Tom Gower: The Titans this year have been horrible in Power situations. They’re converting 45% of the time, at the bottom of the league (the Bears are technically 32nd, but also at 45%). The Colts D has actually been a little above average, 59%. Maybe they pass, maybe your chance of converting is a little higher than that, but the chance you don’t get it is maybe 35%. If that happens, you’re guaranteed to lose. By punting, you are delaying the moment when that could happen and giving your strongest units (yes, the defense hasn’t been great, but the offense is still mediocre and can’t execute consistently, plus Mariani) a chance to help you out. If Hope or McCourty manages to tackle Garcon, the Colts actually may go 3-and-out and you then have 3-plus minutes when you know you’re in 4-down territory the entire drive.
I’m not sure if I agree with this strategy or not, but I think this is how Fisher (or a hypothetical smart coach who decides to punt there) is thinking about the decision to punt, and as I said on twitter, it never crossed my mind Fisher would go for it there.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
