Look, it’s all fourth-and-2 here this week. And I suspect that some may view that as more of a warning than an invitation.
I understand. But at least dig in and give the mailbag a shot, even if you are suffering from fourth-and-2 fatigue. Lots of good email from both sides of the argument this week AND I manage to zipper in some Andrea Kramer talk, nominate a mayor for Cougar Town and defend Bruce Springsteen and the Wayans Brothers.
So join for me for a 5,000-word farewell to fourth-and-2. Why? Because to let go you must say goodbye. I think it was John Denver who wrote that. And if he didn't he should have.
To the ‘bag we go (and, as always, feel free to email away to kminihane@weei.com)
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Kirk,
Look, the Dolts score from either 70 or 29 yards away. And the Patriots were more likely to make the first and win controlling the ball than they were in giving it back. It was at worst a 50-50 call that empowered the better half of the Patriots, the offense. I only would have run a misdirection, given the tendency of first defensive reaction. In Bill we trust.
Dano
A: And the “In Bill We Trust” crowd hasn’t let this little hiccup slow them down in the least. Good for them, I guess. I understand, I really do. As I wrote on Monday, this guy is the closest thing to Lombardi we’ll ever see. But he is human. And he made a huge mistake Sunday night. Maybe you legitimately disagree with me on that. OK. We’ll get into all that over the next couple of thousand words. But allow me a second to vent on a semi-related topic. What really bothers me is that there seems to be a pro-Belichick and anti-Belichick crowd in this town and you cannot cross the line. Ever. I mean, is it so bad to think that Belichick is a terrific coach that made one terrible decision? Half the people out there seem to think so. Let’s be honest: did anyone in the Boston media surprise you with his or her take on the call? Nope. The guys who worship BB defended him and those who have made a living hating him blasted the call. I don’t know how it got to this, but here we are.
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Kirk,
IN BILL WE TRUST. What are you people bitching about? This is the absolutely right call. Kevin Faulk made the first down. But the zipbra blew the call. If the referee didn't blew the call, we would have praise Bill. IN BILL WE TRUST, he is the greatest coach ever.
Owen
A: Well, I agree that you can make the case that he’s the best coach in NFL history, Owen. At least in the top five. To win three Super Bowls, four AFC crowns and seven (soon to be eight) AFC East titles in this age of parity is all you need to know. He is absolutely at the table of the all-timers.
But all that has nothing to do with what happened Sunday night. A man stood on the sideline and had two choices to make and made the wrong one. You have to punt. If you fail to convert you are going to lose the game. There is no way that a shell-shocked defense is going to come back onto the field and stop the Colts. Not from the 28-yard line. Not after having their coach basically tell then that they aren’t good enough. Do I think the Pats could have stopped the Colts from scoring from the, say, Colts 25-yard line? Of course. The Colts punted seven times in the game and turned the ball over twice.
And I also think Faulk had the first down, but it really is a coin flip. That isn’t a blown call. Never would have been overturned.
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Kirk,
Right call, wrong result. Though I do think that Faulk had the first down, but I agree that no one would have overturned it. I'm taking my chances with Brady getting two yards over a cooked D against Manning every time.
Todd
A: If you think it’s the right call that’s fine. But that means you think that the Colts were absolutely going to score if they got the ball back, right? No question. So by that thinking you would have been OK with the Pats going for it on fourth-and
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