05 December 2006

TMQ sux

Gregg Easterbrook riffs in today's TMQ about coaches punting when far behind early in the 4th quarter and then subsequently going for it on fourth down with almost no hope remaining. His first point is arguably valid — coaches are too timid about going for it on fourth-and-short when far behind with, say, 10 minutes to play. His second point, about then going for it with no hope left is idiotic and beside the point:

Then, still trailing 24-10 with four minutes remaining, Redskins deep
in their territory, Washington faced fourth-and-4. At this point it
made no difference whether the Redskins punted, went for it or started
square dancing.

And then he rants on about this. It's insane! In that situation of course you go for it. It's possible (although unlikely) to score, and then get one more possession (via either a defensive stop or onside kick) to try again. It's not like no team has ever come back in that situation, so why roll over and die by punting? This is what irks me about TMQ: he always acts like he knows everything and everyone else is a moron.

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