Jim Harbaugh Is An Idiot.

[DeMarco Murray 29]

That's why you run three straight rushing plays where your running back is doing the running.

I guarantee every single player on the 49ers offense is pissed the **** off this morning and wishing they had been given the chance to put it in the end zone. I highly doubt they enjoy having their head coach announce to the viewing public that he has zero faith in them to even run 3 time-consuming rushing plays.

And for the record, why are we all acting like those fumbles and INTs and what not couldn't STILL happen on the subsequent 49ers drives? lol...Would you rather have Alex Smith turn the ball over with the team up by 14 points or up by 10 points?

I hear ya, Cali. I am not saying what Harbaugh did or did not do was right. I was just trying to see it from his perspective. I would have took the penalty and the first down. But like I said earlier, with Romo sits to pee or Smith at QB, it's a toss up to what could happen.

[Ken]

It was one of the worst decisions I have ever seen. It will be interesting to see if the national media calls him out on it.

Not only was it a disaster strategically, it also is a slap in the face of your team. He basically told his offense - I don't trust you.

far, far from one of the worst decisions. You would be the same person on here calling him dumb if he took the penalty and Smith fumbled it back to the cowboys on the very next play.

I personnally would have done the same thing after a 55 yard fg.

[Symbol]

im not so sure about it being stupid, i mean Alex smith was getting sacked like every other play, so they could of lost yards or thrown an INT or fumbled. All of which happened in the game, he took a two score lead over the risk of turning the ball over or losing field position.

That is just what i thought was going through his head. Its understandable.

No, it's not understandable, and this isn't even speaking as a Redskins fan. What he did was tell Alex Smith, who just this off season got this great vote of confidence, that he has absolutely no confidence in him. He's saying that I don't believe in you because you'll blow it and we'll have to try and get the 3 anyway or you'll turn it over.

Taking a penalty that gives you a chance to score a TD is the correct call. If you're afraid that Smith will turn it over, give it to one of the top backs in the league in Frank Gore, maybe he breaks one for 22. If not, Akers is pretty much automatic from that distance.

[Ken]

That's why you run three straight rushing plays where your running back is doing the running.

I guarantee every single player on the 49ers offense is pissed the **** off this morning and wishing they had been given the chance to put it in the end zone. I highly doubt they enjoy having their head coach announce to the viewing public that he has zero faith in them to even run 3 time-consuming rushing plays.

And for the record, why are we all acting like those fumbles and INTs and what not couldn't STILL happen on the subsequent 49ers drives? lol...Would you rather have Alex Smith turn the ball over with the team up by 14 points or up by 10 points?

You take the points, plain and simple. If Romo sits to pee threw it through the back of the end zone instead of running it we r 2-0. Nothing is guaranteed in this league, that is why i cringe when a player gets stopped short of the goaline bc so many crazy things can happen.

[Roger.Staubach]

I think we'll just have to disagree.

Holding penalties, botching the snap...botching the handoff... If you're going to be so conservative that you ONLY run the ball three times what is the point of making the kicker trot out there again? If they took the 15 yards and gained no more, that is still a 40-yard kick.

[mike42]

He's young coach and is doing a damn good job in NFL.

It was late in the game, Jim felt that getting any type of points on board is necessary. Sure, it may have shown no confidence in the offense. Jim saw it as removing the 3 points from the scoreboard and didn't want to take any chances of a turnover. If 49ers won, media wouldn't be on him about this.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

far, far from one of the worst decisions. You would be the same person on here calling him dumb if he took the penalty and Smith fumbled it back to the cowboys on the very next play.

I personnally would have done the same thing after a 55 yard fg.

You know what's so funny?...Is that for all the people saying "What if this happened" or "what if that happened", you guys are overlooking one damn important fact:

There is one HUGE "what if" that DID happen ..."What if the Cowboys go on to get a TD with enough time on the clock to maneuver into FG range?"

I would love to see stats on how many times teams fight back from being 10 points down with most of the 4th quarter to go as opposed to teams fighting back from being 14 points down.

---------- Post added September-19th-2011 at 10:26 AM ----------

You take the points, plain and simple. If Romo sits to pee threw it through the back of the end zone instead of running it we r 2-0.

Oh, really?...What happened to all the 'what if' scenarios? If Romo sits to pee threw it through the back of the end zone instead of trying to run it in, "what if" they end up missing the FG?...How many people could say that there was a window of room for Romo sits to pee to at least try and run it in for a TD, but the Cowboys ended up losing because he didn't even try?

Nothing is guaranteed in this league, that is why i cringe when a player gets stopped short of the goaline bc so many crazy things can happen.

Exactly...nothing IS guaranteed, especially a 10-point lead with 10 minutes still left on the clock lol. The last thing any coach should be doing is thinking those three points on the board will guarantee anything.

I still hold to the thought that, if my offense hasn't been able to generate a drive that gets them anywhere close to the red zone and they are suddenly AT the red zone (for whatever reason) with a fresh set of downs, you take 1,000% complete advantage of that. If they lose due to some boneheaded play on the player's part, at least as head coach you put them in position TO win it themselves. I'm not a fan of a coach basically saying "I'm gonna win this game for you guys through my decision making".

[HBnotBlades]

There was 11:12 left on the clock. If there was only 2 minutes left I'd understand the call, but there was enough time for Dallas to potentially have 3 possessions. In my view that's indefensible. You take the ball at the 22 every single time and give your offense a chance to score.

[doncherry]

I think we'll just have to disagree.

Holding penalties, botching the snap...botching the handoff... If you're going to be so conservative that you ONLY run the ball three times what is the point of making the kicker trot out there again? If they took the 15 yards and gained no more, that is still a 40-yard kick.

Because they would have had an opportunity to burn the clock. Dallas scored the tying field goal with no time left. I understand your point about the risk of taking points off the board, but time was a huge factor. If nothing else, he puts Romo sits to pee under even more duress because they are getting the ball with even less time on the clock...I consider it an early Christmas gift.

[Ken]

There was 11:12 left on the clock. If there was only 2 minutes left I'd understand the call, but there was enough time for Dallas to potentially have 3 possessions. In my view that's indefensible. You take the ball at the 22 every single time and give your offense a chance to score.

In my view, the offense had the ball a couple of more times and did nothing with it. That was where the game was lost. Leave it to skins fans and the media to harp on a sound decision with 11 minutes to go in the game.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

For those who feel Harbaugh made the right decision, let me ask you something:

Let's say you're the head coach of the 49ers. The Cowboys end up having to punt early in the 4ht quarter and your punt returner returns it all the way down to Dallas' 22 yard line. Fans are cheering, players are pumping their fists, cheerleaders are jumping up and down. And there is 11 minutes left in the game.

Right as you start to call your first play, Jason Garrett sends a message over to you by way of a referee: he'll let you have 3 points automatically, don't have to do anything...however, if you agree to it you can't run any plays and have to kick off back to the Cowboys so that they get the ball back immediately.

What do you do?...Do you say "screw that" and keep your offense on the field?...Or do you nod your head and say "Ok" and take the 3 extra points, and tell your offense to come back to the sideline and take a seat?

[ptr77]

Because they would have had an opportunity to burn the clock. Dallas scored the tying field goal with no time left. I understand your point about the risk of taking points off the board, but time was a huge factor. If nothing else, he puts Romo sits to pee under even more duress because they are getting the ball with even less time on the clock...I consider it an early Christmas gift.

A guy I know made a comment that after the kicker just kicked a 55 yarder, the coach could have just accepted the penalty, kneeled the ball 3 times for a loss of 3 yards, and then got the kicker to kick a 12 yard shorter field goal at 43 yards and much less time on the clock. I know that would be idiotic, however it would have been less idiotic than what Harbaugh did. Harbaugh showed no faith in his offense at all and refused to run the clock down. His logic is severely flawed, that 15 yards did nothing but guarantee a touchback (which happens about 50% of the time now anyways). He could have used those yards to at the very least kill time. Heck, he could have ran three QB sneaks.

[SkinsFTW]

Surprisingly, all Dallas fans are saying that accepting a free 1st down with a 7 point lead from the 20 is a bad idea.

They would have lost.

First of all their kicker is Davis Akers. Unless this was very very windy or snowing in San Fran, and it never snows and is very rarely that windy in San Fran, he's going to get 3 from inside 40 99% of the time.

Second, they would have burned off at least 3 minutes from the clock and maybe even scored a TD. That 3 minutes easily is worth 7 points by itself. Teams score 7 in the final 3 minutes of the game in MOST games when they need to. They would have taken that away too.

This isn't 1970. The rules protecting receivers, QB's, OL being allowed to hold defenders, make it an easy job to get an easy score in under 2 minutes. Sure, maybe keeping the points was a great idea in 1970 when the defense would have been allowed to tee off on the QB, physically beat up the receivers but the game isn't like that anymore. Back then 10 points was a lock for a win. Teams didn't come back. Now it happens every week sometimes several times.

Harbaugh basically traded 3 points for the equivalent of 10-14, not to mention his teams confidence.

[pjfootballer]

I thought it was a mistake to take the 3. You get the ball at the 22 and you could have run Gore three times and wasted another 3 minuts or so, kicked the FG and had 7 minutes left in the game.

[Mad Mike]

Worst game management EVER.

15 yards would have made another FG attempt almost automatic and with 11+ minutes to go, the Cowboys were shredding the 49rs D on previous possessions. THE ONLY choice that made sense was to take the 15 and use as much clock as possible with three runs and a follow up FG if you cant get the first down. One minute off the clock and there is no last second FG for the tie. Game over, SF wins. :doh:

[SkinInsite]

I could see if the penalty wouldn't have given the 49ers a first down but to decline is first down is just moronic.

[KingGibbs]

I was watching the game and couldn't understand why he would kick instead of:

1.Fresh set of downs.

2.Take time off the clock by going to the ground game.

3.Force the Pukes to use all of their TO's.

4.You were going to most likely kick for three anyway, but with all of the above coming into play.

A new coach and he had a chance to make a statement and blew it.

[Roger.Staubach]

Surprisingly, all Dallas fans are saying that accepting a free 1st down with a 7 point lead from the 20 is a bad idea.

They would have lost.

First of all their kicker is Davis Akers. Unless this was very very windy or snowing in San Fran, and it never snows and is very rarely that windy in San Fran, he's going to get 3 from inside 40 99% of the time.

Second, they would have burned off at least 3 minutes from the clock and maybe even scored a TD. That 3 minutes easily is worth 7 points by itself. Teams score 7 in the final 3 minutes of the game in MOST games when they need to. They would have taken that away too.

This isn't 1970. The rules protecting receivers, QB's, OL being allowed to hold defenders, make it an easy job to get an easy score in under 2 minutes. Sure, maybe keeping the points was a great idea in 1970 when the defense would have been allowed to tee off on the QB, physically beat up the receivers but the game isn't like that anymore. Back then 10 points was a lock for a win. Teams didn't come back. Now it happens every week sometimes several times.

Harbaugh basically traded 3 points for the equivalent of 10-14, not to mention his teams confidence.

You make many excellent points. I will, however, have to say that while David Akers is good...he is also human. His three-year average for kicks 40-49 yards is 71.5%. Granted, he would be on the extreme low-end of that range if they didn't get another yard. From the 30-39 yard range (where he *probably* would have ended up, he is much better at 88.2%. Still...I would have done what their coach did.

And that is, perhaps, why I am merely a fan.

[Riggins77]

And if he misses the FG they only have 8 minutes to score once. If this had given them a relatively good chance to score a TD then yes by all means go for it. But in all likelihood all it was going to do was give them a FG attempt 15 yards closer with a minute and a half less on the clock. No way is that worth the risk IMO. The problem wasn't the scoring it was the two passes that Romo sits to pee threw up for grabs that the SF DBs didn't knock down.

Anybody remember last week when Tony Romo sits to pee was called an idiot for trying to score a touchdown and fumbling instead of just throwing it away so they could kick the FG and go up by 10 points with 12 minutes to go?

No it was going to give them the ball 15 yards closer and a new set of downs. Hence, why I said it was stupid because at worst, they run the ball 3 times in a row, potentially break off one for a TD, if not kick another FG well in Aikers range. Oh and they could burn off at least 2 more minutes possibly more should they get a first down.

---------- Post added September-19th-2011 at 04:01 PM ----------

There was 11:12 left on the clock. If there was only 2 minutes left I'd understand the call, but there was enough time for Dallas to potentially have 3 possessions. In my view that's indefensible. You take the ball at the 22 every single time and give your offense a chance to score.

You accept the penalty. Period. Ok, so let's entertain the fact that after the FG, there was 11:12 sec on the clock. Ok, the drive on the FG was 4 plays and lasted 3 mins 15 seconds and they only got to 4th and 1. Assume they accept the penalty and they repeat the same with the new set of downs and burn off 3 more mins and 15 seconds, kick the FG, still go up by 10 points. Now the clock is at 7 mins and 57 secs on the kickoff.

Then look at the next drive Dallas scored a TD on, it burned up 4 mins 17 seconds. Dallas down by 3 and now there is only 3 mins 40 seconds left in the game, SF gets the ball. They burned up 2mins and 52 seconds before punting to Dallas. That now takes the game clock to 48 seconds (give or take due to Dallas using some timeouts, either way, probably not much more than a minute at tops left in the game.

The last Dallas drive for the tying FG burned 4 mins 3 seconds........Do the math, it would have put the cowboys in one position, throw only mode and create more opportunity for mistakes on their side (ints, batted balls, sacks, etc.) It would have forced them to beat them passing not giving them 4 minutes to move down the field with 2 timeouts.

I stand by my post, stupid ass play call.

[sportjunkie07]

And that's the thing. If he takes the points off the scoreboard and then the Niners turn the ball over or miss the 2nd attempt at a field goal, everyone screams "YOU NEVER TAKE POINTS OFF THE BOARD"! When the opposing QB has a cracked rib, the #1 RB and the #1 WR are both injured as well, you gotta figure that your chances are good to hold the lead.

And it would be different if we're talking about just a few minutes left in the game, but with over 8 minutes to play, taking time off the board isn't the tactical necessity that it would be with 2 or 3 minutes left.

i disagree. it was a bad decision because with 8 minutes to play, time is the most important factor. you can burn 2 minutes by running the ball straight up the middle for 3 plays. even if you dont get a 1st down and continue the drive, youve got prolly a 90% chance of making a field goal with akers.

then the other team has to:

1. score a td

2. recover an onside kick/ quickly stall the 49ers drive

3. get in field goal position

4. make a field goal

the above is inprobable, even more so if they have to do it with only 5-6 minutes or so with which to make it happen. not to mention, the injuries to the cowboys starters, which you use to support harbaugh's decision, remain applicable for the decision to keep the drive alive.

i get his decision to keep the points, but i dont think the statistics support his decision.

[SkinsKin26]

I think it was a horrible decision by him and an attempt at not to lose the game rather than trying to win it. I've seen that too many times from the Skins to know it always fails. In my opinion, the most telling move by him was on Dallas' last possession, but it gets overshadowed by the blatantly horrible call (Not sure if this has been discussed on the couple pages I haven't read.) The Cowboys had 4th and 3, I believe, with 45 seconds left and the clock running. The 49ers could have called timeout, but instead, he let the clock go down, so the Cowboys could kick the field goal with no time left. If you have Ted Ginn Jr, who returned two kicks for TD at the end of the first game, why not give him another chance? If that one call was a fluke, and you do trust your offense, why not give them 30 seconds to make some plays? I think, yesterday, Harbaugh told us a lot about how he views that team.