Dallas/Seahawks - The Mistakes

[Dave_in-NC]

Seattle's slant play on the goal line was no worse a call than when Dallas did the shuffle toss to Witten on the goal line. The major difference is Dallas scored.

True but Romo was running to the side, that at least distracted the defense.

 

[rpntex]

If I was to call a pass play it would have been some thing with a roll out. Get the ball out of traffic and at the very least let Wilson try to run it in if every one was covered. I'm ok if you are going to pass but a slant in the middle of traffic from the 1? Stupid.

Exactly my thoughts.

 

[rpntex]

True but Romo was running to the side, that at least distracted the defense.

Seriously? Seattle's call was a lot more risky. Wilson threw into traffics, targeting an inexperienced receiver (18 career catches). The throw to Witten didn't have defenders bearing down on the receiver due to play action, and the receiver himself has a few more catches over his career than Lockette. We know that if it comes down to it, Witten will at least put up a stronger fight than what Lockette did.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

Seriously? Seattle's call was a lot more risky. Wilson threw into traffics, targeting an inexperienced receiver (18 career catches). The throw to Witten didn't have defenders bearing down on the receiver due to play action, and the receiver himself has a few more catches over his career than Lockette. We know that if it comes down to it, Witten will at least put up a stronger fight than what Lockette did.

That's what I'm saying. Our play was a tom LES risky.

 

[MikeT22]

What I don't LOVE, is when they made those plays. Game 10 with more season left to play, you make those plays. Game 0 when it's make a play or go home, all of those plays were terrible.

If you like to gamble, be smart. But you don't gamble with your season on the line unless you absolutely have to. 20 seconds to go, it's beast mode. It's only 2nd down, don't be greedy. Get out of shotgun, make it 50/50 run pass ratio, they would have sold out for beast mode had they gone under center. If you then playaction boot leg, then no one knows what's coming. I'm starting to hate coaches who use shotgun on the 1, and especially coaches that go empty set on 4th and short.

So to sum it up, those plays were good, but not when the season is on the line.

Precisely. 4th and 2 with the season hanging in the balance calls for picking up the first down, not going deep on a riskier all or nothing play. Dez almost made it work but that's too much of an unnecessary gamble to take in that situation.

 

[Risen Star]

I can't call it dumb to go to your best player in that critical situation.

Dez Bryant does special things on the football field. He made that play. He was going to make those plays the following week too if you just give him the chance to make it.

The Cowboys relied on their two best players, Romo and Dez, on that play. The Seahawks did not play to their strength. Instead they thought they had a franchise QB.

It was probably the most idiotic decision I've ever seen by any football coach, considering the circumstances and the overall makeup of his roster.

On a side note, can you imagine how much worse it would be for Seahawks fans had they not won the Super Bowl last year? You'd have the Steelers screw job and now this. They'd be swinging over their shower drains right now.

 

[mahoneybill]

Kinda reminds you of a guy who plays in Dallas.

Tony has done this more than once, but doesn't get the credit he deserves for making something out of nothing, as many of these are not the original called play

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Yes, there was a lot of time on the clock. Unlike Detroit fans and unlike those that were blindly supporting Detroit, I have always acknowledged that and felt Green Bay still had a good chance of winning or tying the game if the refs had made the *correct* call, so I don't demand that the Packers and their fans apologize for winning like so many of the Detroit fans and their sudden supporters did when we had a call that wasn't reviewable and there was 8 minutes left in the game.

But, that's another point..

Anyway...

Humans are typically horrible predictors of their fate, particularly in sport. We try to predict our fate in sports and that that is what causes us to coach and play with fear instead of focusing solely on success and what we need to do to be successful.

Football and golf are probably the worst sports at this.

Take a look at that Lions game. They didn't get the 3rd and 1 and they had the ball at the Dallas 40 yard line. They 'played with fear' and punted the ball. What happened next? Their punter shanked the punt for about 8-yards. Who would have predicted that?

Just because you make what is *thought of* as an aggressive play doesn't mean it's always risky. And just because you make what is *thought of* as a safe play, doesn't mean it's always safe.

It's the same when you see coaches refusing to go for it on 4th and short near the other team's goal line. Yeah, they kicked the field goal and got the 3-points. But, they could have gotten the TD or if they didn't, they have superior field position to force the opponent to eventually punt it back to them with good field position.

I have zero problem with the playcall because we've seen Dez and Romo make that play more often than not. If it was to somebody like Williams instead, I would have a problem.

Why?

Because that would have been a play somewhat out of the ordinary for Williams to make. But, it's not a play out of the ordinary for Dez to make.

Also....let's say that is a catch. We score the TD, then we score 2-point conversion. That puts us up by 3. Then the Packers drive and it gets stalled out and they kick a FG to tie. What's to say that there's not enough time for Romo to get the ball back and have Bailey kick a FG to win the game in regulation?

When your players start dividing their focus between failure and success, they usually fail. When they are solely focus on success and what it takes to be successful, that is when they make plays. We went for the jugular because we had that play, the refs just screwed us. But, we played like winners for the first time in 20 years. I don't care what the scoreboard says.






YR