Bill Belichick: No Guts No Glory!

Bill Belichick and his mad scientist ways back fired on him in the game against his most worthy rivals, the Indianapolis Colts.  Earlier this season I bashed the evil genius for not punting on 4th down in a route victory over the Titans.

In a game that the Patriots seemed to have well in hand up by 13 with less than four to play would end in a classic 4th quarter comeback by Peyton Manning.

To me that was the side story compared to the metaphorical onions that Belichick showed on 4th and 2 with 2:08 to play.  When the offense stayed on the field after failing to pick up the first down, on third down I thought maybe they would line up and try a hard count to draw them offsides. 

When the Patriots called a time out to gather around and draw up the perfect play, I then thought he had to be crazy.  Going for it on 4th down in that situation was unthinkable to me, but Belichick gave me the impression that he never even considered punting.

For the record I would not have gone for it on fourth down, but looking at in retrospect I can understand why he did it and have my own theory's on why it was even more genius and sacrificial than it will be played out to be.  Especially since it looked like to me that Kevin Faulk secured the catch beyond the first down marker.

As I stated, I get that the last thing you want to do is kick the ball away to Peyton Manning with little more than two to play and time outs in his corner.  Belichick is very aware of the fact that the only person possibly more prepared for a game in the NFL is Manning.

The defense did not show any reason on the Colts previous possesion that they would be able to stop them.  With all the weapons on offense and masters of the short passing game, why not go for it?

This is were my theory comes into play, I believe that Belichick actually thought that he would take the game into his hands instead of letting his defense get destroyed mentally by Manning and the Colts offense as they march down the field and won the game anyways.

By going for it, he either comes out a genius or the goat.  In my mind, both ways Belichick views it as a win.  The fact that Faulk appeared to have it makes it even more look like the right call, but it just didn't go their way.

Since the Pats didn't pick up the first, this left the Colts with a short field.  Giving everyone in the media the chance to take a shot at him instead of his defense all week or better yet before the rematch that will most likely happen in January.

Plus, with two minutes remaining the Colts might have struck quicker giving the Pat's offense a chance to come back onto the field with some substantial time left.  The defensive back who tackled Joseph Addai at the two yard line should have let him run in; that is just my opinion.

A game for me that gave the feeling of mid season Superbowl came down to a 4th quarter, 4th down attempt by the team with the lead and the ball on their own 28 yard line.  I can't ask for more than that in a game.

Brett Favre is my favorite player and he has a reputation as a risk taker, which is why I loved this play on 4th down so much.  This call in this situation made me actually like Belichick for a moment, but overall I still don't care for him.

Even though the game ended in a loss, Congratulations on delivering the guttiest, most entertaining 4th down attempt I may have ever wittnessed.