hunterx Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Overlooked in some of the various Morgan/Knee Jerk threads is the decision that after Fisher called a timeout, Mike Shanahan decided to take his offense off the field and go for a 62 yard field goal, which only 5 NFL kickers have ever done. He originally sent his offense out there in I think a 3 wide set. I would think that a 4th and 16 would be easier to complete than a 62 yard field goal. Especially as electric as RG3 was at running the ball yesterday. He mentioned in the press conference that he didn't have any doubt that Cundiff could make a 62 yarder because he boots it out of the endzone from the 35 yard line. I'm sure he is aware that a kickoff gives them a raised tee as well as longer strides to kick the ball and of course, zero pressure of getting it off without being blocked. I don't know what conversation he had during the timeout with Coach Danny Smith, but you would think they could come up with a play to give them a shot at making the first down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Even more bizarre when you take into consideration Cundiff has made only one of his last 8 kicks over 50 yards. This one's all on the HC. There's no guarantee of course we'd of completed the 4th down play. But man I'd of felt more comfortable in the threat of Griffin at least trying to get it done than sending Cundiff out there. As soon as we came back after the TO with the field goal unit I literally left the room to grab a drink and some food. That was the faith I had in the game not being over right there on that decision. Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Shanahan as coach needs to be supportive of his player even after the fact. Both a 62 yarder and a 4th and sixteen are pretty much miracle plays. He rolled the dice and lost. The D scheme is the culprit, the fact that we allowed two blocked punts in two weeks is the culprit. One individual play... be it Morgan losing his cool or Shanny deciding to go for a miracle kick wasn't the ball game. Now, I continue to steam over the ref screw ups, esp. the late hits on our guys. Would I be surprised if Fischer had a bounty system going the way they hit after the whistle? No, I would not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Robert Griffin Experience Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 4th and 16 is not a miracle play with RGIII under center. The kick call was baffling, though Cundiff does have the leg to boot it. Still, I would have rolled the dice with my stud QB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aireskoi Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Coach was protecting RG3. He didn't want the loss to be on his shoulders. I believe this 100%. ---------- Post added September-17th-2012 at 08:20 AM ---------- Bigger question for me was why the hell Crawford wasn't put on Amendola after the 3rd or 4th catch. The kid can cover much better than air. Those zones were not getting it done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunterx Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 The kick call was baffling, though Cundiff does have the leg to boot it. Still, I would have rolled the dice with my stud QB. Even more bizarre when you take into consideration Cundiff has made only one of his last 8 kicks over 50 yards. I think he's like 5-17 for kicks over 50 yards in his career, too. Something similar. Either way, not very eye popping numbers making the decision to go for it there. Having the leg to do it and being able to do it are different things completely, and his history doesn't show he's very reliable with those long kicks. ---------- Post added September-17th-2012 at 08:22 AM ---------- Coach was protecting RG3. He didn't want the loss to be on his shoulders. I believe this 100%. I hope that's not the case. He has shown he can handle pressure situations from his days at Baylor. Though the NFL is a different animal, there's nothing with his personality that leads anyone to think he can't handle the pressure. Rather, listening to RG3's presser, I believe he wanted it in his hands. If it's true, shame on Shanahan for not letting RG3 develop himself in those situations. But I don't think that's the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick7423 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Shanahan as coach needs to be supportive of his player even after the fact. Both a 62 yarder and a 4th and sixteen are pretty much miracle plays. He rolled the dice and lost.The D scheme is the culprit, the fact that we allowed two blocked punts in two weeks is the culprit. One individual play... be it Morgan losing his cool or Shanny deciding to go for a miracle kick wasn't the ball game. Now, I continue to steam over the ref screw ups, esp. the late hits on our guys. Would I be surprised if Fischer had a bounty system going the way they hit after the whistle? No, I would not. I hate to say it but I was thinking the same thing. There were way too many late or unnecessary hits to all of our guys. Look at the hit Fletcher took. How many time was RGIII hit late after a slide, Fred Davis getting killed on as a defenseless receiver, the list goes on and on. I am not saying our guys are squeaky clean, but they were a lot better than the Rams on this day, by a large margin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailToTheRedskins14 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I can kinda buy coach protecting Griffin. Personally, I thought that was why we hit the brakes a little on offense last week. I won't say I have a big problem with it either. He's still a rookie. We'll move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thinking Skins Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Shanahan as coach needs to be supportive of his player even after the fact. Both a 62 yarder and a 4th and sixteen are pretty much miracle plays. He rolled the dice and lost.The D scheme is the culprit, the fact that we allowed two blocked punts in two weeks is the culprit. One individual play... be it Morgan losing his cool or Shanny deciding to go for a miracle kick wasn't the ball game. Now, I continue to steam over the ref screw ups, esp. the late hits on our guys. Would I be surprised if Fischer had a bounty system going the way they hit after the whistle? No, I would not. I agree with this here. We probably would have had a greater chance to make the 4th and 16 play, but by how much. Its not like it was 4th and inches vs a 63 yard FG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mursilis Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 So much of Shanahan's coaching was poor in this game - the stupid icing time-out at the end of the first half (icing doesn't really work - stop it, Shanny!), the failure to make adjustments on defense, and the final FG attempt, which had almost no chance. But one of the worst calls, which isn't really getting mentioned, was the decision to punt from the Rams' 39 on 4 & 7 at about ~7:18 in the 4th. Why not go for it (the first down, not the FG, which was probably a little long)? Sure, the odds aren't great, but you wouldn't be giving up the ball in your own territory, and you're down late in the 4th. Time to take a sensible gamble! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney26 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Terrible decision not to go for it on 4th and 16. You have one of the best playmaking QBs in the league. Even if that wasnt the case you play the odds and go for it. 62 yarder had zero chance. And was close to 5 yards short. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSkins Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Field goal was the wrong call for a few reasons. 1- it was well outside Cundiff's range 2- letting up FG blocks is the unfortunate recent history of the team 3- it was only a chance to tie, giving the Rams the ball back with a minute left. The Rams, the way Bradford was playing, would certainly have had a very good chance at marching right back for their own FG attempt However, hindsight is 20/20 (even if I was hoping he'd go for it at the time as well), and Shanny only had a few seconds to decide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
authentic Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 sure he could have went for it on the 4th and 16, especially knowing that Cundiff is something like 1 out of 8 in kicks over 50 yards.. But i'm still wondering why didn't Morgan go for the 1st down on the bone headed play? he took a step forward and spun back like he was going for the sideline.. didn't make any sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mursilis Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I can kinda buy coach protecting Griffin. Personally, I thought that was why we hit the brakes a little on offense last week. I won't say I have a big problem with it either. He's still a rookie. We'll move on. If you think your QB needs to have his self-confidence "protected", then why not just let Grossman play. RG3 seems to have plenty of confidence, rightfully so, and I think the odds are better for him converting a 4 & 16 than Cundiff making a 62 yarder, which he's never done, and which is probably about a >1% chance. Griffin should've had the ball on that down, not the FG kicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.T.real,lights,out Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I agree, u have to go for it. With the double threat of RGIII throwing or running for a 1st down u have to give your team a chance. Going for the FG IMO gave us no chance. Oh well, another should of could of game. Time to start getting ready for the Bengals and A.J. Green.....:doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlayAction Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 It was a bone headed move to try to kick the longest FG in history. When you talk about trying to create offensive mismatches you are talking about increasing the probability for success. There's no way that the FG attempt had a greater probability for success than a 16 yard pass attempt. Both low but RGIII has completed longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Coach was protecting RG3. He didn't want the loss to be on his shoulders. I believe this 100%. After 2 weeks it's time to take the handcuffs off. I feel like they are still force feeding him like an infant. I can see in the first game to calm his nerves and keep him steady. But I noticed we're still trying to go too conservative. IDK, just my observation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 The kick call was baffling, though Cundiff does have the leg to boot it. Still, I would have rolled the dice with my stud QB. No, he doesnot have the leg to boot it that far. he barely has the leg to kick it 50 yards, much less 62. His numbers over his career bear this out.. there is no way anyone should have looked at Cundiff in that situation. I place the ultimate blame on shanahan, but I guarantee he asked his idiot special teams coach if he thought he could do it, and based on nothing but the moronic decisions Smith makes every week, I'd bet my last buck that he said "Yup, he can kick it'. And as expected it was five yards short. (and to the right... but that part isn't even important.. point is, anyone with any info about Cundiff knows he hasn't got that kind of power. He's never demonstrated it in his career. And he kicked it as far as he could, and it fell five yards short. As expected.) So, the question remains,, did Smith even bother to scout this guy he hired a week before the season begins,,, while cutting a guy who DOES have the leg to make this kick? I"m not saying Gano= win, but I'm not seeing a single reason why the move to Cundiff was made that Gano couldn't have done. and I'm not even saying "Gano" anything,,, it's just another in a long line of inexplicable decisions made by our special teams coach. the guy literally has no idea what he's doing. ~Bang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rypien1191 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Still not as dumb as icing a kicker at the end of the first half. When that happened it was 100% that we were gonna lose by 3 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandymac27 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 No, he doesnot have the leg to boot it that far. he barely has the leg to kick it 50 yards, much less 62.His numbers over his career bear this out.. there is no way anyone should have looked at Cundiff in that situation. I place the ultimate blame on shanahan, but I guarantee he asked his idiot special teams coach if he thought he could do it, and based on nothing but the moronic decisions Smith makes every week, I'd bet my last buck that he said "Yup, he can kick it'. And as expected it was five yards short. (and to the right... but that part isn't even important.. point is, anyone with any info about Cundiff knows he hasn't got that kind of power. He's never demonstrated it in his career. And he kicked it as far as he could, and it fell five yards short. As expected.) So, the question remains,, did Smith even bother to scout this guy he hired a week before the season begins,,, while cutting a guy who DOES have the leg to make this kick? I"m not saying Gano= win, but I'm not seeing a single reason why the move to Cundiff was made that Gano couldn't have done. and I'm not even saying "Gano" anything,,, it's just another in a long line of inexplicable decisions made by our special teams coach. the guy literally has no idea what he's doing. ~Bang When I saw we were gonna kick the FG, I was like you have got to be ****ting me. I have a better chance of winning the lottery than he has of making that kick. I have no idea what was going through Shanny's head. That decision made zero sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkLink Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 As dirty as the Rams were playing, I wouldnt be surprised if they got a pass interference call if we tossed one up in the end zone. It would of been special if we won that game, but the Rams will always have our number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticksboi05 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Protect RGIII from what? The loss would've been on Morgan's shoulders regardless in the eyes of the media. He ran for 2 TDs and passed for a 68 yard bomb. As far as being worried about him getting hurt physically, just shotgun and screen it and hope to God laterals work. ---------- Post added September-17th-2012 at 09:16 AM ---------- Still not as dumb as icing a kicker at the end of the first half. When that happened it was 100% that we were gonna lose by 3 points. Shouldn't have mattered. There should have been a 10 second runoff for the hold and the half should've been over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thinking Skins Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Protect RGIII from what? The loss would've been on Morgan's shoulders regardless in the eyes of the media. He ran for 2 TDs and passed for a 68 yard bomb. As far as being worried about him getting hurt physically, just shotgun and screen it and hope to God laterals work. Not to mention the deep ball dropped by Robinson that would have given us a TD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVAbrendan Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Still not as dumb as icing a kicker at the end of the first half. When that happened it was 100% that we were gonna lose by 3 points. I completely forgot about that until you mentioned it. Ughhhh. I knew he'd make it the second time, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skins4eva Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 4th and 16 is not a miracle play with RGIII under center.The kick call was baffling, though Cundiff does have the leg to boot it. Still, I would have rolled the dice with my stud QB. Completely agree. We should have gone for it. They most likely would have been playing deep zone--RGIII could have scrambled for time and who knows what would have happened. Our chances of converting were a hell of a lot better than the 62yrd FG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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