With about 8 minutes to go and a 16-point lead, the Atlanta Falcons faced a third and inches from their own 36 yard line.    If Atlanta rushes the ball–first down or not–the clock keeps running.  Worst case scenario, they punt it deep and NE begins a drive in its own territory, with a 16-point deficit and with only 7 minutes left.   It leads to an Atlanta win.

If Atlanta picks up the first down, they can knock a couple of minutes off the clock, and–again, worse case scenario only–they punt back to New England, who would still face a 16-point deficit, this time with about 5 minutes left.

There was one and only one play call.  RUSH THE BALL.  Instead, those idiot birds took a lesson from Pete Carroll and called a pass play.  Inconceivable as it is, they did it.   They needed a few feet and called a 7-step deep dropback pass.  Only Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Pete Carroll and my reader Karmatourer would do something that ridiculous.  Add Dan Quinn to that immortal list of geniuses.

It was among the worst Super Bowl play calls in history.  For a few minutes.  Because a worse one is coming.

Still with an 8-point lead and the ball deep in New England territory, well within chip shot field goal range, with only 3+ minutes on the clock, all the Falcons had to do was rush it a few times, kill clock, and kick an easy field goal.  World Champions.  Matt Ryan could have taken a knee.  It leads to an Atlanta win.

Any kind of rush.   Anything at all.   Anything except call a pass play.  You guessed it.  As if Dan Quinn didn’t learn his lesson in the previous series, he baffled the world by calling consecutive pass plays, which resulted in a sack and then a penalty, NEITHER of which would have occurred if he just ordered Matt Ryan to take a knee.

I have plenty of colleagues and many readers who say that I call for rushing plays too much.  This isn’t so at all.   I simply point out when it’s correct to rush the ball, and when you never ever ever pass it.   When Jay Ajayi is picking up 6 yards per carry and the Dolphins lead by 17, you keep giving him the ball.  And when you need to kill the clock and gain a foot or two to clinch a Super Bowl, you hand off.

For centuries, we’re going to have to hear about the heroics of Tom Brady.   As if he had anything to do with the the brain paralysis that Dan Quinn demonstrated Sunday night in Houston.  People will talk about the total collapse of the Falcons.  But lost will be those plays I pointed out above.  A pass-happy team got burned by one-sided playcalling and horrendous decisionmaking all around.  And Dolphins Truth called it early in the 4th quarter, and Atlanta kept passing and passing.

After handing the Patriots their 4th Super Bowl title a few years back, Pete Carroll still got to keep his job.  I would have fired him on the spot.  You’ll note that since then, the Seahawks haven’t advanced far.   The same will hold true for the Falcons.   You don’t recover from losses like this.  The coach will not suddenly get smarter.  The players will let this one fester and not recover.

If only their coach had called a running play.  We wouldn’t and shouldn’t have to be going through this again.

But as it turns out, yet another team has handed a free win to the Patriots because they tried to be too cute and ignored Football 101…DON’T CALL PASS PLAYS WHEN YOU NEED TO SIMPLY KEEP THE CLOCK MOVING.

–And the worst part is that we have to hear all the Patriots tell the same old lie forever:   “We always knew we would win.”   No, only Dan Quinn knew you would win, and he ensured it.  The Patriots’ body language showed they gave up much much sooner.

Now we have to forever hear about Little Julie Edelmann’s “miracle” shoestring catch, instead of recognizing that it was a 100% lucky bounce.

 

54 Comments

    1. It’s a sad day when Jay and I agree on something!

      1. Author

        A dynasty cannot be argued. But how they achieved it? First Pete Carroll and now Dan Quinn handing them free victories. leaves a bad taste in my mouth

        1. Yep exactly they’d be 3-5.

          1. Sorry meant 3-4 in super bowls and everything changes. All based on coaches screwing up the play call.

  1. @Admin

    “For centuries, we’re going to have to hear about the heroics of Tom Brady. As if he had anything to do with the the brain paralysis that Dan Quinn demonstrated Sunday night in Houston.”

    Your right Brady and NE had nothing to do with the stupid calls, BUT they did take advantage of them and win the game so yes we are going to hear about that

    Unfortunately it looks like Brady, barring serious injury, can keep competing for SB rings for at lest another 3 years!

    I am so sick of this crap!

    I suggest we give up our #1 this year and our #1 and #2 next year and move up to draft Kizer and let him sit for a year or two behind Tannehill so we might have a QB ready to take over the AFC East when Brady is on the way out.

    On a side note it was really nice to hear Goodelle get booed off the podium! I only wish he had been handing the trophy to Ross and Dolphins fans booing him for the horrible bully gate and overseas home games he has inflicted on us for the last four years!

    1. Author

      True, they took advantage of every single poor decision Dan Quinn made

      1. Give up a 1 and a 2 for for a qb when we have more pressing needs? Smh!

    1. Author

      Ah, Karma. Relax. You know I’m teasing you because you always tell me that I’m obsessed with running the ball. 🙂

  2. I I swear ,they are the luckiest team …all Atlanta had to do was rush for 2 down because they were already in field goal range …but noooo pass and get sacked …with that field goal the pats would of needed 2 scores …what were they thinking ..again pats are the luckiest team…To me Atlanta gave them the Lombardi trophy. congrates but I’m still sick to my stomach.

  3. Author

    And that idiot loser Kyle Shanahan is already a head coach next season, while Matt Patricia and Josh Mcdaniels get ignored every year. Now THAT is baffling!!

    1. It’s the name Admin – S H A N A H A N – and names gets recognition and favoritism and puts one ahead of the line.

  4. LAS VEGAS — Fresh off their fifth Super Bowl title, the New England Patriots head into the offseason as the consensus favorites to win a sixth.

    The Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime in Super Bowl LI on Sunday. They sit atop the early odds to win Super Bowl LII, at 5-1.

  5. Author

    5-1 is pretty iffy! I would seriously put them at 1:1 even money. Who is gonna beat them?

  6. Well, I was wrong. I thought only the Dolphins hired the dumbest offensive Coordinators in the NFL.

    1. Author

      The absolute worst. Shanahan pulled a Pete Carroll TWICE in one quarter.

      1. As I said in the previous article probably the worst calls in super bowl history. These guys can’t take an easy win have to pass to glory. If I were blank Quinn would be fired. When you get ahead like that and don’t run and take points to guarantee a win you are an idiot. Some fans are saying it’s Ryan’s fault which is BS as the coaches didn’t have to put him in that situation. Idiots…

      2. Which brings up a point no one ever talks about since everyone is too busy kissing Belichick’s ring. This “Belichick is a genius” crap needs to stop! He’s no doubt a great coach and a surefire Hall of Famer. But he’s had the incredible luck and good fortune to coach in an era where the coaching talent has been incredibly diluted & weak. Shula had to coach against Noll, Madden and Hank Stram in the AFC. Landry had to get by Bud Grant, Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs in the NFC. These guys all had to go up against each other at one point or another to be champions. There was practically a hall of fame coach to go up against after EVERY round of the playoffs back in the day.

        Who the hell has Belichick had to match wits against the past dozen years? Seriously. Look at all the coaches he had to go up against in all the Patriots’ Super Bowls. Martz, Fox, Reid, Carrol and now Quinn…how do they compare against the great coaches of the 70’s and 80’s?…not even close! The ONLY time Belichick has come up against a legit Hall of Fame coach in the Super Bowl, he’s gone 0-2 (Tom Coughlin).

        That says everything you need to know about the “Genius.” I’ll give him credit for being smart enough to have a very simple philosophy all these years: “I have the best QB in the league, if I just coach the hell out of the basics and limit mistakes, the idiot across the field from me will eventually screw it up. And the Mike Tomlins and Rex Ryans and Joe Philbins of the world have always obliged. If Shula, Noll or Landry had to coach against Mike Tomlin, Andy Reid and Joe Philbin on a consistent basis, they would have never lost a dame game.

        Genius my ass…

        1. Very true good point. That game was lost by coaching…

        2. Author

          Really really good points, Moonbear. Even though Bud Grant and George Allen could never win the big ones when it counted, at least they never just handed away free gift victories to anyone like Dan Quinn and Pete Carroll.

  7. Author

    Absolutely agree. An owner who accepts second best simply lets his players know that losing is acceptable. The only way I would let Quinn survive is if he promised me that Kyle Shanihan called those numerous passes against Quinn’s own orders, but that is not the case. Blank has an opportunity to get rid of the dead weight and bring in someone with brains

    1. So you would fire a coach that just led your team to the first Super Bowl in God knows how long in his 2-3 year of coaching … and btw let’s not forget the great catch by Julio

      1. Yes I would because he had opportunities to learn from previous mistakes and didn’t. Do you let him cost you another super bowl because he can’t recognize a situation to win a game? A simple run and kick?

        1. Author

          Flyer, we are on the same identical page. Of all the people on earth who SHOULD HAVE learned from Pete Carroll’s mistake, it was dan Quinn. Quinn stood right next to Pete Carroll that day, and in one single play call, Quinn watch Carroll destroy the defensive gem that his defense had put up that day. That SHOULD HAVE been Quinn’s wake-up call. “If I ever get to be a head coach, I vow to run the ball down New England’s throat instead of trying to be slick and fool them with a pass.” It’s baffling how Quinn didn’t learn his lesson.

      2. Author

        Axel, YES. When the Houston Oilers blew a 31-point playoff lead against Buffalo, their coach Jack Pardee was fired the next day. There is no room for “Well, he got us close, so let’s reward him.” The gravity of Quinn’s numerous mistakes yesterday deserve the ultimate punishment. The amount of those mistakes. Quinn proved that he did not learn from Pete Carroll’s mistake, and Quinn sure didn’t learn from his own mistake. Do you think that team is gonna come back next season with any passion whatsoever?

        1. Y’all make good points but at the same time every team is looking for great coaches and there aren’t that many. Did Quinn lose this super bowl for his team probably but if you fire him who do you bring in next year and how long would it take for that person to even have a chance at a super bowl

    2. Funny why you aren’t coaching one of these NFL teams, MORON!!

      1. Author

        Jay sounds just like every other Patriot fan today.

        1. @Admin

          So…..why aren’t you coaching? MORON!!

          LOL!!!

          1. Author

            I’m not coaching because that’s not a career path I followed. I also didn’t go to mathematics school, but I know that 1+1=2. You don’t need to be into coaching to know that you don’t call dangerous pass plays when you can just run out the clock and win the Super Bowl.

  8. Matt Ryan made a tremendous mistake. You never allow a sack when in field goal range to ice the game.

    1. I’m just glad it wasn’t my Dolphins out there looking that inept in Superbowl 51.

      Forrest Gump was right, “STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES!”

    2. Author

      Yes, and it was laughable how Troy Aikman kept blaming the linemen. Yes, they deserve some blame. But Ryan can’t just fade back, thinking “My line will 100% protect me, so I don’t have to worry about any pass rush whatsoever.” Looking at Ryan’s technique on those key plays, and it’s like he thought he was in a practice bubble wearing a red shit. “no one is allowed to hit me, so I will just look downfield and not worry about a rush.”

  9. Best part of this Super Bowl- Lady Gagas halftime show.😄

    1. @SEAN

      The best part of the Super Bowl was listing to the stadium drown out Goodell with BOOS as he briefly spoke and then watching him run the hell out of there as fast as he could.

      Think he got the point?

      He is dumber then any of the aforementioned coaches who don’t know when to throw or run!

  10. It’s that very famous NFL saying : when you pass the football, only 3 things can happen, and 2 of them are BAD.
    I thought Matty Ice was smart enough Not to take a sack in that situation, throw the damn ball away, kick the gimme FG – and Win the damn game, easily.

    And, worst of all, they were Succesfully running the ball that Whole game. They only move closer to a FG and probably even ice the game by staying with what had worked so well all night long.

    This only emphasizes the importance of play calling and how important that really is in the NFL. Every head coach in the league saw what happened last night, and it makes you wonder how many of them truly learned the lesson that was taught, especially Gase.

    1. Devontae Freeman – 11 carries.

      Reminds me of times when Tannehill finished games with more rushing attempts than all of the running backs on the team combined.

      1. Author

        I wish the pain would subside, but it’s getting worse and worse as you readers point these things out.

    2. Author

      So true. Everything AJ just wrote is entirely accurate.

    3. Author

      As I mentioned in my blog today, these coaches assume that if you hand off, then the critics will say “He played it safe. He played not to lose. he played too conservatively.” They are afraid to make the safe call, even when the safe call is the correct call.

  11. Kyle shannahan if that’s how you spell he’s name had to off hade money on the pats or something. My 8th grade football coach would know to just run the ball when your in field goal range up 8 with 3 mins to go. Hell that didn’t even have to run it just take a fucking knee and you literally win the game. Their field goal kicker is one of the leagues best I almost guarantee he would of made that field goal if the dumbass Falcons just ran the ball.

  12. The moral of this story is what AJ said has Gase learned that Lesson? If not we’re destined for failure. Worse is when they run an empty backfield completely tipping your hand letting the D pin their ears back. The falcons called a shotgun blew my mind and blew their game.

    1. Author

      I am very proud that you guys are starting to believe in what I preach every week. There are certain times in every game when a running play is needed. In those cases, you run the ball. When your RB is hot, you run the ball. When you need a few inches, you run the ball. When you want to try and “fool” the other team and thus lose a Super Bowl, you pass the ball.

      1. Yep honestly during the season when I read when you were trashing Gase i usually disagreed but when after that game yea I had a point

  13. The moral of the story is that all teams make mistakes…….except the Pats!!

    1. Author

      Right, because Brady’s pick-6 was on purpose and not a mistake.

  14. Kyle Shanahan did a great job with Matt Ryan and the Falcon offense this year. The #1 rated offense AND a SB berth.

    He’s HC opportunity is very well deserved!

    1. Author

      LOL. Regular season personal statistics only help a player’s agent. Otherwise, they are useless stats. Kyle Shanahan simply made Belichick look good.

  15. You have the ball and it’s a little over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter and one of your offensive linemen just got hurt. You are ahead by sixteen points, it’s third and one and the ball on your 27 yrd line. What do you do?

    Do you:

    A. run the ball and if you don’t pick up the one yard, punt.

    or

    B. Attempt a pass and risk all kinds of shit going wrong too close to your own end zone.

  16. Some more head scratching shit about the Falcons fuckup in SB-51:

    Even after the two-point conversion that made the score 28-20, Atlanta still just needed a field goal to effectively end things. They got into field goal range after a truly remarkable sideline catch from Julio Jones.

    Why, at the Patriots 23-yard-line, well within the range of kicker Matt Bryant, were the Falcons trying to pass?

    “We trust our guys, so we thought that was the opportunity to let it rip,” he said. “When it doesn’t go that way, it’s easy to question it,” said Dan Quinn. WTF?!

    Kyle Shanahan, the Atlanta offensive coordinator, said this week that Quinn never overrules his play calls. This would have been a good time to start.

    1. The guy sounds like he’s playing madden with his kids…let it rip f’ing unbelievable.

  17. The late game clock and situational game management from the Falcons coaches was the worst I’ve seen in a Super Bowl. And if Quin had a veteran team that had been contending for a while he’d definitely be on the hot seat after that game. But since he is a 2nd-year head coach that has done a good job morphing the team to a more physical identity and has pretty much made them relevant again he will get a pass as he should. Hopefully he’ll learn from his own personal Pete Carroll moment. Even though he should have learned from Super Bowl 49. Atlanta is full of young talent so the Falcons will be back.

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