While I agree with you, I think there is some wisdom in what he did. Although, personally, I wish we would have done something else. I take you back to the 2014 NFC Championship game…Seahawks vs 49ers. Its 4th quarter, and the Seahawks go for it on 4th and 7. What does Bevell dial up? All Go’s…touchdown Seahawks!!! In Bevell’s mind I think he wanted to catch Arizona off guard and get a cheap score or at the very least he just put a tendency breaker out there on film so teams have to honor the All Go’s in the future, even in short to medium yardage situations.
I don’t hate the call, but I think Bevell overthought things for the situation. With the Cardinals not having a timeout, getting to the other side of the 2 minute warning should have been priority #1. But in his mind we are up by 8 and should be able to pin the Cardinals deep in their own territory with a punt. What are the chances we’d screw up the punt, allow a touchdown drive, allow a 2 point conversion and then not be able to drive down for a long Prater field goal attempt? The perfect storm happened.
I wouldn’t begrudge 4th and 7 running a go route in the championship game.
But the decision here was dumb dumb. The cards just gave up runs of 6, 9 and 7 yards in that drive and spread out the defense having seen us pass during timeoutgate.
Jam CJ down their fucking throats and keep the clock going. Hell getting 3 yards and going for it on 4th would have been a better decision.
Worst case there the cards get the ball at the 50 with time for about three or four plays
Yeah, you can call a bad play and look good if it works…and people would say what a genius you are for out-thinking the opponent and tendencies in these situations.
Remember back in the day when it would be 3rd and 15 and we’d run a draw to Barry and he’d break-off a 20 yard run?!?
Point is, we needed to keep the clock running, throwing a 30 yard pass is not a high % play to do that…that’s not “thinking outside the box”, it’s just dumb. Had a first year OC called that play, we’d call it inexperience. Bevell really crapped the bed on back-to-back plays there. Like he was doing everything in his power to lose the game, maybe he had some bets to cover.
I’ll bet they never do it again. It’s not a coincidence that is when the shit show started.
What hindsight shows me is that the worst case would have been a 5 yard loss, but, the team would have been steady, and clear minded, with a positive attitude.
A good playcaller would definitely do it again at some point. People aren’t as emotionally invested in other games they watch, so they don’t notice it when other teams do it. And regardless of what the playcall was…if we end up losing or tying the game…people are going to say it was the wrong playcall. Had he ran the ball and we tied, people would say “we went in a shell, playing not to lose is not the way to win!” Then if we were dumb enough to get a holding call (like the Cowboys vs us in 2013), people would say we were dumb to run and should have done something else…maybe kneeled the ball. But if we kneel and lose or tie, then we’re back to getting yelled at for being too conservative.
People complain we aren’t aggressive enough. Well, I’m not sure how much more aggressive you can be than All Go’s on 3rd and 5 to ice the game!!! Again, I don’t blame Bevell as much as I blame the punt team and defense. The next series of events should not have gone down the way they did. BUT, the brightside of the situation is that we have now put on film that we aren’t scared to do what Bevell did. If teams have to honor that aggressiveness, it might help out our running game or short passing game in a similar situation.
I think there’s plenty of blame to go around. Offense, Defense, Special Teams, coaching, even the GM. IMHO, they shoulda gone to Arizona knowing that defense might have to play quite a few more snaps than usual, in the 1st game of the year, and wih guys like Harrison, Flowers, and Daniels, all of whom they had to know were not in NFL game shape. They shoulda had one more DL guy, somebody like Loewen, and they shoulda been playing to slow the game down as much as they could. From the 1st minute, don’t go OB and take your time to bleed the clock.
For the most part Bevell was heads and shoulders better than Cooter ever was as a play caller. He even called a naked bootleg for Stafford which succeeded.
That being said, the call out of the timeout was horrible. 5 yards to go and he sends all the receivers on a fucking go route deep downfield. ALL of them didn’t get any separation and were covered like glue.
Thanks for posting the gif X, its appreciated. Looking at it in that form over and over, it dang near worked. The pressure off the backside cause Matt to have to let it go early, but I think later in the season the receiver who started to adjust to it (is that Jones?) Might already be adjusted and on the same page with Stafford on that.
It was a stupid call on 3rd and 5 with the game on the line practically speaking. A first down would have given the Lions a 90% chance of winning the game.
Bevell is a vast improvement over Cooter. Other than the time out and switching to the ground and pound in the 2nd half, he called a good game and his scheme is looking very good.
On the play you’re mentioning, it was another good play that got blown up by an unblocked rusher on the blind side. The leaking TE would’ve been WIDE open if Matthew had a second longer. They blitzed everyone and no Lion got separation and there wasn’t enough time to find the TE leaking out the back side. Good play, bad execution/good defensive call
I disagree. Stafford needed a safety valve at least 5 yards from the LOS.
it should have been anticipated that Arizona was going to pressure Stafford again. Both Decker and Wagner were turnstiles all game long. it was a stupid idea to expect the O-line to protect Stafford on such a deep route by all the receivers. Get the damn 5 yards and keep the drive going.
I disagree. Stafford needed a safety valve at least 5 yards from the LOS.
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Agreed. What’s the point of running Amendola on a go route when he could never get separation. I understand he’s a decoy but you’re putting all your eggs in one basket. Amendola should have been running dig or whip route at the marker. That’s his strength.
Man, if they would have rolled Stafford out to the right he would have easily run for the first down, or had loads of time for getting a receiver open. I’d like to see that play with a rollout twist.
