This Weekend in NFL Stupid highlights the dumbest moments and decisions in football throughout the season. Coming out of Week 11, we’re focusing on Mike McCarthy’s Thursday night idiocy.
The stupidest of the stupid
It’s never a good sign when the coach of the opposing team appreciates your coaching decisions. That was the case when McCarthy unbelievably decided to punt the ball on a 4th-and-2 from his own 33-yard line with 4:20 remaining in a game which Pete Carroll’s Seattle Seahawks led 27-24.
“I was a little relieved,” Carroll said afterwards, per Pro Football Talk. “I really did like that they punted the ball to us right there, because we knew we had a shot to kill the game if we could, and kill the clock, and we did it.”
They did indeed, and it wasn’t particularly surprising considering that the Packers defense had surrendered 75-plus yards on consecutive Seahawks scoring drives before that, and that the Packers had just one timeout remaining (also stupid).
McCarthy claimed he “played the numbers” with that decision, but that is obviously insane.
Actual numbers provided by Pro Football Focus to NBC’s Peter King indicate that “the Packers would convert fourth-and-two six out of 10 times, and the numbers say if they convert, they’d have nearly 4 in 10 chance to win the game. But a punt there, per PFF, gives Green Bay a 2 in 10 chance of winning.”
How do you justify that? How can you take the ball out of Aaron Rodgers’ hands there? Yes, he threw a poor pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling on the previous play, but that actually increased the odds he’d make a better play on fourth down simply because the highest-rated passer in NFL history rarely makes two bad plays in a row.
If not for McCarthy’s screw-up, the Packers have a really good chance at winning that game and salvaging their season. Now, instead, they’re circling the drain and McCarthy’s seat is hotter than ever.
Lightning round
You also have to challenge this, Mike…
Stupid wimpy Jaguars…
Jaguars' offense in the fourth quarter was a carbon copy of the AFC Championship Game. Pathetic pic.twitter.com/NF0IFTpnso
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) November 18, 2018
How does Vance Joseph not challenge the ruling that Case Keenum didn’t get in on this crucial fourth-quarter two-point conversion attempt?
Final stupid word
Facing a team with an offense that scores at will regardless of field position, the 2-7 New York Giants punted on a 4th-and-2 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 37-yard line. That resulted in a net gain of 23 yards, which is never worth sacrificing potential points for. How are coaches still doing things like this?
