Defending The Bill Bellichick Call-Part 2

My colleague “Sexy Rexy” defended Bill Bellichick for the call he made on Sunday. I keep hearing about it and I also agree with “Sexy Rexy” thatit was the right call so I decided to write about it.

On Sunday Bill Bellichick made one of the most controversial football calls in a long time. The Patriots were up 34-28 with a little over two minutes left in the game. The Patriots were on their own 30 yard line and Belichick decided to go for it on 4th and short. They didn’t complete and were two yards short. They turned it over and Peyton Manning with only 30 yards to go easily maneuvered a scoring driver to win the game for the Colts 35-34. Everyone has been disagreeing with this call and saying it was a terrible move. I decided to share my view point on the subject because I agree with Bill Bellichick and make a few points I haven’t heard anyone make because everyone is disagreeing with the call.

First of all, if Tom Brady (a future hall of famer) the quarterback of one of the best offenses currently in the game were successful and got two yards, no one would be talking about this call and saying it was such a bad move. Only because the Patriots offense didn’t get two yards is everyone, including his former players ripping on the move. The New England Patriots are second in the league this season with 3,751 Total Yards. They are averaging 416.8 yards per game. That is second to the New Orleans Saints who have 3,835 total yards and are averaging 426.1 yards per game. The third best offensive teams in the league are The Indianapolis Colts with 3610 total yards averaging 401.1 per game. Thus, two of the top three offensives were playing each other.

The New England Patriots have a young defense. They do have the 8th best defense in the game for allowing the least amount of total yards, but are not what they used to be. They have had a lot of turnover in personnel on the defense and their young defensive players are still learning.

The Indianapolis Colts have the third best offense in the game. The Patriots have the second best offense. So Bill Bellichick wanted to play to the strength of his team, not their weakness!
The Patriots had the lead most of the game until the 4th quarter. The Patriots defense was getting tired and having trouble to continue to contain the explosive Colts offense. Throughout the first three quarters of the game the Colts only scored 14 points. Then in the 4th quarter before the two minute warning the Colts scored 14 points by two touch downs. First they scored 79 yards in 2:04. Then they scored 79 yards in 1:49. So yes Bill Bellichick did have reason to be worried. His defense was tired and had trouble stopping Manning twice already in the 4th quarter. Oh, yeah, both drives that were each for 79 yards were 2:04 and 1:49. Thus Manning has shown in this game against his defense that he could score easily within the time left in the game.

Also, Manning has engineered a few comebacks in the 4th quarters this season to win within 2 minutes or close to that time. This isn’t just any Offense or any quarterback the Patriots were trying to stop. This was Peyton Manning, one of the best in the game, and arguably the best at coming from behind to win. So please will everyone in the media stop saying it was a bad move. I understand it wasn’t typical, and usually wouldn’t be a smart move, but under these factors, it was!