The play call with 2 minutes left in the half, needing 8 yards and the Gnats getting heavy pressure on Wentz on virtually every pass attempt, was and remains indefensible. The fact that the Gnats did not tie the game was only the result of a very fortunate combination of events: several favorable rulings by the officials; McAdoo's play calling stupidity actually exceeding that of Barney Rubble's, inspired goal line defense and a healthy dose of good luck.
Facial appearance can certainly be very deceiving when making a guess as to whether someone is smart or not...but not always. That said, I am now convinced Pederson simply doesn't have a lot going on upstairs. And while dumb play calling is bad enough, stubbornly dumb play calling is much worse. After the game, Pederson firmly defended the call:
“It was something that I discussed with the guy that’s helping me upstairs with some of the analytics and where we were on the field, what we were doing offensively at the time,” Pederson said. “The defense was playing extremely well. Had an opportunity to keep ourselves on the field at that time, so I elected to go for it at that point. Obviously, we didn’t get it and the defense held. … I stand by my decision.”
Some will defend Doug's call by saying they favor aggressive play calling. I like aggressive play calling too...when the circumstances dictate. Pickett's Charge and the Charge of the Light Brigade were both aggressive tactical "play calls". They were also stubbornly stupid. How did they turn out?
We were fortunate that our chief tactitian was matching wits with stubbornly dumb Ben MCAdoo yesterday. It will rarely be that way. Especially if we start playing really big games for big prizes.
Facial appearance can certainly be very deceiving when making a guess as to whether someone is smart or not...but not always. That said, I am now convinced Pederson simply doesn't have a lot going on upstairs. And while dumb play calling is bad enough, stubbornly dumb play calling is much worse. After the game, Pederson firmly defended the call:
“It was something that I discussed with the guy that’s helping me upstairs with some of the analytics and where we were on the field, what we were doing offensively at the time,” Pederson said. “The defense was playing extremely well. Had an opportunity to keep ourselves on the field at that time, so I elected to go for it at that point. Obviously, we didn’t get it and the defense held. … I stand by my decision.”
Some will defend Doug's call by saying they favor aggressive play calling. I like aggressive play calling too...when the circumstances dictate. Pickett's Charge and the Charge of the Light Brigade were both aggressive tactical "play calls". They were also stubbornly stupid. How did they turn out?
We were fortunate that our chief tactitian was matching wits with stubbornly dumb Ben MCAdoo yesterday. It will rarely be that way. Especially if we start playing really big games for big prizes.
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