Random Sports Babbling Post 2

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Well, the Phils are down 3-1. They should of went with Lee last night. He has had alot of rest prior to the series, so I don't understand not throwing him game 4. He has never done it before, but there has to be a 1st time for everything. When it's on the line, he would of stepped up. Bad move by Manuel. Oh well, I hope he keeps 'em alive tonight.

 

Coming back from 3-1 is rough, but I am hoping for some signs of life from the Phils offense...

 

I hear ya Saber. Utley and Howard really need to wake their bats up. The Phils are the best Road team in baseball over the past 2 seasons, so hopefully Yankee stadium will jumpstart them again.

 

Haha Yankee Stadium is good for anyone's offense, though. The homer Utley hit in... game two? (or maybe one, I can't remember) was a fly out to mid-right in any other stadium, but it just kept going and going and going... methinks they need to rework something there so the wind current doesn't float the balls clear out of the stadium.

 

Wow! Sachin Tendulkar is playing one of the greatest one day innings of all time! 168 not out so far, chasing down Australia's 350. Unbelievable stuff.

 

Was playing basketball today and pretty much got punched in the face, leaving a bloody nose from this guy... NFL WR Brandon Gibson.

Sure he doesn't have a catch yet in his career, but the guy was an absolute monster at WSU and is the schools all time receiving yardage too. I can deal with it, makes a story.

 

Ooh, India lost by 3 runs. Tendulkar is a legend.

 

Go the All Whites! Playing Bahrain tonight for a chance to make it to the World Cup finals!!

 

Well... Asia Cup 2009 (university basketball tourney) championship is today. Chicken and Team Korea look to take down the dominant Philippine team. Best matchup of the tournament, most rivalry (lots of friends on each side). Should be intense and fun.

Hopefully I can keep doing well, last game had 12 points in 14 minutes. 10 per game overall with good FG% and low turnovers.

 

Woohoo! New Zealand to the World Cup finals for the first time since 1982! Massive!

 

As I hoped for, Ireland managed to stop France scoring and stuck one in ourselves. It just wasn't in the right net .

 

Did anyone see the end of the New England vs. Indy game last night? What was Belichik thinking? Going for it on 4th & 2 on his own 20 something yard line? With no timeouts left, removing any chance of a challenge on a close plat to boot? That dumb move will bite him in the arse come playoff positioning time.

 

Me too. I couldn't believe it when they actually snapped the ball. I am guessing that they thought Indy wouldn't be prepared, as they would be thinking what we are. Head games. I will give Belichik some kudos for trying it, that does take some brass, but that was not the time to do it. They don't have their division wrapped up yet. Miami has a good division record and still has a chance of sliding in their now. They just opened the door a little more for them.

 

I think he had to get the play off - the punt would have landed on the Colt's 30 yard line with 2 minutes for Manning to score, which he would have. The only way to stop them was to keep the ball. What they shouldn't have down, however, is call 2 ****ING TIMEOUTS IN THE SAME PLAY!!! Without a timeout they couldn't challenge... that was a horribly played ending.

We should have won by a bunch more too, but we had two turnovers in the endzone... +14 points would have helped.

 

They definitely kept the door opened for the Colts, couldn't put em away. Punting from your own 27 is the right call that late in the game. The D only needed to pull it together for one series at the end. You can kick toward the sideline to negate a return. Rolling the dice on 4th & 2 was too risky. The odds are gainst you on that one, even if your the Pats.

 

I understand what Belichick was thinking. I think he had such confidence in his offense, that he thought he had a better chance of picking up two yards, than preventing Manning from scoring. I can see his point, but the smart money there is to punt. I think the flaw in his logic is that there is no guarantee that if you punt Manning would score a TD. Sure, there's no guarantee that he's going to score from the 29 either, and I have no way of knowing what the relative odds are between having to go 29 yards, compared to say, 70 yards (assuming about a 40-yard punt), but I have to assume your odds are much better in the case of the former.

I think he gave Manning way too much credit, and didn't place enough confidence in his defense. I also agree with Saber that the final Pats sequence was friggin' terrible. Belichick is always thinking a play or two ahead, so if you've already decided that you're going for it on 4th down if you don't make it on 3rd down, then why not run on 3rd down when you only need 2? Of course, they called a timeout after 3rd down, so maybe he had not made the decision yet, but your job as a coach is to think ahead.

I didn't like the call, I would have punted, but I have the suspicion that if they had converted the 4th down, run out the clock, and won the game, everyone today would not be saying what a terrible decision Belichick made, but how it was a gutsy call, and proves how great a coach he is. That's Monday Morning Quarterbacking, which I hate. It is possible to make the right call and have it turn out wrong, and you can make the wrong call and have it turn out right. But we should not judge how good of a call it was based solely on the result. A bad call is a bad call, even if it had worked.

 

Such confidence is not merited this year. Or you could call it over-confidence. They are not that good. They are good, but not like 2 yrs ago "Good". Not many coaches would of made that call. I usually see the other end of the spectrum in Philly, Reid has no balls in tight spots of big games. He tries the trickery only in mid-game.

 

I'm not sure I'd call it over-confidence. I mean, they needed two yards. Are you being over-confident when you have future Hall of Famers in Moss and Brady, arguably the best slot receiver in the game (Welker), and one of the best RBs in terms of catching passes out of the backfield (Faulk) to think on any given pass play that you cannot pick up two yards? Also, the reports that came out yesterday suggested that Brady asked Bill to go for it. If your Super Bowl winning, future Hall of Fame QB is telling you "We can do this", and you're a coach that's willing to gamble as Belichick undoubtedly is, I can see how they thought they could make it.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not a Patriot apologist, and I don't even particularly LIKE the Pats. Heck, as a team they are not an overly likable group of guys, from the coach on down, and I was rooting against them. But if Faulk catches that ball the first time, without bobbling it initially, that's definitely a first down - he's a good yard beyond the needed line of gain when the ball gets to him.

I will agree that the safer call was to punt, and I will agree that Belichick's decision likely cost them the game. He took a calculated (and some would say unnecessary) risk, which blew up in his face. That doesn't mean he's suddenly not a good coach. And I think it's definitely going overboard to suggest the Patriots are not that good and it's over-confidence to think that they could pick up two yards.

The Patiots played poorly the first few games of the year until Brady got his game legs back, but they are 6-3 overall (and two plays away from being 8-1), with their only two losses in the last two months were in overtime against the Broncos in Denver (a team that has always given them fits) and just now when they came up just short against one of the two remaining undefeated teams. So I'd say they are, in fact, pretty darn good. There's very few teams in the league that I think are clearly better than they are. I'd say they're top 5 (and there actually are only 4 teams with better records than them - Colts, Saints, Vikings, Bengals).