4th and 4!

[Renz]

Whiz can explain his reasoning for punting from now until doomsday, but it will never make sense to me.

I thought the Cardinals' culture of losing was turning around, but maybe not.

 

[slanidrac16]

I disagree with punting . I'm not ready to throw him under the bus, but if I were to be able to sit down and have a beer with him , man to man, I have to say it is over the line dumb.

Here's why. Even if we don't make it, all it does is put us in the same situation of having to stop them on 3 downs and 30 yards. In addition , if we don't make 4th and 4 , we deserve to lose anyway.

This is a game we could have won, but didn't deserve to anyway. Don't blame the refs. Although not great there were some tickt tack calls both ways.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

it was a very Greenesque decision...

 

[PJ1]

Not like Whiz at all. I just assumed we would go for it and was stunned when we didn't.

You knew the game was over when we punted.

 

[D-Dogg]

Terrible freaking decision. I was shocked at that. No slants to Q on the day, either.

 

[az1965]

It was a gutless coaching decision, at that point in the game I would trust our offense to make a play for 4 yards over our defense to hold them under 10 yards.

Well said...

 

[clif]

I about ripped my hair out and I don't have any. What a punk ass... gutless, spineless, nutless call. Sorry there was simply no alternative but to go for it.

 

[SECTION 11]

That was a horrible decision. There's no defending it.

 

[WisconsinCard]

i didn't mind punting it. Your defense has to make a play.They know 3 runs are coming.I don't know why we didn't have 11 playing the run. They would've gooten the ball back and Washington's punter has been struggling all year.I blame the defense not Whiz.

You're the voice of reason my friend. The only reason everyone is mad is because it didn't pay off. The reason you punt there is called "field position". If we hold them to 3 an out, we get the ball back with 2 minutes left and even if their punter gives it a boot and we get no return, we have the ball at our own 30 yard line.

I don't think there was a wrong decision to be made at that point of the game. If you just have to blame someone, blame the offense for goin 3 and out and putting us in the situation.

 

[dscher]

You're the voice of reason my friend. The only reason everyone is mad is because it didn't pay off.

Well, that is the reason right there why most people are angry about it in the first place. Because you had to know with the way they were abusing our defense all day, that it just wasnt going to be worth it by punting and just knew it wasn't going to pay off. Now, if our defense is dominating all day and showing signs that they could come up with a stop, then most people on here would probably agree that deciding to punt was the smart decision. But, based on this performance by the defense you would rather gamble with the chances of getting four yards with Kurt and our offense, rather than leaving it up to the D when all the skins had to essentially do was get 1 first down. But like another poster said earlier.. You do yourself basically no harm by going for it because even if you dont get it, you still leave the skins about 25-30 yards to even get into field goal position and they still have to get their 2-3 first downs..Whatever, game is over, but I honestly think Whiz is kicking himself for that one...

 

[red desert]

This in not an anti Fitz post, but...

his dropped TD pass was thee most pivotal play of the game, IMO. He catches that bunny, and the entire complexion of the game changes.

The refs sucked big time.

And the play calling was horrible.

That's all.

 

[redheat]

Not only that but the time management as well. How many times are we going to snap the ball with 1 sec left.

 

[CardShark]

You're the voice of reason my friend. The only reason everyone is mad is because it didn't pay off. The reason you punt there is called "field position". If we hold them to 3 an out, we get the ball back with 2 minutes left and even if their punter gives it a boot and we get no return, we have the ball at our own 30 yard line.

I don't think there was a wrong decision to be made at that point of the game. If you just have to blame someone, blame the offense for goin 3 and out and putting us in the situation.

Okay at what point did you have the feeling that the D was going to hold them to 3 and out? It was very clear that the D wasn't up to the challenge today. If you had been dominating during the last quarter, there might have been an argument that you could hold them. You have to take into account the way the team had been playing. I would rather have given the O a chance to pick up 4 yards rather than ask the D to overcome it's play up to that point. Now if the O failed to get the first, it would've still left you in the same boat with having to stop them in 3 downs. If it happened, then you would still be looking at playing from the 20 or 30 yardline. The only difference is that you had control of the ball on 4th and 4. You gave up control.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

Everybody seems to be discounting the fact that the offense wasn't exactly dominating either today. I'm sure that that factored into Whiz'z decision and figured they would be alot better off with a short field to work with. The bottom line is that the defense had to make a stop and they didn't.

 

[ANDY440]

It seemed way out of character for Wiz not to go for it. The man has shown he has 10 pound canuglers.....wierd.

 

[red desert]

It seemed way out of character for Wiz not to go for it. The man has shown he has 10 pound canuglers.....wierd.

That's where I stand on the issue.

 

[Totally_Red]

At that point the chances of picking up the first down are infinitely better than the exhausted, ineffective defense holding Washington to a 3 and out IMO. I'm disappointed in the coaching staff today, this team really wasn't ready to play today, and it showed.

But take a look at how New England got spanked by Miami at home. Bad stuff happens.

The really disappointing thing is this game was very winnable IMO. The penalties are the most disappointing part of the loss. You really don't expect to get any breaks from the officiating crew when you go into Fed Ex Field. PACardFan called it before the game.

 

[Zeno]

This in not an anti Fitz post, but...

his dropped TD pass was thee most pivotal play of the game, IMO. He catches that bunny, and the entire complexion of the game changes.

Its not exactly a drop when a DB comes over your back and knocks it out of your hands. You have to give credit to the DB in that case.

 

[CardShark]

Its not exactly a drop when a DB comes over your back and knocks it out of your hands. You have to give credit to the DB in that case.

Yeah, at first I thought it might have been PI, but after review it was a good play by the defender. No you can't fault Fitz for that.

 

[Shane]

Yeah, at first I thought it might have been PI, but after review it was a good play by the defender. No you can't fault Fitz for that.

Yea you can. He still should have caught it. Either way though we still would have lost today IMO.

 

[jw7]

If we hold them to 3 an out, we get the ball back with 2 minutes left and even if their punter gives it a boot and we get no return, we have the ball at our own 30 yard line.

Come on, WC. I normally really appreciate your posts, but this is just silly. The Cards had it on the 50, and you are saying it is OK to get the ball 20 yards further back with less time and fewer timeouts?

I really like coach Whiz, but he botched this one today. The way I see it in that situation you have two options.

1) Go for it, and probably about a 50-50 chance of making it and continuing the drive, and even if they failed, they still have a chance of getting the ball back with some clock and timeouts.

2) Punt it away. Coach Whiz said his hope was to "pin them back". Well that's fine if there are 4-5 minutes left. With 2:38, even if you force a 3 and out you would most likely have the same field position only with less time on the clock and a few burned timeouts.

Wrong call. Especially on the road.

And what is wrong with the delay-of-game penalties and so many plays being snapped at the one-second mark of the play clock? Something is wrong with the offensive planning/execution.

 

[mjb21aztd]

Yeah that sucks I threw the remote down and let out a f bombs when they decided to punt... our defense was playing bad all game and than you hand it over to the defense to make a play stupid. I mean we were due to score to and warner so wanted to go for it he looked pissedo on the sidelines . Well always next week hopefully Whiz learnd his lesson

 

[Chaz]

I trust in Whis still but I was scratching my head when he punted.

It was a gamble either way but IMO gamble on the offense getting 4 yards.

If he goes for it and doesn't convert the Skins are close to FG range and people would rip him for that.

 

[jw7]

If he goes for it and doesn't convert the Skins are close to FG range and people would rip him for that.

No, because if the Cards don't make it, all the Redskins care about is getting 1 or 2 first downs and running out the clock with a 7 point lead. They would have to drive about 30 yards or so to feel comfortable with a field goal. If they did make that distance, there would have been enough first downs to take a knee, and the last thing they would want to do is try a field goal with the game in hand. There was only 2:38 left on the clock at the time.

They guy already missed a 52-yarder and it gave the Cards good field position. I can't imagine they were thinking field goal at that point.

I would feel better about the loss if the Cards actually tried to win instead of showing no confidence in the O.

 

[moklerman]

That's an important point as well. At that point of the game, the Cards were playing with house money. The missed FG gave them new life and they should have taken it as far as they could take it. You simply don't play field position when the game is on the line. The chance that the punter could actually keep it out of the end zone and pin the Redskins deep was also worse than getting 4 yards by the offense. If you're going to roll the dice and hope everything is going to go right, why bet against two long shots(punt downed inside the 10/defense causing 3 & out vs. 4 yards on offense)?