Waving The White Flag
November 6th, 2011
Just about the entire ugly loss to the Saints could be summed up in one decision.
For much of the game, the Bucs could generate little offense. It was early in the fourth quarter and the Bucs trailed by three scores, 24-6.
The Bucs took over at their own 25 and drove down the field before a drive stalled at the New Orleans-7. Fourth-and-goal.
Rather that being bold and going for a touchdown, someone on the Bucs sideline — offensive coordinator Greg Olson or head coach Raheem Morris — decided the game was over. Time to mail it in.
So Connor Barth was sent out to kick a field goal.
If was the football version of waving the white flag and giving up.
“You can’t kick field goals,” Morris said on the Bucs radio network after the game. “That’s what prevents you from winning ballgames.”
If that is the case, why did Morris — or Olson — decide to kick a field goal when the Bucs were knocking on the door? The drive was the best of the game for the Bucs and the coaching staff decided to hoist the white flag. At least it smelled that way to Joe.
November 6th, 2011 at 5:59 pm
Ask LSU and Alabama if big games cant be won with fueld goals. Exactly what I was saying on the thread when he did that, made no sense unless he thought it was over.
November 6th, 2011 at 5:59 pm
should of onside kicked with 5 minutes left….not give the ball to Brees.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Has there ever been an NFL coach that sticks his foot in his mouth more than Raheem? He JUST kicked a field goal from the 7 yard line down 18 moments before he said this.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:05 pm
How come they had no sense of urgencey at the end of the third quarter? rather than getting into hurry up mode and scoring before time ran out, they kinda meandered about and let the time expire.
Weird, if you ask me.
Kinda like a team that knew it was gonna lose.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:08 pm
I was actually in favor of them kicking the FG cause I have no confidence in their offense to convert a critical 4th and goal like that.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
I guarantee you it was olson that did that. If thats the case we went for it twice on the previous 4th downs and got it. Olson had to call the field goal team because he has no f****g confidence in his corny a$$ playcalling, so I don’t even blame him. He wouldn’t of been able to draw up a good enough play. This offense sucks again how do you not score at least 10 points in a first half after a bye week? No JOE the white flag was thrown when olson called a JJ run on 3rd and 4 before the half were we might of at least been able to either get 7 or run more time of the clock. Or the stupid benn end around. What a retarded play. Olson couldn’t call a good game in madden more or less a real NFL game so these struggles shouldn’t really surprise fire OLSON NOW!!!!!!!!!!!
November 6th, 2011 at 6:15 pm
i couldn’t believe they didn’t kick it in the first quarter! and then they did in the 4th! hilarious!
COACHING COACHING COACHING!!!!!!!!!
November 6th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
The kick made sense. Put us within one score. If we don’t convert on 4th and goal at the 6, the game’s over. The coaches screwed up a lot of things today, but that wasn’t one of them.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Fish:
It was a 16-point deficit when (Olson/Morris) decided to go for a field goal there. The field goal made it a 13-point difference. That’s not a one-score game.
Morris himself said they kicked too many field goals. Then why didn’t he go for six?
November 6th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Joe, he meant within a two score game.
24-6=18, that’s not a two score game.
You failed first grade math, Joe :p
November 6th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
all i know is….I leave for basic training next monday a day after the texans game. and no matter what happens between then and the time i get back im sticking to my guns that olson has got to go. I like raheem and his attitude even though he says the same stuff over and over again but we need to open up the offense freeman has shown he can run the hurry up and such but we continue to be predictable as well slow and straight up stupid. even when we were down by two scores the game never got out of hand. first quarter i saw blount gain of five blount gain of 6 blount gain of 4 yada yada and said if we do this all game we got it……then we stuffed a few times and abandon the run. i feel like if blount gets the ball theres always two or three tight ends out there. what about opening the offense up single back formation and running blount right up the gut with two or three wide recievers spread out
November 7th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Joe, you’re absolutely wrong on this. Kicking that field was a smart move — we were down 18, needed three scores, and the field goal could have been one of them.
The following were bad decisions, ranked in order from most bad to least bad:
– Not going for 2 after the touchdown. The extra point put us down 8, which meant we may or may not have needed two more scores. We didn’t have enough time left to find out. We needed to know right then (either down 7 or 9 down depending on whether the 2PC succeeded) how many scores we needed.
– Not going onsides after the touchdown. With 5 1/2 min left, you may or may not be able to stop them quick enough to get the ball back. Going onsides is basically a chance to force a turnover. If you don’t get it, you can still stop them and get the ball back.
– Punting on 4th and 4 from the NO 38 in Q2. Odds of a punt that really cramps their offense (inside the 5 yard line) are very low. Even if you drop it on the 10, you’ve only gained 28 yards. This is where it makes sense to go for it, because what you’re likely to get out of a punt is so limited. And, of course, we ended up netting 18 yds with the touchback.
– Going for it on fourth and 1 in the first quarter. We passed on a reasonably high-percentage field goal (47 yards in a dome) for the possibility of getting a first down at the Saints 28. Even if we got that first down, we’d still have to go down get a TD to make it better than just taking the field goal. Should have taken the points.
– Going for it on 4th and 3 from the NO 13 with 12 min left in Q4. We made the smart decision 3 plays later (take the points); this was a bad decision. You had to get points from that drive; throwing them away for just the _possibility_ of a TD wasn’t smart. In the end, it cost us 50 seconds (ran 3 more plays before kicking FG) that we could’ve used at the end.
– Not going onsides after the FG with 11 min left in Q4. This would look a bit risky, but you have to know you’re going to need catch a break if you’re going to outscore the Saints by 15pts with 11 min left (with them getting the ball first). This was your chance to create the opportunity to catch a break — do the “surprise” onside kick (lining up in a regular kicking formation). They wouldn’t have the hands team out there, and that greatly increases your odds of success.