That you think he was trying to get to the sticks with his cowardly slide says it all. The whole point of the slide is to pull up short so you don't take a hit. If he was trying to actually get to the sticks he wouldn't have slid.
Then there's the "poor wittle QB might have gotten an ouchie" defense. When QBs all over the league are putting their bodies on the line to win games and get first downs, as listed in this thread. To quote Slick Willy, "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."
But throw around some more !!! which will definitely make your argument stronger.
The weird thing is the very first play of that drive he had a designed run, didn't slide and took the tackle from the side.
I don't think Kyler even thought. I think he saw the man coming straight at him and he just slid by instinct where he should have been thinking "Got to get the 1st no matter what".
I've watched the whole drive back again on All 22 and there was a whole lots wrong with it. It's pretty obvious they aren't trying to win it. There are at least a couple of check downs in the middle of the field that ran off clock for only 6-8 yards. They were chipping away to get into FG range.
Kyler missed a couple of better options on passes too.
And I'm not even sure from watching it back that Kyler's run was supposed to get first down and another couple of downs to try win the game. I'm wondering if Kliff didn't want to risk any more passes in the more condensed field that might get picked off and the whole thing was designed just for Kyler to pick up what he could, spike it and kick.
I think if Kyler did get first there all we would have seen is a couple of runs up the gut to get a few more yards and the FG attempt.
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