You know, I haven’t seen a single second of the Jets playoff loss since the game ended, it slowly awaits a viewing sometime in March if it’s lucky. However it seems like the failed fake punt is still very much on the minds of the media and fans alike.
On Thursday, Pat Chung showed up to read to some kids at an elementary school, and so did, in the words of Mike Reiss:
Reporters from Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Comcast SportsNet, WBZ-TV, Kraft Sports Productions, Fall River & ESPNBoston here at Chung event
Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch pointed out via twitter it was curious that the entire army showed up to an offseason charity appearance. As Bruce said:
would the media crowd be as big if it were James Sanders out there today? I’m cynical.
Just last week even the Sports Guy was still bemoaning the play via his mailbag.
Q: I’ve been playing the Pats-Jets game over and over again in Madden for the past two weeks, and never once have I panicked and accidentally let a special teams player audible to a fake punt.– Brendan, Boston
SG: (Nodding grimly.)
Okay, so clearly every one is hung up on this particular play, which by the way wasn’t accidentally allowed or made by a just a “special teams player”. But I haven’t even seen it since it happened. So I was finally goaded into re-watching it so I could form my own opinion about the call.
The first question: Could he have made the first down if he handled it cleanly?
Even Trent Dilfer, master of all things football knowledge, and Mr. Factorback Merrill Hoge couldn’t even agree on that, Dilfer told Bill Simmons on a recent podcast. They even called in all their interns and even they were divided. How controversial!
Well let’s have a look:
Pause it at :23 and tell me he isn’t walking to a first down. It’s Chung’s delay on mishandling the snap that allows Eric Smith to beat Sammy Morris’ block. If Chung catches it cleanly, Morris kicks Smith inside and Chung cuts around them with at least ten yards before the double team on the gunner can stop, cut back and tackle him.
So it really should’ve worked. The Patriots had four blockers for three Jets. The call is aggressive, there’s no doubt. Especially in a playoff game. But if successful it would’ve left the Pats just outside field goal range and they had the numbers. You can understand why they called it and why it should’ve worked.
So I guess the question is do you want an aggressive team, or do you want a team that plays it safe?
If Brady had been picked six on his halftime lob to Branch vs the Bears would you have been bullshit at him for throwing it?
Frankly I’m often surprised when teams aren’t more aggressive like the Patriots. The Ravens in particular played conservatively versus the Pats and it ended up costing them.
So while the call was an aggressive one, it’s what we’ve come to expect of Bill Belichick. Especially in a situation like that where the Jets might’ve been sleeping. Tactically I can understand why the call was made. However it went completely wrong, and the mistake was compounded when the Jets scored a touchdown (I think, right? Again, still haven’t re-watched this travesty yet).
As for Chung it was a confident call, and one that I hope he continues to be willing to make. He boofed it. He admitted he boofed it. So let’s move on.
