Quote:
Originally Posted by 3 SS's
actually they had at least one holding call on a run
what was their yards per carry after they took the lead at 28- 3 , I'll save you the time......1.4, 14 plays after being up 28-3 , 9 passes gaining 75 yds, 5 runs for 7 yds , which one was a gain of 8 and the rest were either zero or losses,and a holding call
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They did not have a holding call on a run. They had four holding calls on passes.
The yards gained per run in the fourth quarter makes no difference, what does make a difference is the time they could have taken off the clock running the ball.
With 3rd and 1 they ran a pass, which resulted in a blindsided sack and a fumble. At this point there was 8:31 on the clock at the beginning of the play.
A running play that nets no yards still allows them to run 40 more seconds off the clock, add 8 more for the average hang time of the punt, and doesn't give NE the ball on the ATL 25, more like the NE 25, which also requires NE to burn much more clock to score a touchdown then it did from the ATL 25.
Then with 1st and 10 at the NE 22, they only manage to run 50 seconds off the clock, where they could have easily run 120 seconds off by running the ball 3 times.
Even if Bryant misses the FG, which is highly unlikely, NE doesn't get the ball with 3:50 to complete the score that ties the game. NE gets it with less than a minute to score a touchdown, even if they use their 2 timeouts. Their final drive in regulation took 2 minutes and 50 seconds.
NE played great in the fourth, but realize that ATL did the worst possible thing they could by not burning the clock, and calling passing plays when they should have called runs, and not scoring points when they were in position to do so by playing smart.
This is the only point I've been trying to make. It's backed up by mathematical fact. Does it mean 100% that ATL wins? No, I never said that.
What it does do is give them the best chances based upon two very easy calls to make, to win the game, both are 98% or more.
Shanahan instead went with high risk plays that cost ATL not only a turnover, but didn't take any time off the clock as well.