KRYK SLANTS
Colts head coach defends his fatefully flawed fourth-down call in overtime. ‘We’re going for it 10 times out of 10’ ... Buffalo Bills’ offence proving to be brutal, and it’s not all Josh Allen’s fault
In so doing, his Indianapolis Colts lost.
It’s a short step between being aggressively brash on fourth down and recklessly stupid. Which was Reich? Tough call.
But taking such a chance to win becomes a bad thing if it means losing becomes likelier than tying. Follow along. Here was Sunday’s scenario:
The Colts had wiped out a 28-10 home-field deficit in the third quarter to take the previous winless Houston Texans into overtime at 31-31, thanks to the incredibly heroic passing of Andrew Luck, whose throwing arm and shoulder are just fine, thank you very much.
After each team kicked a field goal in the 10-minute OT, Indy had the ball with 27 seconds left, facing 4th-andfour from its own 43. Luck and the offence lined up as if to go for it, but soon it was clear they were just trying to pull the Texans defence offside.
Then Indy called timeout. Reich huddled with his offensive players.
If they went for the first down and failed, they’d give the Texans the ball at the Indy 43, with only 10 or so yards needed to reach gamewinning field-goal range, and enough time to do so.
But if the Colts punted, the game almost certainly would end in a tie, as the Texans would have got the ball at about their own 20 with 20 or so seconds to play.
Reich sent Luck and the offence back on to the field, whereupon the QB threw low and incomplete to receiver Chester Rogers on a short comebacker to the right, between the numbers and the sideline.
With 24 seconds left, from the Indy 43, Texans’ secondyear QB Deshaun Watson then fired a quick slant to 2017 first-team all-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins, from the left slot. Inexplicably the Colts had a linebacker (Darius Leonard) covering Hopkins, who unsurprisingly burst free, caught Watson’s zipped-in pass and raced up a seam to the Indy 19, for a 24-yard gain. Watson ran up and spiked the ball with four seconds left.
Ka’imi Fairbairn then drilled a 37-yard field goal as time expired to win it for the Texans, 37-34.
Both teams thus are 1-3, tied in the AFC South cellar. Had Reich opted to punt it, it’s highly likely the Colts would be 1-2-1, a game ahead of the 0-3-1 Texans.
Even if Luck and Rogers had connected, Indy still would have been about 15 yards from Adam Vinatieri’s field-goal range, with 20-some seconds left.
So Reich regrets the decision, right?
Wrong.
“We’re going for it 10 times out of 10,” he said afterward. “In a perfect scenario, we just go for it and don’t call timeout. But that’s not how it played out. That’s on me.
“I need to not flinch there and we need to get it done. Ideal situation is we don’t call a timeout, because you’re probably not going to draw them offside. The only secondguessing is: Do I just go with it right away without talking it through?”
Colts players had their coach’s back afterward.
“I loved it. We had a discussion before the play and I agreed,” Luck said of the fourth-down decision, per Bob Kravitz of WTHR.com. “I didn’t give Chester enough of a chance to make a play, and I’m sick to my stomach about it.”
Fans at football games always loudly cheer a coach’s decision to go for it on 4th-and-short, because: We’ll make it! Every time! And because punts aren’t brave, punts aren’t heroic. Boooo, punts.
But sometimes punts are smarter. Because ties are better than losses. And in September? Always.
FIVE FAST FACTS
Luck became just the second NFL player to lose despite throwing for 450+ yards, four TDs and no interceptions, per ESPN Stats & Info … The Dallas defence is allowing the fewest yards per first-down play (3.63) … San Fran QB C.J. Beathard has completed the longest pass this season, an 82-yard scoring strike to George
Kittle … Oakland’s
Marshawn Lynch leads the AFC in rushing with 300 yards … Atlanta’s Julio Jones tops the NFL with 502 receiving yards but still hasn’t caught a TD from Matt Ryan.
TAKING A KNEE
One NFL offence that, overall, is even worse than Arizona’s is Buffalo’s. Across the board it’s about as bad as bad gets.
And it’s not all on struggling rookie quarterback
Josh Allen. Buffalo’s problems are far deeper, far more pervasive, far more concerning. As the following gloomy stats confirm:
Through one-quarter of the NFL season, the AFC East team ranks last in the NFL in yards gained per play (4.03), yards per first-down play (2.99), passing net yards per
game (133), passing net yards per play (4.4), percentage of passes intercepted (20.2%), sacks per pass play (15%) and third-down efficiency (24.1%).
The Bills’ 22-0 loss Sunday in Green Bay again revealed all manner of Buffalonian warts, on both sides of the ball. The team’s 22-year-old
passer had a bad game, even for such an NFLer in his third start, at Green Bay.
In completing just 16 of 33 for 151 yards and no TDs against two interceptions and seven sacks, Allen’s pass efficiency rating was a downright dismal 36.3. Yet, if equivalent ratings existed for offensive line play, receiver
play and rushing, Allen’s number might stand highest. It ain’t all on the kid, y’know.
The O-line gave him almost no time to go through his read progressions. Bills running backs LeSean McCoy and
Chris Ivory gained 39 yards on 11 carries. And his receivers, led by last year’s gigantic bust of a trade pickup
Kelvin Benjamin, seldom got open until garbage time, and seldom fought hardest for 50/50 balls.
Clearly, Allen lost poise as he took more and more poundings from Packers defenders, some of whom slammed into him unobstructed. Who wouldn’t lose his poise?
“I’ve got to be better,” Allen said. “The offence has got to be better, starting with me … I take this one on my shoulders.”
Surely, his coaches rightly will spread blame thickly beyond their new quarterback.
“I’m going to go evaluate it all,” Bills head coach Sean
McDermott said. “Any time you don’t put up points, you’re going to look at everything … We’ll continue to get this thing (on offence) going here as the season progresses.
“We’ve got to make sure we’re winning the 1-on-1s. That’s what the game comes down to.”
The Bills aren’t winning anything often enough of offence, in 1-on-1s or in anything — coaching and game-planning included — to deserve to be anything but where they find themselves, both in the standings (1-3, tied for last in their division) and in statistical rankings.
Next up for the Bills: The Tennessee Titans, who two weeks ago held the Jacksonville Jaguars without a touchdown in a 9-6 win, and on Sunday limited Carson
Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles to 20 regulation-time points in a 26-23 OT win.
“We’ve got to be better on the offensive side of the ball,” Allen said.
Mmm-hmmm. Much.