[emperor penguin]

Still shaking over the finish in Seattle. I thought we were done!!! But hold the phone baby....I still cannot believe that Romo dropped that snap. Then he's headed for the end zone and I'm thinking that this can't be happening. And Jordan Babineaux comes all the way across the field and makes the tackle of the year. Wow!!

hahaha watching the clip of that agin on youtube, the block by Gramatica after he realized what happened is the funniest thing I've ever seen, he softly tries to shove Babineaux which doesn't do anything at all, I think a stiff breeze would would have done more to block Babineaux from tackling Romo. If Sebastian Janikowski was Dallas' kicker Romo would have made it to the end zone for sure.

[KittieKatFish]

[emperor penguin]

I still can't wrap my head around the fact that the Eagles punted on 4th and 15 at the end of the game. They went for it on 4th and 10 but 4th and 15 was too far??? cratch: cratch: cratch: cratch:

Oh well, they had a good run

[tigerthelion]

I still can't wrap my head around the fact that the Eagles punted on 4th and 15 at the end of the game. They went for it on 4th and 10 but 4th and 15 was too far??? cratch: cratch: cratch: cratch:

Oh well, they had a good run

Dumb move by Andy Reid. Real dumb move. Even if they didn't make the 4th down attempt, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. They still would have had to stop the Saints from getting a 1st down whether it was on the 1 yd line, 20 yd line, 40 yd line or whatever. The Saints would have had the ball on the Eagle's 40 yard line or thereabouts. Maybe the Saints would have run for a 1st down there. Maybe they would have kicked a FG in which case the Eagles still would have had time to come back. Reid took away his team's chance to keep the ball.

[opiated]

reid is a shitty play caller

[tigerthelion]

You CANNOT let the Pats stay close until the end. I repeat, YOU CANNOT let Brady have a chance to take his team down the field late in the 4th quarter.

BTW, I thought LT was a class act. He acted like a spoiled child after the game. Way to be classy, LT. cratch:

Oh yeah, nice job throwing the red flag there Marty and giving up a timeout. Marty S comes up short once again in the playoffs. He's gotta be one of the very worst clutch coaches in football history.

[thedarkcanuck]

i actually laughed out loud when the ref said they were reviewing if the guy was down by contact on that fumble, he couldn`t be more vertical when he fumbled

[The Horrible Esthete]

I still can't wrap my head around the fact that the Eagles punted on 4th and 15 at the end of the game. They went for it on 4th and 10 but 4th and 15 was too far??? cratch: cratch: cratch: cratch:

Oh well, they had a good run

Dumb move by Andy Reid. Real dumb move. Even if they didn't make the 4th down attempt, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. They still would have had to stop the Saints from getting a 1st down whether it was on the 1 yd line, 20 yd line, 40 yd line or whatever. The Saints would have had the ball on the Eagle's 40 yard line or thereabouts. Maybe the Saints would have run for a 1st down there. Maybe they would have kicked a FG in which case the Eagles still would have had time to come back. Reid took away his team's chance to keep the ball.

I dunno fellas. I'm sure you've heard many an analyst say, "There ain't too many plays in the playbook designed to pick up a 4th and 15." Ten yards actually is a much more manageable distance to gain on a 4th down. 15 yards is a prayer.

After that flase start I fully expected a punt.

The choice boils down to whether your chances are better picking up 15 yards or more on a 4th down, or your defense forcing a 3-and-out. I think, in the NFL, the statistics show that your chances of successfully converting a 4th and 15 are far, FAR worse.

Hindsight, of course, is 20/20......

[emperor penguin]

I still can't wrap my head around the fact that the Eagles punted on 4th and 15 at the end of the game. They went for it on 4th and 10 but 4th and 15 was too far??? cratch: cratch: cratch: cratch:

Oh well, they had a good run

Dumb move by Andy Reid. Real dumb move. Even if they didn't make the 4th down attempt, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. They still would have had to stop the Saints from getting a 1st down whether it was on the 1 yd line, 20 yd line, 40 yd line or whatever. The Saints would have had the ball on the Eagle's 40 yard line or thereabouts. Maybe the Saints would have run for a 1st down there. Maybe they would have kicked a FG in which case the Eagles still would have had time to come back. Reid took away his team's chance to keep the ball.

I dunno fellas. I'm sure you've heard many an analyst say, "There ain't too many plays in the playbook designed to pick up a 4th and 15." Ten yards actually is a much more manageable distance to gain on a 4th down. 15 yards is a prayer.

After that flase start I fully expected a punt.

The choice boils down to whether your chances are better picking up 15 yards or more on a 4th down, or your defense forcing a 3-and-out. I think, in the NFL, the statistics show that your chances of successfully converting a 4th and 15 are far, FAR worse.

Hindsight, of course, is 20/20......

I see what you're saying, but with the amount of time that was on the clock, 1:40 or something, I don't see how you can't go for the 4th and 15

[The Horrible Esthete]

Well, if they had force the Saints into a 3-and-out, they would've gotten the ball back with good field position and about 1:20. That leaves plenty of time for a gaining 35 yds and kicking the game tying FG. Failure to convert that 4th and 15 = game over then and there, due to field position.

I don't fault Reid for that decision.

[tigerthelion]

Well, if they had force the Saints into a 3-and-out, they would've gotten the ball back with good field position and about 1:20. That leaves plenty of time for a gaining 35 yds and kicking the game tying FG. Failure to convert that 4th and 15 = game over then and there, due to field position.

I don't fault Reid for that decision.

Wrong. Why would the game be over? They still had to stop NO from getting a first down anyway. They could have used their two timeouts and hoped to stop Deuce from running for a first down. Then NO would have attempted a FG. There would be time left on the clock for the Eagles to drive down the field in hopes of a touchdown. Actually, maybe NO would have missed the fg attempt and then Philly would have been in even better condition. Barring a touchdown by New Orleans, field position was almost irrelevant.

[opiated]

phillys "d" was obviously tired by the end of the game..it didn't matter where the ball was, they weren't gonna stop anybody...you go for it on 4th down

[AndGraceToo]

GEAUX SAINTS!!!

Hey it's all I got...

Panthers fired about 5 coaches yesterday, including
Dan "Run the Draw, again" Henning.

:rambo:

[sean.bonner]

Alls I knows is thats the Colts are still playing.

Its time to get my hopes up, and then be forced to wait another year!

[The Horrible Esthete]

Wrong. Why would the game be over? They still had to stop NO from getting a first down anyway. They could have used their two timeouts and hoped to stop Deuce from running for a first down. Then NO would have attempted a FG. There would be time left on the clock for the Eagles to drive down the field in hopes of a touchdown. Actually, maybe NO would have missed the fg attempt and then Philly would have been in even better condition. Barring a touchdown by New Orleans, field position was almost irrelevant.

With all due respect, how can you say that I'm "wrong"? Remember that guys like Andy Reid are where they are because they have far better credentials in making these decisions than you or I. I feel much more confident siding with the professional elite than I would with my complete lack of credentials in coordinating an NFL offense.

Now -- If New olreans kicks a FG, the Eagles would have had about 0:45 to drive the length of the field, with NO timeouts, to score a touchdown.

That would take a virtual miracle. Good luck with all that.

Reid's realistic choices were:

1. Try to convert a highly improbable 4th & 15 own conversion, and in the event it fails, hope to stop three runs and force a missed FG, and hope to gain 40 yards on the ensuing possession with no timeouts in less than a minute and kick the tying field goal.

-or-

2. Punt, hope to force a three and out, and hope to gain 40 yards on the ensuing possession with no timeouts in less than a minute and kick the tying field goal.

I'm pretty sure that a concensus of experienced coaching staffs would go with option #2. Reid knows his team better than any of us. I'm sure he and his staff thought that there was virtually no chance of converting that 4th down, and wasn't going to then pray for a missed FG if they could stop the Saints rushers.