The 3 Kneels downs & FG...Was it the best strategy? And...Am I the only one who saw this?

[SteveA]

Interesting strategy as Tomlin in other years would of opted to get the TD, or the first down & put the game away....

But...I'm not quite convinced this is how it may have went down...I saw the camera go to a shot of the "older" coach who is always near coach T & he seemed to be adament & strongly sharing some insight to Tomlin. I really thought he was telling Coach Tomlin you can't kneel the game away...

Thoughts ?

 

[xjx]

They needed prayers.

 

[steelhurt]

When this was occurring I was wondering if what I was watching was real. I thought the kneel downs in that situation was, well gutless. From the coach who preaches “we don’t live in our fears”, it sure looked like he was.
I would have expected Najee to run three straight running plays. He’s pretty damn good at securing the ball so why not try and ice the game with your number one pick at RB? Yeah, I thought it was pure bs to do what he did.

 

[SteelBuckeye]

I don't know if I'd call it "gutless". In my opinion, it wasn't the smartest move since it took very little time off the clock with Balt immediately calling a timeout after every kneel-down. Running the ball would have taken a few more seconds off the clock if you didn't get the first down. It would have iced the game if you did.

 

[madinsomniac]

We got the ball with 1:02 left on the 18 yard line.
the Ravens had two time outs and were down 4 points.

There are four trains of thought here. (well without the stupid ones that include some form of pass)

1. Run,Run,Run, kick.

This is the most often used strategy.. there is a legitimate fumble risk plus the penalty risk.

With time outs, run plays quickly stopped take about 4 to 5 seconds off the clock, and short field goals just one or two seconds, so all in all the Rats likely get the ball with about 10-12 seconds left

2. Kneel,kneel,kneel, Kick

This is legit, but you are giving the ball back with a little more time… kneel downs usually only take about 1 second off the clock… so we probably are giving them the ball closer to 20 seconds. The trade off is that there is virtually zero fumble or penalty risk

3. Delayed kneel, Delayed Kneel, delayed kneel, kick

This is similar to the kneel down, but you don’t go down right away… this eats some time off the clock… there is virtually no fumble risk if you kneel before anyone hits you, but there is a penalty risk.

4. A combo option ( what we did)

In our case we went kneel, kneel, delayed kneel… which backfired with the penalty

I agree it was needlessly conservative… but all our stuff against the ravens typically is

 

[DesertSteel]

They needed prayers.

Yeah the old guy on the sidelines was his pastor!

 

[steelhurt]

Idk about y’all but I just don’t feel like we won but rather the Ravens did everything they could to lose.
They simply cannot continue like this and expect positive results. The offense has to be fixed and in a hurry.

 

[slashsteel]

Idk about y’all but I just don’t feel like we won but rather the Ravens did everything they could to lose.
They simply cannot continue like this and expect positive results. The offense has to be fixed and in a hurry.

The D and special teams will only be able to bail suck out so many times before the Ls pile up.

 

[jitter77]

I didn't mind the strategy. The game was wacky anything could have happened. Ravens had to get a TD with no time outs and our D was playing great

 

[slashsteel]

I didn't mind the strategy. The game was wacky anything could have happened. Ravens had to get a TD with no time outs and our D was playing great

I think you look who is playing QB if ever in a similar situation. A pure passer could make you regret that extra allotted time. Because really the pass rush was playing well, the pass D was spotty. Maybe switching up corners will give me a higher comfort level that doesn't exist right now.

 

[Pittsburgh Charlie]

Maybe he saw the Miami game on Saturday

 

[steelcan58]

I'm ok with what they did. Securing the ball was important. Let's never forget Ben's tackle when someone who never fumbles, fumbled in Indy. Without that we don't get The Thumb.

What I wasn't ok with is our imbecile coaches ran 3rd down out of some ridiculous formation that got called as illegal and stopped the clock. Just another example of incompetence.

 

[Drink IRON City]

I don't know if I'd call it "gutless". In my opinion, it wasn't the smartest move since it took very little time off the clock with Balt immediately calling a timeout after every kneel-down. Running the ball would have taken a few more seconds off the clock if you didn't get the first down. It would have iced the game if you did.

Imagine, a genius play, like 1st down run, then 2nd down a play action slant in…….. 1st down game over.


Salute the nation

 

[SteelerSask2]

If they had not committed the ridiculous third down penalty the game would have had something like 15 seconds left. They just don't seem to understand situational football.

 

[TDX27]

If they had not committed the ridiculous third down penalty the game would have had something like 15 seconds left. They just don't seem to understand situational football.

Exactly what I was going to say. Without the dumb penalty, the Rats would have gotten the ball back with very little time on the clock. 2 or 3 plays tops if they got out of bounds or one play if they didn't. It was a good strategy that one of the players screwed up.

 

[stillwright]

I didn't like. Run it and maybe Harris or Warren rip pne off for a 1st down. I also didn't like going for the 2 pt conversion after the TD. Can anyone explain what they were thinking there?

 

[jitter77]

I didn't like. Run it and maybe Harris or Warren rip pne off for a 1st down. I also didn't like going for the 2 pt conversion after the TD. Can anyone explain what they were thinking there?

I think they would have went up by 6 or 2 FGs. It was definitely an odd call, but i guess that was their reasoning

 

[madinsomniac]

I didn't like. Run it and maybe Harris or Warren rip pne off for a 1st down. I also didn't like going for the 2 pt conversion after the TD. Can anyone explain what they were thinking there?

The two points is legit.
You are up 4…. Scoring a single point still means they need a td to take the lead, and tgey can win with a td and missed xp… two field goals also win it… if you score a field goal they tie it with a td plus xp
Going up 5 nothing changes except if you score a fg they need a 2pt conversion… its still a one score game

Going up six means tgey need a td and xp to win
Two field goals just ties
If you score a field goal, the game becomes a two score game…


That is basic late game football chart stuff….

 

[madinsomniac]

If after a late game td you are:

Tied - xp
Up 1 - 2 pt
Up 2 - xp
Up 3 - xp
Up 4 - 2pt
Up 5 - 2pt*
Up 6 - xp
Up 7 - xp
Up 8 - xp*
Up 9 - xp
Up10 -xp
Up 11-2pt
Up 12-xp*
Up 13-xp
Up 14- xp
The * are situational.. in some cases the other is an option

 

[MeanJim]

I didn't like the 3 kneel downs, but it wasn't that bad a strategy, what with our terrible running game. I would have liked 3 runs against the deflated, nearly hopeless defense... maybe Najee breaks a tackle or 2 and ices the game right there. Maybe take a knee on 3rd and 10 to run it down to 15 seconds or so. Regardless, the stupid penalty that stopped the clock is what kept the rats alive a little longer, not the kneel down strategy.

 

[JMM]

If we'd run the ball and fumbled, everyone would have said, why didn't we kneel on it and just kick a FG.

I thought it was the right plan for the amount of time remaining and where they were on the field. Would have been a lot better plan without the dumbass penalty that left the Ravens with more time than they should have had

 

[Drink IRON City]

I didn't like. Run it and maybe Harris or Warren rip pne off for a 1st down. I also didn't like going for the 2 pt conversion after the TD. Can anyone explain what they were thinking there?

One field goal wouldn’t win it, two field goals would have tie should the 2-point be successful.

That’s all I got


Salute the nation

 

[SteelerSask2]

All anyone needed to do was check ref. Just stupid.

 

[GILBERT]

Or would the better play be. (if they were living in their fears....) Kneel (TO).. Kneel (TO), Kneel (take clock down to 15 sec.) Throw jump ball to Pickens in EZ. Worst case you give Balt 10 seconds from the 20 no timeouts?
Either way the completely screwed it up.

 

[black and gold apex]

The sereise seems to go along of what is called when with this offense. Should question why Tomlin sent in a player eligible and still went into the kneel down formation.