The San Diego Chargers have held a number of fourth-quarter leads this season, only to see them whittle away. But, yesterday, the roles were reversed.
Their opponent, the Atlanta Falcons, held a 17-point lead in the second half. San Diego slowly came back, eventually forcing overtime.
The Falcons had the good fortune to win the coin toss in OT, and given their ability to move the ball down the field all game, it looked like the making of another heartbreaker for San Diego.
Instead, Atlanta found themselves faced with a 4th-and-one at their own 45-yard line. Rather than punt, head coach Dan Quinn decided to go for it. If you watched the game, you know it backfired in extraordinary fashion.
The Falcons were stuffed on a fairly basic running play, and the Chargers quickly moved into field-goal range to win the game.
Let's put aside the actual play call for a moment; the decision to go for it could, perhaps, be predicated on the belief that giving Philip Rivers the ball with a chance to win isn't a good idea.
However, coach Quinn gave a much simpler explanation.
From Vaughn McClure of ESPN:
Dan Quinn said it was his gut feeling to go with fourth and 1 in OT. Plain and simple.
Gut feelings are great, when they work out. If a coach is absolutely convinced that he has to go for it and makes the bold decision to do so, he might as well be bold with the play call, too.
The Falcons lined up with eight men on the line, allowing San Diego to easily stack the box with nine defenders and blow up the play. Meanwhile, Julio Jones, who had torched the Chargers to that point, was wide right with a five-yard cushion from the corner in single coverage. I rarely nitpick, and hindsight is indeed 20-20, but putting the ball in your best player's hands in a critical moment doesn't seem like an impractical idea, especially given the look the Chargers gave them.
But, then again, the decision to go for it was based on a gut feeling, rather than a well-reasoned thought.
Follow Us
Subscribe