The decision to go for it on 4th down at our own 35

[West TX Hawk]

14:13 left in the game, down 20-13, our own 35 yard line, 4th and 1. This is not about Geno’s slide the play before, but strictly MM’s decision to go for it in this situation. What was your genuine thought at the time MM made the decision? Would you have punted? Did our offense need a spark as Tiki put it or was this just way too risky? Or did you support going for it but not Grubb’s play call?

While it’s easy to say if it worked it must’ve been the right call but since it didn’t, it wasn’t as the Giants then went up 23-13, I’m more curious if we’ll see similarly aggressive but risky tactics from MM in the future and if this is also becoming more common league wide.

For me, I actually agreed with the call and appreciated the aggressive nature of MM. Our defense at the time hadn’t shown any real capability of consistently stopping them so might as well go for it. I even thought the play-action call was sound as it may have caught the Giants D off guard. Alas, it certainly didn’t work but I can understand the reasoning and maybe down the road this type of thinking might win an important game.

 

[knownone]

It's tough. The general win probability chart was around 60%, favoring punt, but that doesn't tell us much about this game.

On the one hand, not getting the first down all but assures a two-possession game. On the other, as you noted, the Giants had no issues moving the ball and averaged around 4 minutes per drive.

I had no issues with going for it, but I hated the play call. We hadn't run the ball much the entire game, yet Grubb called a play-action. Now Geno has his back turned to the defense with no way to see or escape pressure—weird call.

 

[rcaido]

I trust Geno offense more then our defense. It was the right call to go for it.

 

[Vesuve]

14:13 left in the game, down 20-13, our own 35 yard line, 4th and 1. This is not about Geno’s slide the play before, but strictly MM’s decision to go for it in this situation. What was your genuine thought at the time MM made the decision? Would you have punted? Did our offense need a spark as Tiki put it or was this just way too risky? Or did you support going for it but not Grubb’s play call?

While it’s easy to say if it worked it must’ve been the right call but since it didn’t, it wasn’t as the Giants then went up 23-13, I’m more curious if we’ll see similarly aggressive but risky tactics from MM in the future and if this is also becoming more common league wide.

For me, I actually agreed with the call and appreciated the aggressive nature of MM. Our defense at the time hadn’t shown any real capability of consistently stopping them so might as well go for it. I even thought the play-action call was sound as it may have caught the Giants D off guard. Alas, it certainly didn’t work but I can understand the reasoning and maybe down the road this type of thinking might win an important game.

14:13 left in the game, down 20-13, our own 35 yard line, 4th and 1. This is not about Geno’s slide the play before, but strictly MM’s decision to go for it in this situation. What was your genuine thought at the time MM made the decision? Would you have punted? .

Regarding bold above.

Punt is what you do.

 

[themunn]

The defense finally stepped up after that moment but at that point they hadn't been able to stop them so it felt like a 50/50 on whether to punt or go for it.

I did like the call but not the playcall - if you are risking it all inside your own half it has to be one of your best plays in the playbook for getting a yard, play action when you've barely been running the ball and the Giants D-Line has feasted on Geno is not the way to go.

 

[Shanegotyou11]

Id have punted.

The playcall was dumb to me due to the fact they did play action and barely ran all game.

 

[keasley45]

It was an idiotic play call. I didnt mind going for it. It seemed like in this game and the Detroit game to a degree, we were always on the cusp of catching our stride and assuming control of the game. This was one of those instances. This is a team where if it gets momentum, ut can really turn it on. If we get that 4th down, i think the gane is different on bith sides.

That being said, it was early still and so shoukdntbhave ended the game, and didnt. We still had the chance to tie it, ehich is actually pretty remarkable.

Just too many mistakes to overcome. The first of which was looking beyond the Giants and underestimating them.

In the end, thats the only story here. Not the slide. Not the 4th down call. Underestimating an opponent.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Incredibly dumb play call, imo. One score game, punt the damn ball. And calling a pass play on 4th? Behind that o line? Brutal.

 

[Mad Dog]

Incredibly dumb play call, imo. One score game, punt the damn ball. And calling a pass play on 4th? Behind that o line? Brutal.

One could say, "Calling a run play? With that OL?" We were getting dominated in both the run and the passing game.

It was a failure of execution rather than play call IMO. You need to win your matchups to win in this league. That's on the players to man up. At worst you take a penalty and punt. But you never give your opponent a free rush at the QB on 4th down.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

True dat. There's aggressive and there's just plain reckless.

 

[RiverDog]

I don't disagree at all with the decision to go for it. Our defense was playing poorly, the game was into the 4th quarter, and we were down by 7. But why we'd call a straight drop back pass with the way the Giants had been applying pressure is a questionable play call to say the least. Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Well, this is the same team that called for a shotgun from inside the end zone.........TWICE. Grubb needs to realize he's not at UW. UW had the top-rated O Line in all of college football. Our O Line is painfully bad in pass blocking. Know your personnel.

 

[ZagHawk]

Right call, wrong play. It should have been a lower risk/reward run or QB sneak not a drop-back. You only needed 1 yard, so even if you did not execute the sneak or run up the middle. You're at the 35 not sacked back where Geno dropped.

 

[Rat]

I don't know if id go as far as saying it was the "right call", but I believe it was certainly a defensible one. If we pick up the first, nobody is saying "I'm glad it worked, but that was a stupid decision".

The execution though... wow. Just completely blown up from the second it was snapped. I hope our coaching staff learned something from it, because they ended up looking completely outmatched.

 

[hox]

The call was horrible. It reminded me of that 4th down call vs Dallas when Micah Parsons came through unblocked.

 

[RiverDog]

Well, this is the same team that called for a shotgun from inside the end zone.........TWICE. Grubb needs to realize he's not at UW. UW had the top-rated O Line in all of college football. Our O Line is painfully bad in pass blocking. Know your personnel.

Quite possible. CFB is more pass oriented in general than the NFL.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Depends on the team. He's calling the game as if he has a UW level O line. Pounding the rock is very important when you can't block for sh** in the pass game.

 

[AgentDib]

The real problem here is our defense was struggling so much that going for it from our own 35 yard line was a reasonable decision. MacDonald doesn't want to say it like that publicly, but if we had punted then there's a very high likelihood that the Giants would have marched down the field like they did on just about every other drive that day.

 

[warden]

I did not like the call at that point of the game. Even if we succeeded, I will still not like the call

 

[FreshBoxLive]

It was completely idiotic