Going For It on 4th and 1 - Lost us the Season!! (Merged)

[SkinsFanAnt]

The clock management was perfect, despite what some are saying. We were within scoring range and were going to leave no time for TB to stage a comeback; that is perfect clock management. The picks are not Gibbs' fault.

Clock management perfect? You mean in the first half right?...:doh:

Picks are not Gibbs' fault?...no....but the bad play design was :doh:...even Bus noticed it :doh:

[SkinzFoLife]

QB sneak or QB Dive over the pile should've been called.

Even the announcer knew we would be running over the left side, so if he predicted it, than surely the Bucs D knew we were going to do it.

The microcosm of Gibbs II on that one play. Our play calling is way too predictable.

[Aston]

If JG had elected to just go for 3 points in the Red Zone we would have been able to just get another 3 to tie the game at then end of the 4th Q. Go into OT and kick another 3 to win the game.

Thanks JG for listening to all of the fans who have said you don't have any guts. Why did you have to listen to them:doh: We are not the Pats!!!

I guess there is always next year!

Jesus H. Christ.

Did you watch the game? Did you watch how we adjusted to what they were doing on offense? Did you see how they could do NOTHING to move the ball?

If so, you might have inferred that part of the reason we went for it on 4th down was because if we didn't make it (which we didn't), they'd be pinned on their goal line (which they were), and based on the way we were handling their offense, they wouldn't likely go very far (they went 3 and out after getting 1 yard), giving us the ball around midfield, in perfect position to get that field goal that "lost the season".

And if you watched the game, you might have also noticed that we did just that, 12 plays and 36 yards after they went 3 and out, kicking a field goal just over 6 minutes after they stopped us on 4th and 1.

Quit whinning when you didn't watch the game or if you have no idea what the hell you're talking about.

[Peregrine]

I disagree that it lost us the season, but I do think it was another in a long line of poor decisions.

Some people will say that you cant win them all. Some will say its easy to second guess after the fact. Some will say you cant please people because last week he was villified for not going for it, and this week its the opposite. What these people forget is that there isnt some sheet that says "Always go for it on 4th and a foot" "Never go for it on 4th and 1 yard". There is no rule to it. You do it based on the game, and how it has progressed. Its what a head coach does. The HC has to make decisions in the game regarding how his team and his opponents are playing.

Its why we were so bad against the Pats, and why the Eagles were so effective. We tried to do the same old thing against the Patriots, and they picked us apart. We decided if we could play our own game, we didnt need to put up a lot of points. The Eagles took it too the Pats. They knew they had to put up points, so they went for it at times when they wouldnt normally have done that. Its all about the game situation at THAT moment. The onside kick was a perfect example of desperate times calling for desperate measures. We merely let the Pats have their way. The Eagles forced the Pats to take chances and make mistakes.

JG just hasnt done a good job of that this year. He hasnt read game situations very well, and hes gone for it when he shouldnt, and hasnt gone for it when he should. In the Eagles game(and I said this BEFORE the kick), I said we should go for it. Why? Because we had run the ball up and down the field on them. The offense was clicking, and our defense was playing poorly. I didnt see us stopping the Eagles when they got the ball back, and I didnt see them stopping us there. But the Bucs game was a different game, versus a different team. Right when that decision was made I knew it was trouble. Why? Because we HADNT been able to run the ball at all, and our D was playing lights out. You knew TB wasnt going to be able to do anything offensively.

Granted, it was the turnovers that killed us, but poor coaching decisions havent helped. Its always one thing or the other, week to week. The one thing you can count on about the skins, is that you cant count on them.

[hobbie8046]

Clock management perfect? You mean in the first half right?...:doh:

Picks are not Gibbs' fault?...no....but the bad play design was :doh:...even Bus noticed it :doh:

How was it not perfect? If you take away the pick, we would have gone up 20-19 with mere seconds remaining on the clock. That is textbook; score the game winner with as little time remaining as possible so the other team has no shot.

Was it poor clock management when Dungy ran the kneel-down to let the clock down to :03 before kicking the game winner?

The play design was fine; JC should have thrown is somewhere else. Moss was doubled up and there was a safety playing a zone in the immediate area, as well. If the play design were so poor, we would not have moved the ball at will in the second half or on those last two drives.

You people are just desperate to be as negative as possible sometimes; the last two games have been very positive for this team. We now have an offense which can nearly impose their will on other teams, and getting the ball in the end zone will come (JC will not become a high school quarterback every time they get in the red zone for the rest of his career). If he can do at the end of games what he now does during the rest of the games, this team has a bright future. We now have another defensive hole due to today's events, but we're so much better than we were at the beginning of the year, and we're still not healthy. We get Randy Thomas back, which will make a difference. Imagine if we still had Carlos and Sean as well as Jansen and Thomas all year. This team would be in competition with the Cowboys for the division lead and probably would have beaten them by two scores. It's not the coaches' fault.

[youngestson]

Actually going for it on 4th down and failing cost us the game. Along with two bad picks in the red-zone.

Just another new way to loose a game. The season just keeps going down hill more and more quickly every week.

[youngestson]

I am not going to read all the other posts, but this is the one that makes most sense.

Going for it on 4th down did not lose the game. The outcome would be totally different if we kicked the FG. They would not have been backed up and conservative play calling, etc etc.

Who's to say they don't return the kickoff into our territory or worse?

Live with the decision. The turnovers killed us.

As well stated as can be.

[RODAN1054]

If JG had elected to just go for 3 points in the Red Zone we would have been able to just get another 3 to tie the game at then end of the 4th Q. Go into OT and kick another 3 to win the game.

Thanks JG for listening to all of the fans who have said you don't have any guts. Why did you have to listen to them:doh: We are not the Pats!!!

I guess there is always next year!

hypocrite fans, all u do is cry call that coach is to conserv. Last week fans cried because he didnt go on 4th and one, you cant have it both ways

[stwasm]

I read the thread-starter and I can't help but wonder how many threads there would be today complaining about Gibbs' conservative nature if they'd opted for the field goal instead of going for it on 4th and 1.