By Not Punting

[Garthshort]

Although most of us agree that Whiz made the wrong call by not going for it on fourth down, in the long run it might have been the right call. He was telling the defensive team that he had faith in them. Yesterday, the faith was misplaced, but in the long run, who knows.

 

[black]

2:39 left to go. Enough said.

 

[PACardsFan]

Although most of us agree that Whiz made the wrong call by not going for it on fourth down, in the long run it might have been the right call. He was telling the defensive team that he had faith in them. Yesterday, the faith was misplaced, but in the long run, who knows.

Pendy is starting to dig his own grave. Our D should be light years better than it is. Whiz wants a Steeler type D here & there will be a change unless we start creating more turnovers.

 

[TRW]

When the punter went on the field I said "Game over". Dumb, dumb decision even if the defense had played lights out all game, which they certainly didn't.

Bad, bad call by Whiz IMO.

 

[Totally_Red]

Although most of us agree that Whiz made the wrong call by not going for it on fourth down, in the long run it might have been the right call. He was telling the defensive team that he had faith in them. Yesterday, the faith was misplaced, but in the long run, who knows.

Or was he telling the offense he had no faith in them to pick up a 4th and 4?

Whis is a good young coach who made the wrong decision in this case.

We committed too many penalties, lost the turnover battle, and played poorly on defense in the second half. Usually, you can't do that and win on the road against a good team. Until the penalty situation is cleaned up, and the defense gets some turnovers, it will be very difficult to beat good opponents on the road IMO. The offense isn't nearly good enough to carry the load by itself against a top ten defense.

 

[Russ Smith]

That was a bad decision by Whiz I've seen highlights on NFL Net, ESPN and FOX and everyone of them said the same thing 4th and 4 you go for it right, no they punted.

It wasn't an easy get of course but you have to go for it there.

 

[chicards11]

slant to boldin and its first and ten.....

Go get the JETS next week and Whizenhunt WAKE THE HELL UP!

 

[abomb]

Not punting is the weak way out. He pussed out.

TMQ brings it up all the time. When a coach punts in that situation, he is basically playing to lose by one score, not two. It is basically that the coach is "more interested in shrinking the margin of defeat than trying to win."

24-17 looks better than 31-17.

 

[Garthshort]

Whiz has already told the offensive team that he had faith in them, by going for it on fourth down four or five times this year. I'm thinking back to the opener against the 49ers, on that long fourth quarter drive, and on that first quarter drive in this game when we had the TD called back.

 

[TJ]

Around mid field with 239 to go. I dont care if you have the "Steel Curtain" out there, you go out there and get it

 

[ARZCardinals]

I agree with abomb - he pussed out

2nd and 4 - why throw it when we were running so well
3rd and 4 - same thing
4th down on the 50 and you punt

chicken *&*&

as soon as the punter went out there I knew it was....GAME OVER and I threw my hat at the wall.

THE BEST the Cards could have done is 3 and out then they'd have the ball at our 35 with less than a minute to go...IT MADE NO SENSE!!!

I only home Whis learns from this.

 

[Mulli]

Not punting is the weak way out. He pussed out.

TMQ brings it up all the time. When a coach punts in that situation, he is basically playing to lose by one score, not two. It is basically that the coach is "more interested in shrinking the margin of defeat than trying to win."

24-17 looks better than 31-17.

I find that ridiculous.

 

[Russ Smith]

I find that ridiculous.

I actually agree with Abomb, no coach would come out and admit that's why they punted but they're playing to keep the game close. Sure they hope they get the ball back and can tie it but worrying about field position at that point in the game is silly IMHO.

And Deion agrees with us so we can't be wrong.

 

[ajcardfan]

Even if that was his motivation, it was still misguided. The offensive side of the ball is the strength of this team. You should play to your strengths, not your weaknesses.

If we had gone for it and Warner had been sacked, fumbled, and the fumble returned for 6 by Washington I'd still say that going for it was the right call.

 

[football karma]

I was surprised -- because Wis has established his go for it mentality.

I also thought that being in four down territory, a run on 3rd down would have been a good call -- they had been running the ball well, and even if limited to 2 yards or so, it leaves a run or pass call on 4th down.

 

[Totally_Red]

Even if that was his motivation, it was still misguided. The offensive side of the ball is the strength of this team. You should play to your strengths, not your weaknesses.

If we had gone for it and Warner had been sacked, fumbled, and the fumble returned for 6 by Washington I'd still say that going for it was the right call.

Yup! For some reason, Whis turned passive at a critical moment. Now on to New York. (or New Jersey)

 

[Longcolts]

Listening to Whiz on Doug and Wolf this morning and his explanation for punting actually made sense to me. Maybe I need to get out more!

 

[earthsci]

THE BEST the Cards could have done is 3 and out then they'd have the ball at our 35 with less than a minute to go...IT MADE NO SENSE!!!

While I too wanted us to go for it, this isn't true. If we had held them to 3 and out the clock would have stopped after the third down play at the 2 minute warning. Even if Breaston ran around with the ball during the punt instead of fair catching it, we would have had at least 1:40.

 

[Gambit]

Pendy is starting to dig his own grave. Our D should be light years better than it is. Whiz wants a Steeler type D here & there will be a change unless we start creating more turnovers.

Whis needs to get over his Pittsburgh lunacy. This team is not Steelers West, nor should it be given the areas with the most talent.

We need to be pragmatic, and have a team philosophy based on the team's talent, and not ideologically rigid and attempt to mold the team to fit the vision.