Sports Radio Interviews

Boomer Esiason on Bill Belichick’s Decision to Go for it on 4th Down Last Night: “I Thought It Was a Reckless Decision”

What a game last night on Sunday Night Football.  It was Brady vs. Manning, the Colts vs. the Patriots.  In the week leading up to the game it was continuously referred to as the rivalry of the decade and the game of the year.  It certainly lived up to that.  Right when it looked like Peyton Manning and the Colts were dead and buried in the game, Peyton Manning went Peyton Manning and led his team to another come-from-behind victory in the final quarter.  As great as Manning was, he might’ve gotten a little bit of help from Bill Belichick and the decision that he made.   

I was sitting on my couch watching the game and I immediately thought that the Patriots were going to punt the ball away and try to pin the Colts back. After all, his team was at their own 28 yard line. Its one thing if they were near midfield or on the Colts side of the fifty, but they weren’t. They were at their own 28 yard line and Bill Belichick decided on 4th down and 2 to go for it and try to put the game away right then and there. Oops. The pass was completed, but it was short of a first down. Peyton Manning and the Colts got the ball back with 2 minutes to go, they had a timeout left and they only had to go 29 yards. The rest is history. You don’t give Peyton Manning a short field with 2 minutes and a timeout and expect to come away with a win. Because of the decision, Belichick is getting a lot of criticism and rightfully so. I suppose if it would’ve worked out, he would be getting praised today for such a brave decision, but it didn’t work out and I think it was a boneheaded call on his part. The head coach is supposed to put his team in the best possible position to win. In my opinion, giving Peyton Manning only 29 yards to go, with 2 minutes left is not putting his team in the best position to win.

Boomer Esiason joined WEEI in Boston to talk about the decision made by Bill Belichick last night, whether he ever had to talk a coach out of a decision when he was playing, and what he was thinking when Belichick decided to go for it.

On the decision by Bill Belichick last night:

“I guess I’d like to agree with you.  There’s only one coach in the NFL, with one quarterback that would have the guts to do what Bill Belichick did last night and that’s Bill Belichick.  I guess from his perspective, he’s looking at the other team’s offense moving down the field the previous two series’ feeling like he’s lost complete momentum of the football game and he says to himself, ‘if I give the ball back to Peyton Manning with this much time on the clock, there’s no way we’re going to keep him out of the end zone.’  I think he says we gotta go for it.  I don’t agree with it because you’re on your own 28 yard line or whatever it was.  If you’re outside your own forty, you’re on the other side of the fifty, and that situation presents itself, then I think it’s a no-brainer.  But when you do it that deep in your own zone, you really are playing with fire.  Even if you are the best coach in football and make decisions like this on a daily basis and most of the time they work out for him, you’re going to have to wake up this morning and have to deal with all the Monday morning quarterbacks like you and I.”

On it not being a given for Peyton Manning that he would’ve been able to win the game going more than half the field:

“It’s never a given that’s for sure.  But I do know this, watching the previous couple of series as the fourth quarter started to unfold and Peyton got hot…I don’t agree with the decision, I don’t because of where they were on the field.  If you’re 20 yards removed from where they were than I can understand the situation.  I’m just telling you how he’s looking at this.  He’s watched Peyton go down the field, he’s watched Peyton get hot, he knows that his defense is running out of steam, he knows that they can’t really get any pass rush on him.  He’s saying to himself if we want to win the game, we have to make this one play.  I just don’t like where he is on the field making that decision.  My overall NFL, professional, kind of getting a sense of everything, I thought it was a reckless decision.”

On whether Belichick and his arrogance got in the way:

“Guys I think that Bill Belichick, there’s a lot of things that he does behind the scenes that we don’t see in terms of personnel and there’s some tough things that he does, but I never think that about him on the sideline.  I think in the big picture of things, he is a really simple, well thought out football coach that makes decisions depending on how the football game in unfolding in front of him.  He will take risks, there’s no question about that.  I thought this was an unnecessary risk because the easy thing for him to do would’ve been to punt the ball, have his defense go out there and if you lose the game, then we’re ripping the defense and  we’re ripping the fact that they couldn’t keep Peyton Manning out of the end zone in the fourth quarter.  I’m telling you right now, he’s on the sideline and he’s thinking I need to keep the ball away from him.  I understand why he made the decision, but I don’t agree with it simply because of where he was on the field of play.”

On whether he as a quarterback ever talked his coach out of a decision like that:

“Yeah I did.  I’m sure that Tom Brady has done some of that.  Listen you’re never going to get Tom Brady in any shape or form ever to second guess his head coach.  You will never get that guys.  Even if he felt it was the wrong thing to do.  You know that and I know that.  He is going to support his coach and why wouldn’t he?  The head coach for the New England Patriots has given Tom Brady a career that very few in this league have ever had.  (Host: What about assistant coaches?)   Are you kidding me?  The assistant coaches walk around up there so insecure about their jobs and their job security, they’re not going to say a word about it.”

On whether he thinks Bill Belichick was looking to send a message or had other motivation for going for it:

“For that one moment, when he is watching Peyton Manning moving up and down the field in the fourth quarter and him obviously recognizing that the momentum of the game is obviously on the other sideline, I would be hard pressed to argue against the fact that he felt like he had to make this decision.  If they make the play, the game is over and they don’t give Peyton the ball back with any significant time left on the clock.  When I look at it that way, I say the only reason that Bill Belichick makes a decision like this is because he thinks it’s going to help his team win.  There’s no other ulterior motive here, there’s no other he wants to make everyone look like he knows what he’s doing as a head coach by making a decision like this.  None of that stuff goes into it.  They all work so hard to try to figure out how to win a game.  If you think for one moment that a guy is going to make a decision because he wants to show everyone that he’s a better coach, he knows things that guys don’t know, you guys would be mistaken.  He puts time into every game.  He is as sick this morning as you guys are.”

Listen to Boomer Esiason on WEEI with Dennis & Callahan

Tags: Bill Belichick, Boomer Esiason, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, NFL, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, WEEI