Ran it twice on 3rd and 10 in the 4th quarter. Once with the game literally hanging in the balance. What additional info could anyone possibly need in order to come to a reasonable conclusion?
That's why I always say "Gase has no knowledge of situational football".
The last two possessions had two different objectives:
The second to last with 8 1/2 min left had the main objective to run the clock. Gain a few yards, maybe make a 1st down here and there and hopefully you can get into FG range. But even without a FG you want to run as much clock as possible.
What should we have done? run- run - and based on yardage pass or run on 3rd down. What do we do? Pass-Pass (both clock stopping incompletions) and run for a loss on 3rd and 10.
The final possession had only one purpose: yardage. Time became a non-factor. In a worst case scenario in which you have to punt you want to have gained enough yardage to flip the field position and not punt from inside your own 10-yard line to give the ball back to Luck at midfield or worse with Luck only needing 20 yards to get into FG range.
So you pick your best pass plays, hand the responsibility to your "franchise" QB because these are moments which can define a QB. All three plays should have been pass with the exception maybe a run play if we only needed a yard or two on 3rd down.
Instead we run - into a wall; we pass horizontally - into a wall; run for a lousy 4 yards - into a wall when we needed 10.
Two possessions, each with with 3 downs; each with a different purpose and he is 0-2 in making the right decisions.
Personally I am more upset with the possession at 8 1/2 min. If we could have run the clock in that situation the last possession may never have happened.
Gase is known to be bad in situational football. In the past those decisions have gone under the radar while they were spread throughout the game. I think another good example was the 3rd and 1 deep throw against the Bengals which gave their defense a spare oxygen bottle and ended with a complete offensive collapse by us.
Gase is a an OC who needs a HoF QB and a HC who can override these type of mistakes. As a HC he has nobody above him and he is stuck with his decisions. And the simple fact that he defends his decisions in the most absurd way shows you that he is not willing to learn from his own mistakes. He thinks he did everything right. And that is a problem.
BTW, his excuse that calling a pass play could have led to safety is BS. I am not the biggest fan of Ryan but I trust him more on a roll out than running the same draw play inside my own 5-yard line with which we just lost 5 yards on the previous possession.
