There were countless decisions that Dan Campbell made this afternoon that were top notch, but the one I want to bring focus on was at the 2:00 minute warning.
Yes, everyone could see that the play clock was just a tick faster than the game clock. But Dan knew better. He had been burned by this before against Baltimore and had learned from it.
There would be no rush to get the play off out of fear of getting a five yard delay of game penalty. He remembered: the process is for the ref to see :00 and then look for the snap. Well, obviously before that happened, Dan knew it would be at the 2:00 minute warning.
He knew that common sense would not play a factor in the decision, and he was right. Our coach remembers.
It was a great move, but it also requires the refs to do the right thing. In the past the Lions have gotten screwed on simple things that would have worked for other teams.
Its interesting looking back and seeing that one of his worst decisions as a coach came when he wasn’t aggressive and wasn’t conservative. We all remember the field goal attempt against the Vikings. That was a WTF moment. The analytics said to go for it or punt. The field goal was a decision falling between the two.
As aggressive as he was in this game he did punt when the announcers thought he should be kicking a long field goal.