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Anyone else think Shanahan is getting carried away with the 4th down plays ?

Fear The Spear

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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.
 
We were well within FG range. Can't remember if 3rd or 4th Qtr. We had 3rd and 1. First attempt was QB sneak. Next Morris made a hop to the side and lost his momentum.

I wasn't upset with the try. I was disappointed we couldn't get 1 yard in 2 attempts.
 
Liked the call, but hated the play called.
 
Liked the call, but hated the play called.

Yes.

I like aggressiveness. Clearly, Shanahan is looking at some sort of advanced metrics that chart the success rate of going for it on 4th down, which I personally am fine with.

Having said that, I would be quite happy to never see the pitch back on 4th and short.
 
Shanahan is taking a lot of criticism for the call on the radio today... It looks like El was at the game, maybe he can provide his prospective... for mine:

At that point in the game one thing was clear - the eagles suck and they were all but ready to just quit and go home. To me it seemed like a chance to step on their throats - to end the game well before time expired.

I liked the decision to go for it based on the way it 'felt' in the stadium at the time. It felt like an attempt to put them down; out of their misery.

No idea what it felt like watching it on TV - and maybe that doesn't even matter to some of you.


As for the actual play call... I'm starting to get a little irritated with the play calling on both sides of the ball. I'm trying to fight back that urge to criticize because I think it's far too easy to criticize a failed play; for me it's all about execution. The play calling is getting very suspect in my opinion, and I've been pretty vocal in bashing the play calling critics...
 
We were well within FG range. Can't remember if 3rd or 4th Qtr. We had 3rd and 1. First attempt was QB sneak. Next Morris made a hop to the side and lost his momentum.

I wasn't upset with the try. I was disappointed we couldn't get 1 yard in 2 attempts.

BINGO ! We should be able to gain that yard...
 
The emotional part of me says, "You're 3-6 so why NOT go for it on 4th down?" The logical part says, "You're ahead 24-6. Kicking a FG to add three more is not really a victory for their defense but a stop would be."

The logical side won out and I voted to kick it. Obviously Mike didn't agree and allowed Kyle to cause us all to do a facepalm.
 
maybe he still suppect bout tha defense and wanted to put more points on tha board,but play calls at that point were horrible ...counter trey would've worked on the 3 and 1 play !
 
t-, I said it when they decided to go for it that they were making a mistake. I agree with the feel of the stadium, but that wasn't the right call in my estimation. That time in the game up by 18, a FG would have been enough. It was greedy to go for it.

My concern there was the chance to give them a big momentum swing. Our 4th down calls most of the year were entirely different scenarios when the risk was worth the reward. This play was not the case regardless of the emotion in the air.
 
I was 50/50 about the call. It's a gimme kick and it puts us up by three TDs. On the other hand, it was SO close to a first down and so close to the end zone. That's tough to pass up.

Like others have said, I understood going for it but I didn't like the call. Our line doesn't overpower anyone. If you're gonna go for it, have Griff sneak it again. Chances are he doesn't get stoned twice. And if you think he will ... kick the damn field goal. :)
 
I've heard time and again that this team, from the coaches on down don't have the killer instinct. Going for it more often then not seems to say, we're trying break that trend.
 
Im with the majority here. Why not? We've been really effective on 4th down this season. You now have a chance, deep in the opposing teams territory, to essentially put their lights out for good. The play call was horrible. In the chat, i mentioned i didnt like the play call and that i was ridiculous. My personal choice of play calls would have been Morris on a run between the tackles, or a bootleg with a pass option.

Other then the play call itself, i had no problem with the decision.
 
I'm of a mind of you always take the points unless you're down bigtime. In the Carolina game we went for 3 4th downs on one series an I was for the 1st 2 but against the last for 2 reasons.

1. the first two we weren't within sure lock FG range and the O was successfully moving the ball.

2.The last was inside the ten and an absolute gimme for points while their D had finally dug in and stopped us 3 straight times.

I felt the same way Sunday...yea its'; short but points are points and this would cushion the lead. Plus momentum is key in these situations and if the momentum is against you going for it is foolish. That said can we get away from the gimmick plays...we have a road grating beast in Morris who we should be loading up behind and going for it with...either that or put the ball in RG3's hands and let him make something happen with his legs. Banks or a 4 yard pitchout against a team that has most certainly spent the week practicing horizontal pursuit and stretch plays? Just dumb.
 
Go for it. I have read more places I can count that under a certain distance the math favors going for it and I hope this trend continues. I think it makes it tougher on the defense when they come into a game knowing the other team is likely to go for it and they are going to have to defend 10 yards for 4 plays as often as not.
 

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