# NFL Week 15 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 14, 2013, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299 "2013-12-14T07:12:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/81 "2013-12-17T21:48:03Z")
It’s not worth starting a new thread, so I’ll ask here. What do the announcers mean by “4 down territory”? Also, running “downhill”? I don’t recall hearing that before this season. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/82 "2013-12-17T21:54:02Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > What do the announcers mean by “4 down territory”? They’ve advanced far enough on the field and the conditions (score, mainly) are right that they should consider going for a play on 4th down instead of punting or kicking a field goal. > [@AuntiePam](#): > > Also, running “downhill”? I don’t recall hearing that before this season. It’s pretty common. Go up the gut and churn out yards. No balletic crap off to the sides. You may also hear “north/south” runner. Football fields are generally oriented north/south, so it simply means they aren’t running to the sides much, i.e. east/west. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/83 "2013-12-17T21:59:29Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > They’ve advanced far enough on the field and the conditions (score, mainly) are right that they should consider going for a play on 4th down instead of punting or kicking a field goal. To be more specific, it’s for late in the game where the losing team has the ball and needs to score. If they punt the ball away, there’s a good chance they won’t get the ball back, so they’re going to go for it on 4th down. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/84 "2013-12-17T22:21:31Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > To be more specific, it’s for late in the game where the losing team has the ball and needs to score. If they punt the ball away, there’s a good chance they won’t get the ball back, so they’re going to go for it on 4th down. Agreed. As the term gets used, “territory” is less likely to be referring to a particular part of the field, so much as a game situation. That said, as **Great Antibob** refers to, there is a part of the field (more or less between the opponent’s 35 and 45 yard lines) in which many coaches will elect to go for it on 4th down, rather than punt or attempt a field goal (particularly if they only have a yard or two to go for a first down). The reasoning is that the length of the field goal from that area makes it a fairly low-percentage play, but punting is relatively unlikely to move the ball much further down the field (due to the likelihood of a touchback). So, they go for it, reasoning that, in the worst case, they’re only giving up 15 or 20 yards of field position (compared to a punt). ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/85 "2013-12-17T23:11:30Z")
Cool – thanks! I asked my husband about 4-down territory and he didn’t explain it very well. Or maybe I understand it better when it’s written rather than spoken. Especially when it’s spoken in the last seconds of a game and his team is behind. When I started hearing the announcers say “downhill”, it made me wonder how interesting the game would be if the field wasn’t flat. Then I felt bad, because of how many more injuries there would be if they really were running up and down hills. It was fun to think about, for a minute. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/86 "2013-12-17T23:18:36Z")
4 Down Territory: It’s mostly in Giants Stadium and Houston right now. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/87 "2013-12-18T01:27:42Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Looks like the Bengals punter either a) had a tooth knocked out, b) had a tooth broken, c) bit through his tongue, d) bit through his lip, e) all of the above. Tough break for the guy, that’s going to suck a lot, but I’m betting he wasn’t using a mouth piece. > > Also, will be interesting to see what the league does with that hit. Looked to be damn close to clean. The helmet was a little high, it certainly hit the chin/bottom of the facemask, but it wasn’t really targeted there. That said, considering it was a borderline hit on a horribly mismatched punter he’s probably playing this game for free at least. [story/video](http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-bengals-punter-kevin-huber-20131216,0,2304.story#axzz2nlBqwVBa) – broken jaw; looks pretty close to “leading with the helmet” to me. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/88 "2013-12-18T04:10:09Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > 61 yrd FG ftw! That FG knocked me out of my fantasy playoffs. However, it was the loser’s bracket so I was still pulling for him as I am a Raven’s fan. The loss was especially bitter as I had Tucker until his bye week, when I waived him to get Hartly and couldn’t get him back. Plus I started Rice over Bush as I couldn’t get home in time to update the lineup (I thought Bush was more seriously hurt earlier in the week). ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/89 "2013-12-19T02:13:44Z")
Terence Garvin [handed a $25K fine](http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10160362/terence-garvin-pittsburgh-steelers-fined-25k) for the hit that broke the Bengals punter’s jaw. The league has determined that the hit was no legal. Garvin is appealing the fine. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/90 "2013-12-19T03:43:34Z")
The punter also has a cracked freaking vertebrae. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/91 "2013-12-19T07:06:31Z")
I have an issue with the way this is being handled. The sports talking heads are saying “This guy as a punter is automatically a defenseless receiver-protected class of player, etc”. That’s bullshit. If a punter is capable of making a tackle in the field of play, then NO, he’s not a defenseless receiver protected guy. My issue has and will remain that the Steelers player jacked him up with his helmet (sound familiar?). The guy should have been fine $100,000. The only reason he wasn’t for that dirty assed helmet to helmet contact is because it was some stupid punter for the Bengals that nobody knows. Had it been Tom freaking Brady, then the rules would have applied. Such fucking bullshit. And NOW the NFL issues a statement saying that a flag should have been thrown, which could have altered the outcome of the game. Really, NFL? Jesus…this whole “player safety” meme is looking more and more like a “let’s cover our asses from future lawsuits” than having any genuine aspect to it that actually involves not only player safety but somehow protecting the integrity of the game, which is, being football, an ultimately violent sport. There’s no way to legislate the violence out of the sport entirely and the way the NFL is going about it is arbitrary and often ham-fisted. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/92 "2013-12-19T12:57:24Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Jesus… > > There’s no way to legislate the violence out of the sport entirely and the way the NFL is going about it is arbitrary and often ham-fisted. Yes. . ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/93 "2013-12-19T18:23:59Z")
They need to put a little spike inside the helmet so that if you hit someone with it, you get a free lobotomy. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/94 "2013-12-23T22:44:48Z")
[Romo OUT!](http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/dallas-cowboys-tony-romo-out-rest-of-season-back-injury-122313) ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/95 "2013-12-23T22:56:55Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > [Romo OUT!](http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/dallas-cowboys-tony-romo-out-rest-of-season-back-injury-122313) Best user name / post [ever](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=711118). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299/96 "2013-12-23T23:28:30Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Best user name / post [ever](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=711118). 😃 Yeay! I win the internets! Funny, I looked, but didn’t see it. Would help if threads were titled properly! 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/676299.md?page=4)