Anzaloha Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Here is an interesting call to think about and how you would have handled it should it have occurred and it was close! With 2:58 left in the game, the Steelers were on their own 1ft line with a 3rd adn 10. What ultimately happend was the Roethlisberger hit Holmes for a 20yd pass that was called back because of holidng and led to a safety. What if Holmes doesn't make the catch and its incomplete and there is flag for holding still. Do you accept the penalty and take the safety and two pts to make it 20-16 and have the Steelers free kick from their 20...or Do you decline the penalty (forfeit the 2pts) and make the Steelers punt from deep in their endzone. If you accepted the penalty, you get the ball deep in your territory on the free kick, still needing a TD to win. If you decline it, you should get the ball at midfield or closer. Both have their advantages but in either one, you still need the TD to go ahead. If you take the safety and the 2pts, it could be argued that you set yoruself up for a tie if you score a td and give Pitt enough time to drive for fg. If you dont take the 2pts a fg beats you. Interested to what people think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jreed82 Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 You take the two points because punts and punt returns are unpredictable and you can't assume the field position difference would be 20-30 yards. The safety is important because a touchdown on top of that gives you a field goal cushion if the other team has time to respond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizell Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 good question. i mean, a punt block is a good possibility if they're punting from their one inch line, and even if you don't block it, chances are they're not going to get a great punt off. however, i'd more than likely take the safety and the great position off of the free kick and try to get a touchdown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphadawg7 Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Good question... You take the safety. With that much time on the clock, a go ahead TD now puts you up 3 instead of one. Either way you still need a TD, at least this way you cant lose on a last second FG if Pitt drives back down the field. This is especially true with a potent offense like AZ. Maybe, and its a BIG maybe, you consider it if you are an inept offense like Balt who has a good ST and the offense would need all the help it can get to get the ball in the endzone, but even then I think you still take the 2pts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramius Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 If i was tomlin and the 3rd down pass had been incomplete (assuming no flag) i would have taken the safety on 4th down as opposed to punting from my own endzone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marauderswr80 Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 you take 2 points and you take the ball....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Tomlin said he was going to take the safety. From the Post-Gazette: And, strategically speaking, Tomlin said he decided to have punter Mitch Berger on fourth down run out of the end zone and take a safety before Arizona on third down recorded one to whittle the Steelers' fourth-quarter lead to 20-16. Center Justin Hartwig was called for a holding penalty in the end zone, negating a first down completion from Ben Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes and, under rules, giving the Cardinals 2 points. "I had already made the decision to take the safety," Tomlin said. "Their punt-rush team is spectacular, led by [ex-Steeler] Sean Morey, their Pro Bowl special teamer. So I really wasn't all that devastated by that safety. It was a little disappointing because we had converted the first down. But my mentality was, had that pass come up incomplete, that we were going to take the safety on fourth down, anyway." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rednecksbasketball Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 I'd always go with the two points. You never know what is going to happen in a game, and we've all seen many bizzare things. Those two points could ultimately be the difference between winning by 1 and losing by 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts