I'm not buying this, but if I did want to buy into a conspiracy, my angle would be that Bevell called this play hoping it would succeed and make him like a genius who did things his own way. If there is anything Bevell is desperate for, it's to shed the perception that he is a vanilla OC. Though in this case, I don't really buy that conspiracy theory either since I think it's more likely explained by incompetence.
Scottemojo":2csbu3pj said:
So, in his illustrious career, Bevell has called play action on 4th and 15, but not on 2nd and goal from the one with a team in goal line D. Figures.
Maybe I am severely underestimating Bevell, but my take on those two calls is not that Bevell gets cute, it's that he doesn't have a strong fundamental understanding of situational football. He is the equivalent of the manager in baseball that doesn't shift his infield, or use platoon splits, or never submits lineup cards that are close to optimized. Maybe that manager is great at managing players, but he has no idea how to manage the game itself (seems like this is every manager the Mariners have ever hired).
I guess the hole in that theory was that Bevell started with an offensive HC in Brad Childress who would have presumably set Bevell straight damn quick, and that Bevell does often play situational stuff correctly.
It does feel like when Bevell goes away from conventional thought, it is random as hell, and not devious in any kind of way. Bates was a devious OC, if he ever got cute it was usually a good thing.