When a coach goes for it on fourth down in their own territory, they’re either a genius or a moron.
When the team converts, the coach is a hero. They saw something on film and had a good play, people talk about how it was crazy, but brave.
When the team fails in that situation, people wonder what on Earth led to the coach making that decision, with that terrible play. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. There is plenty of hindsight available for Seattle’s 29-20 loss the the Giants at Lumen Field on Sunday.
In today’s NFL, coaches are more aggressive on fourth down, especially when their defenses struggle all day to get stops. It was somewhat surprising, however, to see Mike Macdonald — a defensive coach — elect to go for it on fourth down from his own 35, trailing 20-13 with 14 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the game.
Macdonald, 37, is the NFL’s youngest coach. He’s already shown that he’ll be aggressive at times, and rely more on analytics than we’re used to in Seattle.
This genius versus moron situation was set up when Geno Smith scrambled on third-and-12 from the 24-yard-line. He slid down just shy of the marker. While it could be questioned whether he should have continued forward for the first down, he would have taken a big hit. That’s probably not what the teams wants in Week 5 of the regular season. But, that yard lost with the slide was a big one.
Macdonald, rather than punting and trusting his defense to get a stop — something it had struggled to do for much of the day — decided to keep the offense on the field.
“You’re not always going to put it on the analytic numbers, but we the model throughout the game and in those situations was a go,” Macdonald told 710 KIRO on his weekly coaches show. “So that’s what we did. Yeah, it didn’t work out for us. Was it the best call if the (defensive) end is going to play it exactly like that? No, it’s not the right play to be in.”
It was a play Macdonald and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb had a play believed would work. Flashback to the 2023 Apple Cup, when Ryan Grubb was the OC at Washington. Facing fourth-and-1 from his own 29 against Washington State, then-UW coach Kalen DeBoer and Grubb called a play that led to a 23-yard run from receiver Rome Odunze for a first down and an eventual 24-21 Huskies win.
Had the Cougars tackled Odunze in the backfield, it would be remembered as one of the most bone-headed play calls in 116 Apple Cups. It worked — so it wasn’t.
The play on Sunday against the Giants did not work. In fact, if failed miserably. Smith dropped back and New York defensive end Brian Burns immediately ambushed him for a 7-yard sack. The Giants eventually converted a 24-yard field goal for a 23-13 lead with 11:57 to go.
“We’re going to learn from that. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to go for it on fourth-and-ones in negative territory moving forward. … “We had a play we liked, and we went for it and didn’t get it.”
Categorized:Seahawks
Read This Next
