Questionable Coaching Decisions on Wild Card Weekend

I am always amazed at how much preparation an NFL head coach puts into a football game. These guys spend hours upon hours breaking down film and coming up with game plans that will give them any possible edge, however slight. They prepare for seemingly every situation and yet don’t seem to be aware of the Boy Scout-mantra “Always be prepared” for unexpected situations. In both of Saturday’s playoff games, a coach’s bizarre decision altered the course of the game at a key moment.

#1. New Orleans kicks a field goal on 4th and 2 down by a touchdown

Oh Sean Payton – what happened to you? Aren’t you the same guy that’s still featured on commercials for calling for an onside kick to open up the second half of the Super Bowl?

Here’s the situation: down 34-27 with 9:13 left in the game, the Saints faced a 4th-and-2 on the Seattle 3 yard line. Payton sent kicker Garrett Hartley out for the chip shot field goal to pull the Saints within four. The Saints actually do get the ball back one more time, fail to get a first down, then this happens:

and the Seahawks hang on for one of the biggest upsets in recent playoff history.

Two things about this decision. First, the Saints went for it on 4th and inches from their own 39-yard line midway through the third quarter. Um…isn’t that way more dangerous than this situation? Second, anytime your worst case scenario involves giving the ball back to Matt Hasselbeck on his own 3-yard line, still only trailing by a touchdown, isn’t that a fairly safe situation?

This isn’t rocket science – the only smart move in this situation is to go for it. Look at it this way:

If the Saints go for it on 4th down: best case scenario – they tie the game at 34; worst case scenario – they turn the ball over on downs to the Seahawks at their own 3;

If the Saints kick a field goal (assuming he makes the chip shot): best case scenario – they pull within four and pin them deep on the kickoff; worst case scenario – they pull within 4 and the Seahawks get a solid return and are set up in good-field position to clinch the game.

The worst case scenario for the made field goal is actually worse than the worst case scenario if the Saints go for it. All that preparation for the game and then Payton makes a terrible decision at the worst possible time.

#2. Jim Caldwell’s timeout late gives the Jets the game

There’s still three rounds of games left, but I can say with confidence that this will be by far the most egregious decision of the playoffs. Here’s the situation: the Colts are up 16-14 in the closing seconds. Mark Sanchez leads the Jets to the Colts’ 34-yard line with 36 seconds left. The Jets then run the ball up the middle for one yard. They only have one timeout left so it’s pretty clear that the Jets are going to sit on the ball and attempt a 50-yard field goal to win the game.

And then Colts coach Jim Caldwell inexplicably calls his final timeout. Given the gift of an extra timeout, the Jets set up a fairly safe out pattern to Braylon Edwards. The pass is complete to the Colts’ 14-yard line and the Jets run the clock down to three seconds and Nick Folk kicks a 32-yard field goal to send the Jets to the next round. I think Peyton Manning’s reaction to the timeout tells the story:

Now I don’t really have to explain how insane it is to let a team attempt a 32-yard field goal when they were willing to settle for a 50-yard field goal. Rather I’ll just point out that, despite all that preparation that went into this game, Jim Caldwell apparently forgot that the Jets kicker is Nick Folk. The same Nick Folk that the Cowboys waived before the end of the season because he was such a train wreck. The same Nick Folk that is a career 7-for-14 (2-for-5 this season) on kicks 50 yards or longer.

And yet Caldwell says “no thanks” and lets the Jets get 18 yards closer. Folk makes the field goal, the Colts go home, Peyton Manning has a sudden aneurysm, and Jim Caldwell is suddenly on the hot seat. Quite the decision.

NFL Wild Card Weekend Picks

Here are my picks for the NFL divisional round:

New Orleans Saints (11-5, -10.5) at Seattle Seahawks (7-9)

If the BBVA Compass Bowl is the appetizer before the meal that is the NFL wild card round, this game is at best the salad before the good stuff is served. Joe Posnanski had a good piece the other day about just how bad these Seahawks are. It’s pretty much a given that they are the worst playoff team ever. They are the first losing team ever to make the playoffs and before this season only seven .500 teams had ever qualified for the postseason. But Posnanski points out that it goes deeper than that: not only are the Seahawks a 7-9 team, they are a really bad 7-9 team. In the last five years, 16 teams have finished 7-9; the Seahawks have a worse point differential than all but three of those teams. They are just a bad team.

Meanwhile, the Saints might just be the best team in the NFC right now. Aside from their meaningless last game, they won seven of eight to close the season, losing only at Baltimore.* They did lose their top two running backs (Chris Ivory and Pierre Thomas) to injuries for this game, but it’s not like Julius Jones and Reggie Bush are terrible. The Seahawks are 21st in the league against the run…and that’s after playing six games against NFC West teams (19th, 25th, and 32nd in rushing offense). I think the Saints will be alright if they want to run and, even if they somehow can’t, they have the third best passing offense in the league to fall back on.

* I get when teams rest their starters for the last game of the season if it doesn’t matter. It’s not a big deal that the Saints played Chase Daniel in the fourth quarter of last week’s game that was meaningless to them but a must-win for the Bucs. But the Saints were down 23-13 with two minutes left facing a fourth and one from their own 49. They PUNTED. Now that’s just nuts. It’s one thing to try to win with your backups in. It’s a completely different thing to just stop trying to win completely. I’m hesitant to say you should punish them for this type of behavior, but Sean Payton and Raheem Morris are good friends…isn’t that borderline collusion?

The other common theme I keep hearing is that Seattle has a great home field advantage. That’s certainly true – the crowd was a huge factor in throwing Sam Bradford off his game in the win over St. Louis to qualify for the playoffs. But they also finished only 4-4 at home with only one victory over a winning team (27-20 over 9-7 San Diego). Home field advantage will help, but it won’t help that much.

Finally, there’s this: in their nine losses, the Seahawks have lost by at least 15 points every game (coincidentally, their closest loss was 34-19 at New Orleans). That means that if you want to pick Seattle to cover the spread, you better think they can win the game. I don’t. New Orleans wins 35-14.

New York Jets (11-5) at Indianapolis Colts (10-6, -2.5)

In his column this week, Bill Simmons helpfully points out that the Jets have been building towards this game since they lost in the AFC Championship Game. If they lose, it will be a huge disappointment. The Jets are certainly a better team this year and the Colts are surprisingly just not very good.

Indy has only played five games against teams that finished with a winning record and could only manage a 2-3 record. Manning leads the #1 passing offense in the league, but beyond that this is a very mediocre team – they can’t run the ball (29th in the league) and their defense is below average (20th in total defense). Though they won their last four games to grab the #3 seed, let’s not forget that this was a team facing elimination all the way back in Week 15 – a loss to the Jaguars would have kept Peyton Manning and company out of the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

The Jets finished with an 11-5 record, improving from last season’s 9-7 finish. Plus they’re just a fun team to watch. In a normal year, they would have been the team with the most drama in the league: sexually harassing a reporter, dong shots, masseuses suing former quarterbacks, foot fetish videos, and coaches tripping opposing team’s players. Unfortunately, this isn’t a normal year and the Jets finished a distant second to the Vikings in the drama department.

The Jets’ have one of the best defenses in the league and most think that the key matchup will be Manning versus the Jets defense. I disagree – I think the key matchup is the Jets vs. the Jets. The Jets have one of the more bipolar teams in the league. Their last five games were: a 45-3 loss to the Patriots, a 10-6 loss to the Dolphins, a 22-17 victory over the Steelers, a 38-34 loss to the Bears, and a 38-7 victory over the Bills. Good luck trying to figure that one out. There’s not even a common theme going through those games. They beat good teams (Steelers) and lose to good teams (Patriots and Bears). They beat bad teams (Bills) and lose to bad teams (Dolphins). Their offense plays well (Bears and Bills) and plays terribly (Patriots and Dolphins). Their defense plays well (Dolphins, Bills, and Steelers) and plays terribly (Patriots and Bears).

All this means is that one of two things will happen in this game. First, the more talented Jets team comes out playing well and asserts their will on the Colts. Manning can only do so much with the Colts’ subpar receiving core against the swarming Jets D. LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene have great days against the weak Colts D and Sanchez does just enough to keep them guessing. The Jets cruise to a fairly easy victory.

The other option is that the awful Jets team that got destroyed by the Patriots and lost to the Dolphins at home shows up. The Jets’ offense looks shaky and Manning picks apart the defense as easily as Tom Brady and Jay Cutler did. The Jets are still the more talented team, so the game is tight, but the fourth quarter turns into Peyton Manning at home in the playoffs versus Mark Sanchez on the road in the playoffs. I’m not Rex Ryan, but I’m guessing he’s not a fan of that matchup.

I think it’s a coin flip between these two scenarios. But if I’m a Jets player (or fan), I’m terrified of Peyton Manning taking over in the second scenario…and I come out tight and make that scenario a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Colts pull out the victory 28-24.

Baltimore Ravens (12-4, -3) at Kansas City Chiefs (10-6)

Tough game for the Chiefs last Sunday. With a win against the Raiders, the Chiefs would have locked up the #3 seed and playoff games against the Jets and Steelers in the first two rounds. They didn’t just lose. They were destroyed 31-10. Offhand, I can’t remember a team so triumphantly blowing a game in the last week of the season with playoff implications on the line. Now the Chiefs get the Ravens and potentially the Patriots in the second round.

Kansas City benefited from a ridiculously week schedule – they played a grand total of two teams with winning records (finishing 1-2 with one win against San Diego and losses to San Diego in the rematch and Indianapolis). They haven’t made the playoffs since the 2005 season. Meanwhile, Baltimore is filled with veterans that have been there, done that. They finished 12-4 with a much tougher schedule, playing seven games against teams with winning records and finishing a respectable 4-3 in those games.

And you know what? I’m still picking the Chiefs to upset the Ravens. This game has too many red flags for me. First, the Ravens are only a 3-point favorite. Given the facts of the previous paragraph, that is stunningly low. Second, on a related note, everyone is on the Ravens for the victory. Every year at least one wild card game seems too easy to pick. This is the game this year.

Finally we have the biggest reason I’m picking the Chiefs: Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs have some of the best fans in football – I guarantee that there are already at least 20,000 fans out tailgating 24 hours before the game. They will be LOUD. Joe Flacco has been very shaky at times this year and that crowd will get to him. I expect the Chiefs to come out a bit nervous, but the crowd will rattle Flacco and keep the Chiefs in the game long enough for them to calm down. Kansas City eventually pulls the upset, 20-17.

Green Bay Packers (10-6) at Philadelphia Eagles (10-6, -3)

Come on, you can’t expect me to make an objective analysis of this game. I’m a homer. The Packers win 28-24.