Conservative playcalling?

[Predaphin]

We called a heck of a game. We ran it down the Colts throat. But in the end, it seemed we played not to lose the game, rather than going in for the kill.

Did anyone else think we got really conservative on the last drive?

Instead of trying to get a first down in the last drive, it seemed that we ran a play on 3rd down to simply get us in to better field position to kick the Field Goal.

Now, I understand this call if our Defense was playing good. I would understand the trust you would have to have in your defense had it shutdown the colts offense more often than not, but our defense was doing a horrible job last night.

I thought our playcalling was excellent, up until that last drive.

 

[sharp]

Yea we relied on the D, and there was no reason to. We ran the ball on 3rd and 6 after converting 2 3rd downs in a row on that drive over 7 yards. And we were on the dirt, and we were on like the 32. Run, run, run but there are times to pass it. Jesus.

 

[Phinat1c]

Finally a good observation!!!!

 

[jtown777]

It was very apparent to me that Sparano got "scared". Like he felt a turnover was inevitable. I also thought that the keys to the game were the last drive at the end of the half as well as the last TD drive of Indy. Blitzing Manning proved to play right into his hands! Manning is probably still the best QB in the league. And he is ultra smart at reading defenses. Props to him. Shame on Tony S. for calling Cam and Wanny for advice on the conservative play-calling. Their defense was gassed after that long sustained TD drive, then they were back out there in a matter of moments, since Manning struck quickly. Stick with pounding the MF'ing ball until they stop you! Use Cobbs to spell R & R, use Ricky then Ronnie and vice-versa. To pull up and throw when it was unnecessary was complete BS. The O-line man-handled their line. We could have put up 350 yards rushing had Tony stuck with it. This IS a running team.. Period! Stick with what you have. Chad can hand the ball off every snap! I don't care as long as we chew up clock, spit out the opposing D and score TD's on the ground. I could give a rats @%$ if Pennington had zero attempts. I am still disgusted and appalled!

 

[NJPHIN34]

We called a heck of a game. We ran it down the Colts throat. But in the end, it seemed we played not to lose the game, rather than going in for the kill.

Did anyone else think we got really conservative on the last drive?

Instead of trying to get a first down in the last drive, it seemed that we ran a play on 3rd down to simply get us in to better field position to kick the Field Goal.

Now, I understand this call if our Defense was playing good. I would understand the trust you would have to have in your defense had it shutdown the colts offense more often than not, but our defense was doing a horrible job last night.

I thought our playcalling was excellent, up until that last drive.

Couldn't agree more. I was yelling at the TV. It was obvious to everyone watching that we couldn't stop the Colts and a FG wasn't going to do it. Yet, on 3rd and 6?? we run a draw? I mean yeah it worked most of the night but take a freaking chance at the win.

When you play not to lose, more times then not you turn out the loser instead of the winner.

 

[jvw]

No I thought we got conservative on the previous drive. I would not have kicked the FG on 4th and 1. No way they stop us. The only way I kick a FG there is if DC hit the 50 yd then that puts us up by 6 and we would only need 3 to win. Going up by 3 with 4 min in the game hurt us. I would have rather used up the rest of clock and scored the td or kicked a chip shot with 15 sec left. No way do I trust my Defense in that game. Sparano would have gone for it last yr. and Manning would have never seen the ball again. To me this was the worse coached game by Sparano with the Fins.

 

[Finfang]

We were killing the Colts all night.

Just freakin' finish.

Conservative call cost us the game IMO.

 

[Urlithani]

Couldn't agree more. Our playcalling needs to be more aggressive and take more chances on both sides of the ball. We couldn't stop the Colts from scoring with our lousy defensive scheme, so we decide to blitz, but it's too late by then. Everyone already knows about the offensive side so no need to reiterate that.

 

[tay0365]

I agree that we should have gone for the jugular, but to be fair, If Miami had thrown the ball and it fell incomplete (w/ a Missed FG) or an INT, people today would be complaining how Miami took such a dangerous chance in a close game at the end.

 

[NY8123]

I agree the play calling could have been different. A couple other things need to change going forward:


1) The play calling near the end sucked. It seemed to me they called plays looking to get into field goal range instead of scoring a TD to try and seal the game.
2) Pennington or someone needs to throw the god dam ball down field once in awhile. I don’t care if you over throw the receiver by ten yards or you simply throw out of bounds. You need those plays to keep the safeties off the ball, I know Miami rushed for over 300 last night but that isn’t going to happen with Wilfork in the middle and safety help on run support.
3) Crowder needs to step it up some. He needs to learn how to defend the pass, I found myself longing for Zach back in his prime.
4) The 2 minute drill was absolutely the worst thing I have seen in a long time. Period.
5) Just leave Pat White on the beach for now he needs time to develop and the Wildcat is fine without him

I will say as a team the O-line play was awesome yes Long fell on his *** a few time but the dam dirt infield can go tomorrow as far as I am concerned **** baseball because footing on dirt is horrible. Long did a good job and so did the rest of the O-line both lines for that matter where stout.

 

[Predaphin]

I agree that we should have gone for the jugular, but to be fair, If Miami had thrown the ball and it fell incomplete (w/ a Missed FG) or an INT, people today would be complaining how Miami took such a dangerous chance in a close game at the end.

Not neccessarily. If you look back to that drive we had about three or four 3rd down conversions on that drive alone. We had momentum. If people question the chance Miami took , all you had to do is look back at the drive and realize every other 3rd down was converted.