View topic - fg goal or go for it?

[harrisonsabeast Profile]

i was wondering wat u guys would have dobe on fourth and goal. i think i would have kicked the ball and took the three pts.


oh and arians still sux

[westeelbelieve Profile]

what would Cowher do?

[El Nino Profile]

i don't think it was a wrong call to go for it. tomlin was trying to get a spark into the offense, and a TD there woulda done it. it was much higher risk than taking the fg though

[Lake37 Profile]

At the time I said to go for it, I just thought it was the right thing to do. But I definitely did not like the play call. I know some people are against QB sneaks especially with BR7 already being dinged up the way he is, but we have a 241 lb QB so I say let him go right off center I am sure he is more than capable of picking up a yard.

[ILLSTILL Profile]

I liked going for it there.

The offense had done jack shit the entire game, and at that point in the game, if you would have told me the steelers would string together another couple drives close to the EZ, I would have thought you were crazy. If Tomlin had a brain there, he realized it would be easier to try to somehow make the defense able to score. Go for the safety and the possession back, and hope the momentum carries over (and they did try). If that doesn't work, hope for the probable 3 and out and getting the ball back. Who knows, maybe we'll get a good return?

To take the 3 there would have been damn near suicide.

[Teegre Profile]

I was 100% in favor of going for it.

1) If they score the TD there, they only need to get to the 25 for a field goal.

2) If Pittsburgh did not get in, a shortened field is likely (and a safety a legitimate possibility).

3) Sometimes, you just have to "man up" and make a play. A field goal would not have energized anyone. A TD swings the momentum in Pittsburgh favor considerably.

NOTE: The run to the right was the correct call. Russell behind Stapleton has worked thus far. If Colon does not slip, Russell walks into the end-zone. Alas...

Anyway...it all worked out.

[Jeemie Profile]

Watching the game, I didn't like it.

After I had time to think about it, with our defense (even though they had shown some cracks against the Cowboys to that point), it was probably the right call.

[Snockered Pedestrian Profile]

At the time I said to go for it, I just thought it was the right thing to do. But I definitely did not like the play call. I know some people are against QB sneaks especially with BR7 already being dinged up the way he is, but we have a 241 lb QB so I say let him go right off center I am sure he is more than capable of picking up a yard.

Didn't BR7 fumble the ball away on a sneak, and ding up his L wrist in the process?
Whatever happened to the option pitch? I guess it makes too much sense to go wide
with 9 in the box.

I'd've gone for it; we needed the points. No more Field Goal Bill.
Also need a new OC, OL coach, and 3-4 OL.

[Nick79 Profile]

Personally, I'd have a lot of DIFFERENT play calls and forget the MACHO BULLSHIT! Last year our TEs had 11 TDs, mostly on goal line passes, what happened to that this year? The defense needs to feel that a run up the middle is not a sure thing. I don't care HOW we get the TD, just GET the TD.

[rwdavis2 Profile]

what would Cowher do?

What you really mean is what did Noll do? With a defense that good he always took the points if there was enough time to get the ball back and he needed another score.

I can remember all the boos at the came when he would kick a FG on 4th and 1. It worked out pretty well anyway.
BD

[isfry Profile]

I said at the time we should just kick it. We have not run the ball consistently up the middle ALL YEAR. The play prior we got stuffed on a PA pass to the flat. What were we gonna do? Kick the field goal, down by 7, stay in your lanes on KO, and put your D back on the field. Yeah, it worked out in the end, but it's not like we stuffed 'em in their endzone for a safety or anything. They got a quick first down, got some breathing room and punted. With an offense that has had so much trouble getting short yardage ALL YEAR, and struggled to get ANY POINTS ALL DAY, take the three and make it a one score game. Lucky it worked out, but still a bad call.

[Nashsteeler Profile]

I confess...I said at the time we should go for it, and I still think it was the right call. They got stopped, but I think it still fired up the team, and it was all Steelers after that.

[WoodsonOfSteel Profile]

What you really mean is what did Noll do? With a defense that good he always took the points if there was enough time to get the ball back and he needed another score.

ALWAYS... Take the points when you have a paralyzing defense. ALWAYS.

(I too said go for it in the heat-of-the-game. )

[Steelhope Profile]

We needed two scores with time being a factor....i would have kicked for the points......but hey it all worked out

[woody2008 Profile]

with the dallas d playing the way it was, going for 6 was the call, no guarantee they get that deep in dallas territory again, good call poor execution

[Hagerstown Steelman Profile]

I would have taken the pts and made it a one possession game.

Granted if you did that and got the second field goal we would have still been down 13-9 and needed a TD. Even with our D I feel you needed to make it a one possession game.

I can not really fault either decission as like others have said.

[Bomberman Profile]

I think it was the right decision to go for it. However, I would have preferred a different play called. I think a play action with the running back taking a fake and diving over the top and having Ben roll out to the right to hit Heath or Hines just across the goal line...if they're covered, Ben runs it in. Touchdown! Just my thoughts

[Jeemie Profile]

There was 12:20 left. With the way our defense was playing, 2 or 3 more possessions for the Steelers was not out of the question.

And, except for the Indy game, every time the Steelers have gone for it on 4th-goal, they have been "successful"..."successful" in quotes because the defense did what they had to do even when we failed, and we got the ball back in time to score the winning points.

Now- we still need to improve our goal-line playcalling and execution, but statistics support going for it on 4th-goal (especially within the 5) every time.

[Steel Keeper Profile]

but statistics support going for it on 4th-goal (especially within the 5) every time.

http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~dromer/papers ... RECTED.pdf

Basically, it is a no brainer to go for it on 4th and goal from the one (although this assumes it is the 1st quarter in order to control for clock and score issues, ie being down 2 with seconds remaining).

I love how people keep citing the defense's play as a reason to kick. When you have an awesome defense that means they have a better chance at a safety or stopping the opposing team quickly and your offense will get the ball back with good field position. Which was especially important considering our offenses woes Sunday.

This paragraph is details, skip to get to conclusion
(I am assuming everything goes the same b/c it is impossible to tell whether things would have gone better or worse for the PS, so I'm assuming the same)
The Steelers offense got the ball back at the 25 and kicked the field goal on 4th and 8. The Cowboys took the ensuing kickoff to the Steelers 40. Had the Steelers kicked the FG the Cowboys would have had about 37 yards better field position (at the 40) and would have punted putting the Steelers at their own 38. The Steelers picked up 2 yards on that drive. Berger's average net was 34 yards. So that would put the Cowboys next drive at the Cowboys 26. So the Steelers would have pushed the Cowboys back 14 yards.

So to summarize, assuming things went the same regardless of the FG/go for it decision (I know, it doesn't work that way), the Steelers gave up 14 yards in field position in order to take a stab at 4 extra points. Would you trade 14 yards for a 30-50% chance at 4 points when down 10 in the 4th quarter when your defense is playing well and offense isn't?