It’s not very exciting to hear people who haven’t thought about the overtime rules for more than 24 hours be extremely confident they know what the correct answer is to receiving vs deferring when the people who have actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about it think it’s a toss-up. Andy Reid had been conservative all night, the defense was gassed, and if you can hold the team with 4 FGs and 1 TD to a FG, getting the ball first has a big advantage.
The whole talk of granting an extra down feels very strange too: you *always* have four downs in football. While kicking a field goal makes them less likely to kick a field goal on 4th down, there are plenty of situations where they would kick one anyway, or else be stuck having to convert a 4th and long—which is not, as you seem to suggest, an obviously bad situation where the team that was 10/20 on 3rd and 4th down is magically guaranteed to convert. This seems much more like reading a narrative backwards than it is actually considering what would or would not have been a good decision.
I kind of feel similar. Yeah they should've taken the ball second, but with Mahomes not sure it would've made a difference. Whichever route they chose, I think they could've executed better in crunch time.
Their defense was excellent for three quarters. Not nearly so much in crunch time. No doubt can give Mahomes a lot of credit for that. The offense, would've liked to see more of that Shanahan ingenuity that we hear about. If they had gone for it on 4th & 4 in OT, am I confident they would've made it? No, not really. Spagnuolo seemed to dial up the blitzes at just the right times, and too often SF looked off guard. (Whereas SF seemed to often dial them up at just the wrong times, though again, can probably credit Mahomes for that) Will Purdy get there to where he handles those plays better with more experience? Possibly. If one wants to blame Shanahan for not being more ready for those, I can get behind that.
I'll personally go with the storyline of Mahomes just being incredible first over anything else with this one. The 49ers were good, and it was fun seeing defenses have the upper hand for most of this game. They just weren't good enough when it counted most.
Each team should have an equal number of possessions in overtime. I'm glad KC won CLEANLY, rather than tie it up at 22-22, and then have SF get a field goal to win 25-22 because it became a sudden death game at that point.
Agree. Super-aggressive take to say that the problem was taking the ball first. I’d argue the mistake was to go empty backfield on third down in OT. Play four downs and play like you must get a TD to win the game. All this said, if Shanahan and Harbaugh are also made to look small against Mahomes, you are running out of coaches that are clearly a one-for-one trade winner over McDermott. Reid, of course. McVay? Zac Taylor? Anyone else?
Super aggressive take but you’re dealing with a different creature in Patrick Mahomes. He had just gone right down the field on you to end regulation, and the only reason he didn’t score a touchdown was because he ran out of time. I get the argument to wanting the ball third, but I’m with Dan Orlovsky all the way on this point. Blew my mind, too.
It’s not very exciting to hear people who haven’t thought about the overtime rules for more than 24 hours be extremely confident they know what the correct answer is to receiving vs deferring when the people who have actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about it think it’s a toss-up. Andy Reid had been conservative all night, the defense was gassed, and if you can hold the team with 4 FGs and 1 TD to a FG, getting the ball first has a big advantage.
The whole talk of granting an extra down feels very strange too: you *always* have four downs in football. While kicking a field goal makes them less likely to kick a field goal on 4th down, there are plenty of situations where they would kick one anyway, or else be stuck having to convert a 4th and long—which is not, as you seem to suggest, an obviously bad situation where the team that was 10/20 on 3rd and 4th down is magically guaranteed to convert. This seems much more like reading a narrative backwards than it is actually considering what would or would not have been a good decision.
I kind of feel similar. Yeah they should've taken the ball second, but with Mahomes not sure it would've made a difference. Whichever route they chose, I think they could've executed better in crunch time.
Their defense was excellent for three quarters. Not nearly so much in crunch time. No doubt can give Mahomes a lot of credit for that. The offense, would've liked to see more of that Shanahan ingenuity that we hear about. If they had gone for it on 4th & 4 in OT, am I confident they would've made it? No, not really. Spagnuolo seemed to dial up the blitzes at just the right times, and too often SF looked off guard. (Whereas SF seemed to often dial them up at just the wrong times, though again, can probably credit Mahomes for that) Will Purdy get there to where he handles those plays better with more experience? Possibly. If one wants to blame Shanahan for not being more ready for those, I can get behind that.
I'll personally go with the storyline of Mahomes just being incredible first over anything else with this one. The 49ers were good, and it was fun seeing defenses have the upper hand for most of this game. They just weren't good enough when it counted most.
Shanahan did not make an “incorrect” decision. He took a calculated risk that didn’t pay off.
This is a column worthy of an AM radio hack, who always knows EXACTLY what every coach should have done…the day after it happened.
Each team should have an equal number of possessions in overtime. I'm glad KC won CLEANLY, rather than tie it up at 22-22, and then have SF get a field goal to win 25-22 because it became a sudden death game at that point.
Great read! Appreciate your work👍
Agree. Super-aggressive take to say that the problem was taking the ball first. I’d argue the mistake was to go empty backfield on third down in OT. Play four downs and play like you must get a TD to win the game. All this said, if Shanahan and Harbaugh are also made to look small against Mahomes, you are running out of coaches that are clearly a one-for-one trade winner over McDermott. Reid, of course. McVay? Zac Taylor? Anyone else?
Super aggressive take but you’re dealing with a different creature in Patrick Mahomes. He had just gone right down the field on you to end regulation, and the only reason he didn’t score a touchdown was because he ran out of time. I get the argument to wanting the ball third, but I’m with Dan Orlovsky all the way on this point. Blew my mind, too.