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For the most part, up until now, I think Shanahan's 4th down plays could have been justified, or could at least have a decent argument to support it.
But yesterday there was a 4th down decision that was totally a WTF, head-scratching moment for me, and actually made me quite angry.
I can't remember the exact circumstances, or exact point in the game, but we were in field goal range, pretty deep in their territory, and somewhat of a comfortable lead already, and we go for it on 4th. Yes, there was only a short yardage to go for the 1st. And no, I didn't just become angry, AFTER the fact, when the attempt failed. But I was livid BEFORE we executed the play, about the decision.
I could not see any justification for it. We had a decent lead, and kicking a FG would have further cemented it, and it was not worth the chance of coming away with zero points. We were lucky that we stopped them on their ensuing series, after the failed attempt, to offset the failed attempt. But this decision made no sense to me. Shanahan seems to becoming obsessed with 4th down attempts, beyond reason, logical, and rational thinking. Now, don't take this as an attempt to rain on the parade of our glistening win. Just a concern that he's heading in the wrong direction, and this could ultimately create unnecessary disasters in the future.
What possible reasoning could we have for going for it in that instance ?
It's not like we still have a kicker that we don't have confidence in.
And it's not like we were desperate for a "momentum-change" or an actual TD in that situation. The safe choice of a virtually guaranteed field goal, should have quite completely sufficed to pad our lead in that instance.
But yesterday there was a 4th down decision that was totally a WTF, head-scratching moment for me, and actually made me quite angry.
I can't remember the exact circumstances, or exact point in the game, but we were in field goal range, pretty deep in their territory, and somewhat of a comfortable lead already, and we go for it on 4th. Yes, there was only a short yardage to go for the 1st. And no, I didn't just become angry, AFTER the fact, when the attempt failed. But I was livid BEFORE we executed the play, about the decision.
I could not see any justification for it. We had a decent lead, and kicking a FG would have further cemented it, and it was not worth the chance of coming away with zero points. We were lucky that we stopped them on their ensuing series, after the failed attempt, to offset the failed attempt. But this decision made no sense to me. Shanahan seems to becoming obsessed with 4th down attempts, beyond reason, logical, and rational thinking. Now, don't take this as an attempt to rain on the parade of our glistening win. Just a concern that he's heading in the wrong direction, and this could ultimately create unnecessary disasters in the future.
What possible reasoning could we have for going for it in that instance ?
It's not like we still have a kicker that we don't have confidence in.
And it's not like we were desperate for a "momentum-change" or an actual TD in that situation. The safe choice of a virtually guaranteed field goal, should have quite completely sufficed to pad our lead in that instance.