Quote:
Originally Posted by DrSpaceman
Colts are tied in OT, go for it on 4th down, miss, lose the game vs Texans
Cowboys have 4th and one in OT, Garrett punts, they lose the game
I realize time left was very different. But even with the loss, I'd still rather be the team going for it on 4th down
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o
There were several significant differences between those 2 situations.
For starters, the Cowboys had 4th down and half a yard to go ........ the Colts had 4th down and 4 to go, which is considerably more challenging.
Secondly, the Cowboys were on the opponents' 42 yard-line ........ the Colts were on their own 43 yard-line, which is also a considerably higher risk of gambling and going for it.
Finally, in the Colts-Texans game, there were only 27 seconds left to play. If they had punted the ball, there would have been less 20 seconds left play by the time the punt landed, and it is highly unlikely that the Texans would have been able to get the ball from deep in their own territory and still get into field goal position for the win. In the Cowboys-Texans game, there was still 5:40 left to play in the overtime period. That's still plenty of time for your defense to get a stop, get the ball back, and try for the win if they had chosen to punt.
So there was one common thread between the 2 situations, but multiple differences between them which makes the comparison between them much more complex than simply pointing out the option of going for it on 4th down in an overtime period.
o