Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald made an attention-grabbing resolution that, within the higher context of preseason, actually doesn’t imply something, however may present some glimpse into what he would (or wouldn’t) do within the common season.
Down 13-12 to the Tennessee Titans on the two-minute warning, the Seahawks may’ve gone for it on 4th and 1 in discipline purpose vary. A conversion would’ve prolonged the drive, put Jason Myers in nearer vary, and compelled the Titans to burn timeouts. As a substitute, Myers kicked from 50 yards out and gave the Seahawks a late lead, which they might relinquish fairly simply with the third- and fourth-string protection on the market.
If this was a recreation of consequence with starters enjoying, I’m positive it’d be a hotly debated resolution and thought of (a minimum of to me) a foul name. However with a lack of awareness on how Macdonald will strategy these situations, it’s a minimum of one knowledge level value dialogue.
Right here’s what Macdonald needed to say concerning the discipline purpose resolution, and whether or not it’s the identical course of he’d undergo within the common season as he would within the preseason.
“Similar course of, sure,” Macdonald stated. “Similar resolution, Don’t know the way issues change. There’s all of the numbers concerned. We’ve debriefed on it. It turned out to be about even, whether or not to go for it or not. If you go backwards after a half yard line, figured give [Jason Myers] one other shot and put it within the defensive fingers to go shut it out and we didn’t try this.
“We have now language that we share, so it’s not this convoluted math equation or no matter,” Macdonald added when requested if there’s somebody in his ear with the likelihood info. “[Head research analyst] Brian Eayrs offers it to me in actual time. These are issues that going into that sequence of downs. I type of knew what we have been going to do primarily based off of the outcomes of the play. Based mostly on the way it shakes out, you make a remaining resolution. Like I stated, we’ll let the information drive loads of the data we’re going to do however on the finish of the day you bought to make a name that you simply really feel is finest to your workforce and what’s finest to win the sport. It’s a balancing act, it’s not one factor or one other on a regular basis.”
Macdonald admitted that giving Jason Myers one other try was an element. Whereas he’d already made two discipline targets, he additionally missed an additional level on Seattle’s solely landing, his second miss on three PATs this preseason.
“That was a part of the choice making,” he stated. “That was in all probability not the most important purpose behind it, however yeah, that was a part of it. I had confidence he was going to make it.”
On the very least, we all know that Macdonald has the related data supplied to him in his crucial 4th down choices. Whether or not or not we’ll see him be way more aggressive than Pete Carroll so far as going for it on 4th down when the video games truly rely stays to be seen.
