Score - Always and as often as possible. Score as many points as possible. Its the mission of the offense to score points.

quote: Originally posted by bluesandbarbq Score. ALWAYS take the points. Next play could be a fumble. Score. Without a doubt. No-brainer. Best team won.

As always, hindsight is 20/20. Let's just say Bradshaw didn't score and instead took a knee, one thing leads to another and the Giants line-up for the FG. And while it's nearly impossible for a professional FG kicker to miss a 17-yard FG..it's happened. Maybe the holder mishandles the ball, a defender makes an amazing play and blocks it and the Pats advance it, giving time for Brady to make a few amazing plays and the Pats go down and kick a long FG to win it. Obviously, could'a/should'a/would'a don't count. Brother Lou hit the nail right on the head. Don't pass up an easy score, and if the Pats want to let you walk in to the enzone, you walk in to the endzone and say thank you. Never take points off the board. Never go for 2pt conversion until you have to. Coaching 101.

quote: Originally posted by bluesandbarbq Score. ALWAYS take the points. Next play could be a fumble. Score. Without a doubt. No-brainer. Best team won.

Agreed on all points. Burn up as much clock as possible, but purposefully not scoring is just a bad idea all around.

OK, grounding the ball to trade a down for more time? I understand this tactic. But when it comes to other not-intuitively-obvious moves, that is about the limit for me. The idea that someone would even THINK of taking a knee on the one yard line is proof that I do not understand the game of football. The idea that someone wearing a friggin' hoodie on the sidelines could realize that it made sense to LET Bradshaw score? That is further proof, if any were needed. Now I finally understand why I got cut from the Flanner Hall football team my freshman year at Notre Dame. I am not worthy to be in the presence of such genius. In this one play, the offense tried NOT to score, and the defense tried to ALLOW a score, and the defense WON because Bradshaw failed to follow instructions and stumbled, unopposed, into the end zone for a what? Oh, yes, a touchdown. I think Brashaw was as surprised as I was at the lack of opposition facing him. The world is getting too complex.

quote: Originally posted by FoamDome OK, grounding the ball to trade a down for more time? I understand this tactic. But when it comes to other not-intuitively-obvious moves, that is about the limit for me. The idea that someone would even THINK of taking a knee on the one yard line is proof that I do not understand the game of football. The idea that someone wearing a friggin' hoodie on the sidelines could realize that it made sense to LET Bradshaw score? That is further proof, if any were needed. Now I finally understand why I got cut from the Flanner Hall football team my freshman year at Notre Dame. I am not worthy to be in the presence of such genius. In this one play, the offense tried NOT to score, and the defense tried to ALLOW a score, and the defense WON because Bradshaw failed to follow instructions and stumbled, unopposed, into the end zone for a what? Oh, yes, a touchdown. I think Brashaw was as surprised as I was at the lack of opposition facing him. The world is getting too complex.

LOL!!! Too funny.

"I agree, take the TD! Every snap is just another opportunity for something to go wrong, and we've all heard the term, "Idiot Kicker!" With the lead, take a knee at the 1; behind, take the points and let the defense put it away!" Well said, and it obviously worked out [:D], but...I also beleive Brady had a better mathematical chance of driving the length of the field with 57 seconds on the clock than the Giants had of turning the ball over in the last minute and/or missing a 17-19 yard kick.

Can anyone remember a game where a team did kneel at the goal line to run down the clock before scoring to take the lead? I know I've seen it on a turnover when the receiving team was already in the lead, just so they could completely run out the clock and not give the other team a chance. Though this would never happen in a thousand years, it would have been hilarious if the Giants tried and succeeded in an onsides kick after taking the lead and then ran out the clock. [:0]

quote: Originally posted by Flashpro Can anyone remember a game where a team did kneel at the goal line to run down the clock before scoring to take the lead? I know I've seen it on a turnover when the receiving team was already in the lead, just so they could completely run out the clock and not give the other team a chance. Though this would never happen in a thousand years, it would have been hilarious if the Giants tried and succeeded in an onsides kick after taking the lead and then ran out the clock. [:0]

Sure, this happened back in 2009 with the Jaguars vs Jets, where Maurice Jones-Drew went and took a knee at the 1-yard mark, making fantasy owners around the US have a mental meltdown. They were down 1-2 pts, ran the clock down and kicked a 11-yard FG to win it. It's happened a few other times too, once with the Raiders back in mid-90's when Jeff Hostetler was the QB. We were playing the Cowboys, our RB took a knee at the 2-3, but that was also more for getting the ball between the hashmarks as well as to run out the clock.

It all comes down to the odds. Even if Brady has, say, a 6-7% chace of driving the length of the field in a minute, that's far more likely than the 1% the kicker has of missing that short of a field goal. There's a reason Bellicheat let him score, and a reason why Bradshaw tried in vain to stop. Hell, if Gronk was a few inches deeper he'd a got that ball before it hit the turf...

quote: Originally posted by Stoutlover72 quote: quote: Originally posted by Flashpro Can anyone remember a game where a team did kneel at the goal line to run down the clock before scoring to take the lead? I know I've seen it on a turnover when the receiving team was already in the lead, just so they could completely run out the clock and not give the other team a chance. Though this would never happen in a thousand years, it would have been hilarious if the Giants tried and succeeded in an onsides kick after taking the lead and then ran out the clock. [:0] Sure, this happened back in 2009 with the Jaguars vs Jets, where Maurice Jones-Drew went and took a knee at the 1-yard mark, making fantasy owners around the US have a mental meltdown. They were down 1-2 pts, ran the clock down and kicked a 11-yard FG to win it. It's happened a few other times too, once with the Raiders back in mid-90's when Jeff Hostetler was the QB. We were playing the Cowboys, our RB took a knee at the 2-3, but that was also more for getting the ball between the hashmarks as well as to run out the clock.

quote: Originally posted by slowrunner77 It all comes down to the odds. Even if Brady has, say, a 6-7% chace of driving the length of the field in a minute, that's far more likely than the 1% the kicker has of missing that short of a field goal. There's a reason Bellicheat let him score, and a reason why Bradshaw tried in vain to stop. Hell, if Gronk was a few inches deeper he'd a got that ball before it hit the turf... quote: quote: Originally posted by Stoutlover72 quote: quote: quote: Originally posted by Flashpro Can anyone remember a game where a team did kneel at the goal line to run down the clock before scoring to take the lead? I know I've seen it on a turnover when the receiving team was already in the lead, just so they could completely run out the clock and not give the other team a chance. Though this would never happen in a thousand years, it would have been hilarious if the Giants tried and succeeded in an onsides kick after taking the lead and then ran out the clock. [:0] Sure, this happened back in 2009 with the Jaguars vs Jets, where Maurice Jones-Drew went and took a knee at the 1-yard mark, making fantasy owners around the US have a mental meltdown. They were down 1-2 pts, ran the clock down and kicked a 11-yard FG to win it. It's happened a few other times too, once with the Raiders back in mid-90's when Jeff Hostetler was the QB. We were playing the Cowboys, our RB took a knee at the 2-3, but that was also more for getting the ball between the hashmarks as well as to run out the clock.

Uh huh! I think they had enough ability to kill the clock, that they could have kicked on 3rd down.... That allows a bad snap even. The odds of making that extra point length FG was uber high. With Brady anything could (and almost did) happen. The reason no one griped forever is that Brady didn't succeed. Gronk catches that ball, everyone is flipping out at how stoopid it is for Bradshaw to fall for it. I don't agree that you take the points. I agree that you don't put the ball back in the Pats hands to try to win. They won anyway. They deserved to. Eli is a stud.