Mike Tomlin has no qualms about a decision by Dan Campbell that might have seemed curious at first glance.
Facing fourth-and-1 from the Detroit 24 with 4:53 left, Campbell chose to go for it. The play resulted in a loss of two yards and a very short field for the Packers.
“I thought we would have it, number one,” Campbell said after the game. “I really believed we would make it. Number two, I we knew we would get the ball back if it didn’t work. These were the two thoughts.
After Sunday night’s Chiefs-Seahawks game, NBC’s Mike Tirico asked Tomlin for his thoughts on Campbell’s decision.
“He focuses on playing elite quarterback“, Tomlin said. “When you’re playing an elite quarterback, and especially when you’re playing an elite quarterback game, you want to make sure your guy has at least a chance to have the ball at the end of the game. And that’s what this decision seemed to be for me. If he throws that ball the way Jordan Love and company did, it’s not possible, it’s likely they’ll put the ball down the field and win the game. And so what he did when he went for it, he was either going to succeed and keep the ball for his quarterback, or he was at least going to give his quarterback an opportunity to respond. I was always ready to make that decision when I had Big Ben (Roethlisberger), for example, and I was facing another elite quarterback.
The Lions got the ball back as their defense stiffened, forcing a field try. And because Detroit’s special teams unit blocked the 35-yard try.
But even though the Packers had scored a touchdown, the drive began with 4:50 left. The Lions would have had the opportunity to respond.
And that’s only if the Lions failed to gain a yard on fourth down by giving it up to Jahmyr Gibbs.
This is another tangible example of the main differences between analysis and sensation. The coach, considering all the circumstances, knew it was the right decision.
That said, the age of analytics has made it much easier to achieve something that would have once been dismissed as unconventional, since the reliance on mathematics has broken down the wall between what is and what is not “normal” for a coach.
And Tomlin’s past actions lend even more credence to his words. Thanks to research from NBC Sports, Campbell was the first coach to throw to the fourth of his 25 in a tie game since Week 1 of the 2014 season.
That day, Tomlin’s Steelers executed a fake punt from their own 20 in a 27-27 game against the Browns. It happened with 9:48 left in a 27-27 game. The play worked, the drive then stopped at 50 and the Steelers won with a field goal, 30-27.
Gn sports
