assumption that the Jags will not score a TD, otherwise the chances of continuing the comeback become worse. Hold them to 3, then he's just 7 down and doesn't need to worry about another 2 pt try.

But I guess only ignorant people think that way.

 

[Number Cruncher]

ten minutes left ... way too early to start "chasing points"

 

[NSPatsFan]

You don't chase points that early, I could sort of see it before the penalty, but after the penalty you kick the extra point.

 

[harrisonhits]

<<
Being down 4 is indeed better than being down 5.
>>

Uh, no its not in this situation Stingley. With the chance for one more drive it was immaterial if they were down by 4 or 5. They were far less likely to score another TD, which still would have put them ahead, then that they would be able to get a FG in which case being down by 3 was critical.

 

[LoopyGinJuice]

Has Tomlin commented on the 2-pt call? Would be interesting to hear a) what he was thinking, and b) if he would do the same thing again in that situation.

 

[bmooney54]

As much as I don't care for Madden, he still knows football. He said going for two originally was the right call, but after the penalty they should have gone for one instead.

 

[DarrylStingley]

<<
Being down 4 is indeed better than being down 5.
>>

Uh, no its not in this situation Stingley.

Yes it is.

With the odds of converting so low, you have to take the single point when offered. It might help you later. In fact, in this game, it very well might have.

I truly believed that if you asked a 100 coaches whether to take a 4 point deficit over a 5 point deficut under these circumstances, 95 of them would say that the point is worth taking giving the low odds of converting a score from the 12.

 

[Michigan Dave]

Going for two wasn't the right call. Maybe, maybe I could buy it without the penalty. But with the penalty? At that point, it doesn't matter. Kick it. There's way too much time on the clock. Realistically, the two point strategy should come into play only when you consider the amount of possessions you'll have remaining and maximizing the ability to benefit from the decision. In this case, Pittsburgh could've realistically had 3+ possessions. You kick, score a TD and kick, you're up 3. Which, coincidentally was the situation the Steelers were in last night. Then a FG doesn't beat you (though Jax probably would've scored a TD, that's moot from a strategy standpoint.)

 

[Number Cruncher]

Remember the Pats Carolina Super Bowl.

Both teams scored four touchdowns and one field goal. It was the Panthers chasing points by going for two way too early that was a huge factor in that game. Their failure forced them to have to "do it again" and even forced us to "do it right".

Not a stretch to say that if they don't go for two to early and fail that both teams play it straight and Adam's field goal ties the game and sends it to overtime.

 

[HomelessJoe]

i would say yes, going for 2 from the 12 is an awful decision. the chances of making the two compared to the PAT are drastically worse from the 12, and as we all saw there was a lot more game to be played

 

[Steve1]

Yeah, I think it was just plain dumb to go for 2 from the 12 at that point.

This guy Tomlin apparently is as stone dumb as Cowher was.

Aggresive is good, at the right times. But not then!

Personally, I think the extra point in general is kind of dumb. I think it should be taken out of football. I would rather have a 2-point attempt from the 2 or 3 every time. In fact, maybe a choice between a 2-pointer from the 3, or a 3-pointer from the 10 (or something like that).

 

[Bvpatsfan]

Tomlin is a rookie coach he will learn , were used to seeing coaching on a high level , Its amazing how questional coaching sticks out.

 

[PSC_Pats_Fan]

It didn't end up costing them a win, but lets not overlook another really stupid coaching decision:

Jack Del Rio challenging the CLEAR incomplete pass late in the 4th quarter when they were losing and costing themselves a timeout that they potentially could have really needed.

I don't know who told him to challenge it, (or if it was just a all he made on his own) but that was dumn dumb DUMB. The Jags are lucky that didn't come back to bite them in the ass.


Whats with all the stupid coaching today?!

 

[woo]

I am still over that 3rd and 6 call.

They weren't playing to win, and it cost them. Everyone can talk about going for 2 or not. That's BS and a stretch IMO. The fact is, the Steelers had the lead, late in the 4th Quarter, despite all that happened, and didn't finish.

Us Patriots fans are used to seeing their playmakers make plays in big situations. In that situation, you gotta go to Hines, Holmes, or Miller. JMO.

I must be a glutton for punishment for continuing to revisit this nightmare when I should really get on w/ my offseason football life. In any event, I totally agree. I'm still too emotionally drained to wish to do any second guessing. Were I too engage in said behavior, though, that 3rd and 6 would be high on my list.

I understood the decision in the context of getting them to burn a time out. Given the field position and the time remaining I certainly would've gambled on an incomplete pass or even a completion that comes up short, than what was called.

For the record, I was okay w/ the 2 point conversion, initially. The ref's mike really sucked all last night and no one in the stands knew that there was a penalty. We were all whoopin and hollering and hugging as there was a palpable sense of the game finally being w/in reach. Then all of a sudden I'm asking my old man, "Ummmm...why's the offense still out there?? Uh oh....what the hell happened??" And we didn't know until making it back to our car and listening to the radio post-game. I dunno there was a bit of disbelief and a sense of, "oh well, we still put up 6."

I definitely tired of seeing that fade by the 2nd two-point conversion attempt, too, by the way.

 

[SteelerFan87]

The call on 3rd and 6 late in the game was really perplexing to me. If they made that 1st down, the game probably would have been over, and it would have taken it to the 2-min warning with the Jags out of time-outs.

Ward and Miller were killing the Jags all night, but let's roll Ben out to the left?

WTF?

That's Bruce Arians right there. Arians tries to get too cute at times, and just ends up outsmarting himself. My dad said right before that play, "do you think Ben will run it?" And I said "maybe after the recievers get down field and there's more room to run. No way he starts running immediately. That would just be idiotic. He can get those yards if they're giving it to him, but he's not a Kordell Stewart who can run for 6 yards on a designed play" And sure enough, Arians calls a designed QB run.


As for the 2 point conversion, it's easy to call it stupid after the game. Hindsight is 20/20. At the time, it was the right decision. At that point in the game, 1 point made no difference, but 2 points would have been huge. Tomlin couldn't have known that Taylor would pick off Garrard right after that to set up another quick TD. As for the chances of it working, it's still deep in the red zone. When you get down to the 12, you expect to be able to score on the next play.

 

[Amnorix]

It was a bad call when he went for 2 with over 10 minutes left in the game.

It went to being an utterly horrendous call after the holding penalty. The chances of converting from that distance are small, and it's not even clear that it's critical to get 2.

VERY bad call by Tomlin.

 

[Hemi_1]

I am of the opinion that the 2 point attempt was the right decision at that time and at that location, after the penalty it was retarded.

The QB roll out keeper call when it was 3rd and 6 was just a shocker because there was no set up, no delay, no fake. Nuts !!

I really did not think the Steelers should have been in the POs, and have said so multiple times this season. So, they were who I thought they were.

 

[DarrylStingley]

As for the 2 point conversion, it's easy to call it stupid after the game. Hindsight is 20/20. At the time, it was the right decision. At that point in the game, 1 point made no difference, but 2 points would have been huge. Tomlin couldn't have known that Taylor would pick off Garrard right after that to set up another quick TD. As for the chances of it working, it's still deep in the red zone. When you get down to the 12, you expect to be able to score on the next play.

No hindsight here, son.

I was hollering when they went for 2 from the 12 at the time, as was I'm sure a signficant percentage of the audience.

 

[chef]

DON'T TALK SHIT ABOUT MIKE TOMLIN