You know, I'm glad I'm not an NFL coach. When I watch a football game, there are many times where I find myself yelling at the TV thinking that I could do better than the coaches. Take for instance, the Jacksonville-Pittsburgh game on Saturday night. A great game by the way; a critical 4th and 2 run by Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard ended up setting up the game winning field goal and the Jaguars escaped with a 31-29 victory.
Here's the thing...when Garrard scrambled for that 32 yard run on 4th and 2, if you're Coach Mike Tomlin, why even tackle him? Why not just let him ramble into the endzone? If that were the case, rather than having the ball at the Steelers 11, Jacksonville would be kicking off. It would be 35-29 and Pittsburgh would get the ball with 1:30 left and two timeouts. This way, you give yourself a better chance to score even if it means driving the entire length of the field. Instead, what happened was Jacksonville made the Steelers use their timeouts, ran the clock down as long as they could, and kicked what turned out to be the game-winning field goal with 37 seconds left. Having to go 40 yards in 37 seconds is tough, and Ben Roethlisberger ended up fumbling the first play from scrimmage and the game is over.
Now I realize, Jack Del Rio could have easily had Garrard pull a Brian Westbrook and had him kneel the ball. So my theory is not foolproof. In that example, Garrard then kneels the ball at the 1 twice, makes the Steelers use their timeouts, and the game is still over. So only in "Michael's Perfect World" as I like to call it, can this sort of thing happen.
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