Normally, I would just link to an article I've written, but I feel that this needs to be read to fully understand why it was a good idea for Belichick to go for it on 4th and 2.

So here's the article as it appears at tailmatch.com (http://tinyurl.com/belichickcall)

In Defense of Belichick

I loved that Bill Belichick was going for it on 4th and 2 at the end of the game. It reminded me of Pete Carroll's 4th and 2 call in the national championship game. Instead of handing the ball to Vince Young on a platter by punting it away, Carroll trusted his offense to gain two yards, take the ball out of Young's hands, and lock up the le. It was a smart call. Texas had trouble stopping LenDale White all day, though Carroll was later second-guessed for not having Reggie Bush on the field for the play.


Vince Young led Texas down the field for the winning touchdown and won the national le, proving Carroll did the right thing in trying to take the ball out of his hands.

Sunday night, Belichick was in the same situation.


Of all the things I've heard amongst the criticism, I'll concentrate on two: 1) Peter King compared Belichick's move to Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in too long during Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS and 2) Bill Simmons said that Bill Belichick didn't play the percentages by going for it.


First of all, Belichick is not Little. Little was in his 2nd year as a major league manager and didn't have the credibility to make a move like that. He had virtually nothing to gain by leaving Pedro in and the statistics said that he should make the move. Martinez was significantly worse after reaching the 100-pitch mark.


Belichick has three Super Bowl rings. And the reason he got the first was he took a really big risk with Tom Brady by having Brady drive the field in the final minutes instead of taking a knee and playing for overtime. The at ude that Belichick had on Sunday night, challenging his team to win the game, putting his trust in one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL... MAKES... PERFECT... SENSE. It's already resulted in one of the greatest Super Bowl upsets of all time.





On the other hand, you could punt the ball away and give it to the leader in the MVP race with two minutes left and a timeout. I'm a huge fan of Bill Simmons. I read every article he writes and subscribe to his podcast. He's contradicting himself by saying that he'd want Belichick to punt the ball away and give the ball right back to Manning, a guy that Bill refuses to bet against in a night game, a guy you can never count out of any game.


Simmons said that Belichick wasn't playing the percentages. This is, of course, a big misconception. I broke down the plays that the Patriots ran in this game and it looks like this:


Not including a one-yard touchdown run and a kneel-down at the end of the 1st half, New England ran 45 plays that gained at least two yards. Only 23 plays failed to gain at least two yards. There was a 66% chance that new England would convert that play for a first down. Also, the Patriots were averaging more than 6.5 yards per play and had just thrown an incompletion, meaning that they were even more likely to get a first down on their next play (mathematically speaking).

"As a championship defensive player, this should upset you," is what Teddy Bruschi said about Belichick's call on ESPN.


How so, Teddy? The coach trusts his offense enough to gain two yards and win the game, taking the ball out of Manning's hands. And he can make that decision because he has confidence that the defense can make the necessary stop if they don't convert. And they nearly did. Reggie Wayne had to make a near-impossible fingertip catch on 3rd and goal, otherwise the Colts would have faced a game-changing 4th and goal.


And what about putting the team ahead of yourself? Surely the New England defense knows that they have the most powerful, scariest offense in the league on the other side of the ball. What would it say about the defense being upset? So now the Pats D didn't have confidence that Tom Brady could run a play that would merely gain TWO YARDS!?


So the coach having confidence in his offense to go win the game and his defense to make one more stop is... upsetting?


This just shows that Belichick thinks his team is THAT good. The players on the team should be fired up and inspired by that kind of trust and consider that no NFL coach has shown that kind of trust in his players this season.


That makes New England a very dangerous team down the stretch. While I picked the Colts to win the game and had my opinion of Peyton Manning as the league's best quarterback and MVP solidified, my opinion of the Patriots skyrocketed. And next time, I'll think twice about picking against the Pats in a big game because Bill Belichick has proven that he'll go for the win every time.

Read the original article here: http://tinyurl.com/belichickcall