JackAs* of the week award goes to...

[Rob12]

Ya I'm using iPhone emojis. They showed up on my end so I figured the forum was able to use them.

Truthfully I know it's completely on us but its frustrating to see another team have the chance to help us out like the Vikings had tonight and screw it up like they did. Teddy can't give up a sack fumble like that in that situation. He should have just thrown the ball away. What was he and the coaching staff thinking?? He should have hiked it and immediately thrown the ball away. The reward of getting 5-8 extra yards for their kicker wasn't worth the risk and we now see why. If they had some timeouts then maybe, just maybe you try and move the ball up the field with the hopes of scoring a TD but that's still a question mark even if Tom Brady is your QB. The part that makes this decision to pass is made even worse by the fact that they had no timeouts. What if they completed a pass short of the 1st down and inbounds?? The clock is running, they have no timeouts and can't spike the ball otherwise they turn the ball over on loss of downs. LMAOO

Dumb, dumb, dumb. All around dumb.

They should have just thrown the ball away, kicked the field goal and won it in OT. Maybe we would be talking about the Hawks being 2 game behind AZ with 4 games left in the season.

Did we really want the Vikings at 9-4 after tonight with GB holding the tiebreaker over us? Honest question. Once you accept the fact that we're not going to be division champs this year, you're not rooting for the Vikings. Let the Cardinals take the division, they still have to go through us to get to the Owl.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

[emoji322][emoji471] TEDDY BRIDGEWATER!!! [emoji471] [emoji322]

That's what separates Russell Wilson from the rest of the pack and was apparent his rookie year... He is clutch AF.

Teddy is not and blew the game for the Vikings while single handedly (literally) ruining the Seahawks chances at winning the NFC West this year. Thanks Teddy!! [emoji8]

Teddy didn't blow leads to the Rams, Panthers, Bengals. That's the difference right now.

Exactamundo! The Hawks dug the hole they are in. We had a wild-card-at-best sort of season, this is only befitting.

...and the Vikings lost by a hair to a far-superior team, talent-wise.

 

[TwilightError]

That is not so different than the sack Russ took against falcons in the end of second quarter in the playoffs a few years back.

 

[Polaris]

I agree that Seattle only has to blame ourselves for (probably) not winning the division this year. That said, you have to admit that was a colossal choke job by both Teddy and Coach Zimmer.

In the first play with only 13 seconds left to play, down three with a green QB and in easy FG range, and third down you KICK THE FIELD GOAL! YOU KICK THE FIELD GOAL! That way even if something wierd happens, you can try again on fourth down as long as the ball didn't cross the line of scrimmage.

In the second place, Teddy should know that you CAN NOT TAKE A SACK. If nothing was open after three steps, you throw it away over someone's head and live to kick the FG on the next down.

I don't know if there's a coach in the NFL who would have kicked the field goal there. 13 seconds with timeouts is plenty of time to make something happen. You don't just give downs away in the NFL, especially in the NFL against a superior team. It worked out horribly for them, but I don't see how not kicking there was the wrong call. Field goals are not a gimme, either. Lots of blocked kicks this year and misses.

I think Belichek kicks a FG there as does any sane NFL coach if they don't get caught up with their emotions. Now if the Vikings had had a time out (and that's usually the case in situations like this since you want the T.O. to get your kicking team on), that's completely different. Then sure, take one more quick shot (even a run) down the middle, get closer and position the ball, call time out and kick the FG with no time on the clock.

That wasn't the case and Coach Zimmer's own words damn him. He knew there was no time to catch a pass in bounds (or run the play) because there wasn't enough time to get the kicking team on the field.

In that case WHY WHY WHY take the chance of a ten second run-off or even not being able to stop the clock and thus losing any chance to win the game?

You KICK it, and if something goes bad (botched snap), you can 'clock' it and try again on fourth down.

This is time management 101.

 

[Polaris]

That is not so different than the sack Russ took against falcons in the end of second quarter in the playoffs a few years back.

Exactamundo. It was dumb then and it was dumb now.

 

[Polaris]

Ya I'm using iPhone emojis. They showed up on my end so I figured the forum was able to use them.

Truthfully I know it's completely on us but its frustrating to see another team have the chance to help us out like the Vikings had tonight and screw it up like they did. Teddy can't give up a sack fumble like that in that situation. He should have just thrown the ball away. What was he and the coaching staff thinking?? He should have hiked it and immediately thrown the ball away. The reward of getting 5-8 extra yards for their kicker wasn't worth the risk and we now see why. If they had some timeouts then maybe, just maybe you try and move the ball up the field with the hopes of scoring a TD but that's still a question mark even if Tom Brady is your QB. The part that makes this decision to pass is made even worse by the fact that they had no timeouts. What if they completed a pass short of the 1st down and inbounds?? The clock is running, they have no timeouts and can't spike the ball otherwise they turn the ball over on loss of downs. LMAOO

Dumb, dumb, dumb. All around dumb.

They should have just thrown the ball away, kicked the field goal and won it in OT. Maybe we would be talking about the Hawks being 2 game behind AZ with 4 games left in the season.

Did we really want the Vikings at 9-4 after tonight with GB holding the tiebreaker over us? Honest question. Once you accept the fact that we're not going to be division champs this year, you're not rooting for the Vikings. Let the Cardinals take the division, they still have to go through us to get to the Owl.

Yes. Why give up our best chance to win the division unless we really had to.

I also note that had Arizona lost, getting the division becomes a realistic possibility. If Arizona loses to GB, then Seattle can steal the division no matter what Arizona did vs Philly. [And Arizona losing to GB is not at all out of the question.] If Arizona lost to Philly, but wins vs GB, then Seattle would have a real shot at the SoV tiebreak because Minny would have factored in in our favor as well.

I see no reason to give up on the Division until we have to. I'll certainly take the #5 seed, but why settle for less?

 

[jammerhawk]

Actually I though Minnie had a good plan there but failed to execute.

The call that reversed the late INT was a game changer and to me a tad dubious. Gave me the impression the zebras were interested in the outcome.

Once that INT was called back you knew Minnie was going to lose. They overcame a tickytack holding call to get to where Bridgewater was stripped

AZ can be beaten and it'd be nice to do it twice in a row.

 

[Ambrose83]

Actually I though Minnie had a good plan there but failed to execute.

The call that reversed the late INT was a game changer and to me a tad dubious. Gave me the impression the zebras were interested in the outcome.

Once that INT was called back you knew Minnie was going to lose. They overcame a tickytack holding call to get to where Bridgewater was stripped

AZ can be beaten and it'd be nice to do it twice in a row.

How? The dude was clearly in the neutral zone.

 

[Seanhawk]

Actually I though Minnie had a good plan there but failed to execute.

The call that reversed the late INT was a game changer and to me a tad dubious. Gave me the impression the zebras were interested in the outcome.

Once that INT was called back you knew Minnie was going to lose. They overcame a tickytack holding call to get to where Bridgewater was stripped

AZ can be beaten and it'd be nice to do it twice in a row.

How? The dude was clearly in the neutral zone.

Exactly. Not to mention, Palmer probably saw it and there was no way he makes that pass if it wasn't a free play.

 

[Seanhawk]

I agree that Seattle only has to blame ourselves for (probably) not winning the division this year. That said, you have to admit that was a colossal choke job by both Teddy and Coach Zimmer.

In the first play with only 13 seconds left to play, down three with a green QB and in easy FG range, and third down you KICK THE FIELD GOAL! YOU KICK THE FIELD GOAL! That way even if something wierd happens, you can try again on fourth down as long as the ball didn't cross the line of scrimmage.

In the second place, Teddy should know that you CAN NOT TAKE A SACK. If nothing was open after three steps, you throw it away over someone's head and live to kick the FG on the next down.

I don't know if there's a coach in the NFL who would have kicked the field goal there. 13 seconds with timeouts is plenty of time to make something happen. You don't just give downs away in the NFL, especially in the NFL against a superior team. It worked out horribly for them, but I don't see how not kicking there was the wrong call. Field goals are not a gimme, either. Lots of blocked kicks this year and misses.

They were out of timeouts, but I think the sentiment is the same. I don't think there's a coach that wouldn't try to get more yards there.

 

[Uncle Si]

That last play was not Teddy's fault...

a. it probably shouldn't have been called. atleast not with a struggling, inexperienced QB at the helm.
2. he had already made good decisions to throw the ball out of bounds on previous plays, its not like he didn't know what to do
c. but the fault lies with Khalil... go back and watch the play. Whiffed his blocking assignment and let Freeney walk right onto Bridgewater..

 

[Seanhawk]

That last play was not Teddy's fault...

a. it probably shouldn't have been called. atleast not with a struggling, inexperienced QB at the helm.
2. he had already made good decisions to throw the ball out of bounds on previous plays, its not like he didn't know what to do
c. but the fault lies with Khalil... go back and watch the play. Whiffed his blocking assignment and let Freeney walk right onto Bridgewater..

Teddy may have been struggling this year, but he wasn't last night. He was 25-36 for 335 yards, 1 TD and no picks before that play.

 

[Seymour]

I don't know if there's a coach in the NFL who would have kicked the field goal there. 13 seconds with timeouts is plenty of time to make something happen. You don't just give downs away in the NFL, especially in the NFL against a superior team. It worked out horribly for them, but I don't see how not kicking there was the wrong call. Field goals are not a gimme, either. Lots of blocked kicks this year and misses.

Pretty sure it was 13 seconds with NO timeouts, and that is the reason for the debate.

 

[Uncle Si]

That last play was not Teddy's fault...

a. it probably shouldn't have been called. atleast not with a struggling, inexperienced QB at the helm.
2. he had already made good decisions to throw the ball out of bounds on previous plays, its not like he didn't know what to do
c. but the fault lies with Khalil... go back and watch the play. Whiffed his blocking assignment and let Freeney walk right onto Bridgewater..

Teddy may have been struggling this year, but he wasn't last night. He was 25-36 for 335 yards, 1 TD and no picks before that play.

Were you so confident in his performance that you ask him to do something that is low percentage with the game on the line though?

Point is, even with him having a good game, they probably needed to cut their losses and give it to their kicker...despite having a good game, their offense has not been the greatest and TB has been under heavy pressure week in and week out.. why ask him to make one more play that would only increase your FG percentages by a few points?

 

[AROS]

The Vikings played tough, obviously motivated after the ass beating we gave them, but the 3 turnovers were the difference plain and simple. And their corner who had that gift-wrapped pick six but couldn't hold on to it was HUGE.

Oh well...Let's go get that #5 seed!

 

[Reaneypark]

Once they got into field goal range with about 25 seconds left, they should have ran AP to get closer and spiked the ball to set up the FG. I wouldn't have trusted Teddy to execute sideline passes in that situation.

 

[baumer64]

That last play was not Teddy's fault...


c. but the fault lies with Khalil... go back and watch the play. Whiffed his blocking assignment and let Freeney walk right onto Bridgewater..

This exactly. The blocker was knocked on his butt and Freeney had a free route to Teddy. Very similar to what Russ was looking at earlier in the season.

 

[Ozzy]

It should of been hit your back foot and throw it at the sideline. He went through multiple reads and then moved around. High school kids get rid of the football before taking that sack. Unbelievable that happened.

 

[Seafan]

So sad to see the Vikes give up three turnovers like that and still had a chance and they then completely melt down.


The finish was exactly like their loss to the Broncos. Oh, well.

 

[kearly]

Bridgewater doesn't have eyes in the back of his head, and taking a sack would have ended the game too. It turns out, Bridgewater was actually winding up to throw the ball out of bounds.

It was a boneheaded decision but not by the QB. It was a stupid decision by the coaches, who unnecessarily lowered the team's win probability by not kicking on 3rd down. 47 yards with no wind is a pretty good make rate for one of the leagues better kickers. With Arizona defending the sidelines the risk of being pushed backwards out of bounds and keeping the clock running was too great to make it worth the extra few yards.

Basically, there were four outcomes where Minnesota doesn't lose by passing on 3rd down. An unlikely 29 yard TD pass, a successful completion ran out of bounds without forward progress to keep the clock running, an incomplete pass, or a defensive penalty. Four ways to not lose the game, and countless scenarios where they do lose the game with 13 seconds at the snap and no timeouts.

I couldn't believe they passed up the kick when it happened, and when they lost the game it felt like poetic justice for a terrible coaching decision.