So I’m watching the game and at toward the end of the half, New England was up 16-14 when the Giants scored a touchdown and got the PAT. Why didn’t they go for two?
Because the lead would have been 6 points instead of 5, which doesn’t change the situation much. Either way, the Patriots could regain the lead with a converted touchdown.
I’d say the most general answer is that NFL coaches tend to be risk-averse, so they’ll only go for 2 if they absolutely have to (Tom Coughlin certainly being no exception).
Meanwhile, a touchdown gives them a 5 point lead (i.e. 21-16), which is more than a field goal but less than a touchdown. A successful 2 point conversion gives them a 6 point lead (i.e. 22-16), which is still more than a field goal but less than a touchdown (assuming the extra point, which Coughlin is probably doing). That’s not much of a difference, then, and there’s just not enough up side to risk missing the two pointer and only being up by 4.
6 points isn’t a touchdown, so much as it is two field goals, but I guess I see your point.
Meanwhile, we’re getting our butts kicked!
New England had a scare put in us with the Baltimore game and ended up coming back. But NY is better than Baltimore… this may be a bad night for those of the North East population.
At least we just set two records!
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
God, Brandon Jacobs is slow and lazy.
Conventional wisdom is to not go for two regardless of the differential until the fourth quarter. The exception is if you need more than one two-pointer, like if you’re down by 24.
So what happened with the final score? who won?
The New England Patriots are 16-0. How do you feel about it?
[Emily Latella]Never mind.[/Emily Latella]
The Pats were losing when I fell asleep. Apparently, like my Steelers, the Giants needed me there to yell: Run! Run! Run!. Hit him! Hit him now! Throw the damn ball! Now catch it. Catch it! Run! And without me they fell apart.
I fell asleep too.
I KNEW the Giants won the game - then I turned on my TV this morning.
Well he’s no Cedric Benson, but he did average 5.0 yards per carry this season.
Eli Manning, always the dicktease- does just enough in the first half to make you think maybe this is the game he shows he’s a real QB, and then a horribly stupid INT.
Collinsworth and Gumbel weren’t as annoying as I had heard/feared, though Gumbel took about a quarter to get used to with his oddball speech pattern, and did lose points for say there were “four ticks and one minute” left in the game- what an odd way to phrase that.
And good for R. Moss for getting in a jab at the all the douchebag media who said he was finished before the season started, and are now all lining up to suck him off.
The giants tried too hard to win and did some real damage to key players as a result. They shouldn’t have tried so hard. As if they had any kind of a chance against the golden boy/genius coach team. 