The Seahawks-Falcons’ wacky first half of Monday Night Football ended in very wacky, questionable fashion.
With seven seconds left in the half and the Falcons leading 24-17, the Seahawks lined up for a field goal on 4th-and-1 at the 17. For some reason, Seattle head coach Pete Carroll decided to go with a fake, and holder Jon Ryan (Seattle’s punter) made a quick toss to tight end Luke Willson. And Willson was quickly stuffed behind the line of scrimmage by Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett.
While it was an outstanding individual effort by Jarrett, this play never really had a chance:
This just a really stupid decision by Carroll. It’s either a touchdown or you get nothing here. It’s asking the backup tight end to run into the end zone on essentially a shovel pass from 20 yards out, and if he doesn’t, you get zero points. It’s a low percentage chance of getting six or seven points vs a very high percentage chance of getting three.
I usually *hate* saying to “take the points,” but in this instance, yeah, just take the points. Go into half down four points and feeling fine about things in the toughest venue for road teams to play in professional sports.
[ESPN]
