Of course there was no way to expect this to happen, but as things played out, didn't the safety actually benefit our chances? If we had scored a TD (which we should have), Pitt probably would have gotten the ball and who knows what would have happened. By getting the two and a free kick that became another TD didn't that series actually work in our favor?
In the 4th quarter the clock was a big enemy. The only way the safety would have been better than a touchdown in the long run (obviously a TD is always better than a safety) would have been if the Jets scored a touchdown very quickly after receiving the free kick. If the Jets scored the touchdown on the 4th down play and then kicked the XP the score would have been 24-17 with 7:44 remaining. Instead, what happened was they scored a safety on the next play and then took too much time off the clock on the drive that ended with a Jerricho Cotchery touchdown. The clock read 3:06 when Cotchery scored to make it 24-19.
No the safety wasn't better than TD. Safety was basically a consolation prize for screwing things up. Don't just look at the points, look at the clock. There was 8:32 minutes left in the game when Jets were at the goal line in 4th quarter. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/boxscore?gid=20110123023&page=plays. Jets could have one or even two drives left to finish the game. As for the safety: Running 4 plays & Steeler safety & driving the ball down for TD -> 3 minutes left in game & down one TD. As we saw, Ben just needed 2 first downs to end the Jets season. After safety, Jets offense had to take the ball & march for the TD. Also, Jets lost so much time trying to coordinate 4 plays down by the goal line also.
No because it took another 4 minutes off the clock before we could pull within one score. If we score a td we have 7 minutes of game left down 7 as opposed to 3 minutes left down 5.
The way the D was playing like when they had a chance late to get our O the ball back and they failed? If the D stopped Pitt 3 and outt he lst series the safety could ahve been better but the way it played out being down 24-17 and Pitt w/ the ball w/ 9 mins left would have been much better. Would Pitt have at least kicked a FG after we cut it to 7? I don't know but we would have been better off down 24-17 w/ 9 mins than 24-19 w/ 3 3 1/2.
It only would have benefitted us if we stopped Pittsburgh cause we would have had a chance to win instead of tie...but if we scored the TD we would have been within one score with eight minutes left, we didn't get to within one score until three minutes left.
I thought it had a huge impact because it opened up more possibilites. Say Rex had called for the onsides kick, it at least gives us the possibilities of recovering it. Worst case, the have a short field which in a small way benefits us also, espescially since we had the timeouts. Possible out comes in order -We recover the onside kick -They recover the kick and we force them to punt with time still on the clock. -They recover the kick and get a field goal, we get the ball back and can still tie(time permitting) -They Recover and run out the clock or get a TD Yea hindsights 20/20 and im not saying i totally disagree with the decision to kick it deep, Im pretty sure at the time i agreed witht he decision, but the safety definitely took alot more of the risk out of trying an onside kick after the TD.
I actually thought the safety was a blessing in disguise, we got the ball back and we scored. If our D makes a stop now we have a chance to win the game rather than tie it.
nah...you score the TD there and it's 24-17...you make one stop and you get the ball back with a chance to tie. at 24-12 with about 7 min left you get the back and march down the field and it's 24-19 with 3-4 minutes off the clock. how is scoring 2 TD's a better scenario then only scoring one? and lets say the jets tied it at 24-24 with 3 min left. the steelers are playing completely different. one of those throws could have resulted in a turnover. ben could fumble. in both scenarios the jets needed one stop. with the safety they needed 2 TD's, with the TD they need 1.
Not scoring on that drive cost us about 5 minutes of playclock, which would have been huge. Say we score with 7 minutes remaining. Pitt gets the ball on their 25, get a first down, but then get stopped at the 40. We start our next drive with decent field position with 4 minutes left worst case scenario, which would have been plenty of time to tie the game. Game could have gone into overtime. The only difference, I guess, is the fact that the safety gave us a chance to WIN the game rather than tie it. Had we stopped the Steelers early in their last drive, we could have had the ball back at around our 40 yard line with about 2 minutes to go. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Why do I do this to myself? Now I'll be thinking about this all day. Not that I haven't pictured it in my head over and over and over again.
Going on what Sanchez has done in the 2 minute drill this season I liked that we had a chance to win the game at the end rather than tie. Am I saying I was glad we didn't punch it in and had the worst play calls in the known universe?? No, I would of loved to score a td there but as it stands it didn't kill us and also put us in a position to win. Defense choked, I know we shut the steelers out in the second half but they took their foot of the pedal. When they needed it they got it with little resistance.
I still can't believe Schotty's lack of urgency after that safety. How do you take 5 minutes to score when you're down 2 scores. The winning drive against the Texans took less than a minute with even worse starting field position. Now, I'm not expecting that quick a score against a great Steeler's Defense, but at least call the plays that give you a chance to do so.
Also, who says the defense would have stopped the Steelers had we scored on that drive anyway? They could easily have made it 31-17 or 27-17 leaving only 2 minutes left the way our defense was playing.
In all fairness, the defense didn't allow any points in the second half. Granted, they were still having problems stopping 3rd down conversions, but that's when having more time on the clock helps you - because you can afford to give up a couple first downs and still get the ball back. With the time we had left after Cotchery's TD, there was no room for error on Defense.
Yes- They stopped them all half, 0 points and 75 yards. That last drive began at their 41 yard line, which sucked. But we only allowed 27 yards, I'm confident we would've gotten the stop. Rex said and many of the players they were thinking run, even when they had a empty backfield. The fact that they went for it risking a clock stoppage shows that they feared our offense at that point. We did have TD, Punt (penalties), Drive to the GL, and TD on offense. So they weren't doing a good job. I do think the TOs were not used correctly, but whatever.
No. A safety meant we were still down by 2 td's with 6 minutes to go. The TD meant that we could have allowed a few first downs, and still gotten the ball back with around 2-3 minutes to go. The game was basically over when Schotty sucked major ass on those 3 play calls.
The Steelers had no rhythm at all. They had done nothing in the 4th, and very little in the 2nd half. They might have gotten a first down or two, but with 6 minutes left, as opposed to 3, it would have not killed the Jets as much as the 2 passes did with the way the game turned out. Plus, you have to believe that with 6 minutes to go, they would have been less likely to pass because they would have wanted to burn clock and make the Jets waste timeout. I would love to know why Tomlin decided to throw on 3rd down, but I suspect it was because of where the ball was and the time that was left. So, the risk-reward was not that skewed. However, I am not sure that he would have done that if there was 3 minutes left and the 2 minute warning to go. And one other thing to remember, with 3-4 minutes to go, if the Steelers lined up to pass, the Jets would have covered it better. Part of the problem was that they didn't think the Steelers would throw. Rex said they expected a qb sneak, or at worst a qb run where Ben would have stayed in bounds. That probably effected the coverage. That would have been different with more time as well. So, it all comes down to Schotty blowing that 2nd, 3rd, and 4th and goal.
