The thanks coach Mike Sherman gets for guiding his third playoff team in Green Bay is second-guessing. He shouldn’t have gone for the first fourth-and-1 against the Eagles and should have gone for the second.
Had Sherman taken a field goal before the half and gone up 17-7 instead of trying to punch it into the end zone, he would have had a 20-14 lead with 2 minutes 30 seconds left in the game and even more reason to go for it at Philadelphia’s 41-yard line. That’s when quarterback Brett Favre tried to draw the Eagles offside before the Packers punted.
If the Packers had made the second one, the game probably would have been over. But with the Eagles needing only a field goal to tie, Sherman didn’t want to risk the short field.
Regardless, as Sherman pointed out, the Packers still led 17-14 and had the Eagles facing fourth-and-26 from their own 26 with 1:12 left. Most coaches would take their chances given those circumstances.
Sherman wanted to bury the Eagles early with a 21-7 lead. But he knew he was getting the football to start the second half.
Pinning an opponent inside the 1-yard line isn’t the worst result of a failed goal-line attempt because a team usually can maintain field position. Only 1:56 was left when the Eagles took over, so the Packers didn’t have a lot of time to play with. After using their second timeout, they had the Eagles facing third-and-6 from their 5-yard line with 1:38 left. A stop there would have forced a punt and might have given the Packers another field goal shot.
But on third-and-6, quarterback Donovan McNabb scrambled for 12 yards. It was almost a forgotten play in McNabb’s huge contribution to victory.
After the Eagles’ defense was overjoyed at stopping Ahman Green short of the goal line, the Eagles’ offense was happy to run out the clock and regroup, down 14-7.
Not all games are won or lost in the last minute, contrary to what the weekend’s great finishes suggest. With 2:30 to play, Sherman at least got the Eagles to use their second timeout when Favre lined up.
“At that point they put their big people in the game and they used up a timeout, which I thought would be instrumental in the two-minute [drill],” Sherman said. “They put their big guys in the game, and I thought we could pin them down.”
The Packers’ punt was a touchback, so the Eagles started their game-tying drive at their 20. Their first play was a 22-yard run by Duce Staley, giving them a first down at the 42, right about where the Eagles would have taken over had Favre been stopped on a sneak.
Although Sherman said his decision not to go for it had “absolutely nothing” to do with the fourth-down failure in the first half, tackle Mark Tauscher suggested it had everything to do with it.
“It makes it tough on a coach to trust you when you don’t get it the first time around,” Tauscher said.
Still, Sherman and Packers defensive coordinator Ed Donatell will be haunted all off-season by fourth-and-26 from the 26. “You would think you would win with a fourth-and-26,” Sherman said.
Donatell went with a four-across zone after three straight blitzes had backed up the Eagles to their 26. McNabb had time to hit Freddie Mitchell for a 28-yard completion that set up David Akers’ game-tying field goal.
Why weren’t the Packers more aggressive on that play?
“We’re all wondering too,” cornerback Mike McKenzie said. “We have an aggressive-style defense. It’s fourth-and-26. You’re talking about going to the NFC championship game.”
Donatell defended the call.
“We were in quarter coverage, four across, and they beat a seam and stuck it in there,” he said. “I still believe we can make that play.”
Bad numbers: The nutty interception Favre threw to help set up the Eagles’ overtime field goal brings his scorecard in his last three playoff losses to five TD passes, nine interceptions.
Against St. Louis two years ago, Favre threw six interceptions in a desperate attempt to get his team back into a 45-17 rout. Last year against Atlanta, he threw two interceptions in 27-7 loss, but again he was trying to make something happen without the injured Green and receivers Donald Driver and Terry Glenn also hurt.
The one against the Eagles, the only interception of the game on either side, hurt the most because it was first down at the Green Bay 32 on the Packers’ first overtime possession. A blitz made him hurry a throw he had no reason to make, keeping intact his career-long reputation: Sooner or later, he’s going to throw one up to you.
More guesses: Sherman’s decisions weren’t nearly as controversial as the decision Saturday by Rams coach Mike Martz to play it safe, go for the tie against Carolina and send the game into overtime rather than take a shot into the end zone.
Eagles coach Andy Reid did exactly that against the Packers in the final 22 seconds of regulation when he had McNabb throw twice into the end zone before Akers’ game-tying kick.
With no timeouts left, Reid decided to go for the win in regulation. The pass for Todd Pinkston against McKenzie almost resulted in an interception or an offensive pass-interference penalty. On the next play, McNabb, who was sacked eight times, barely escaped the Packers’ rush and threw again for the end zone to James Thrash. Had there been a sack, time probably would have run out before the kicking team could get on the field, and Green Bay would have won.
Keep the change: When Dick Jauron interviewed for the Buffalo coaching job, he was driven to dinner by Bills owner Ralph Wilson, but Jauron had to pay a road toll because Wilson was carrying no cash. Who says it doesn’t cost anything to interview for a job? And who said Jauron can’t handle change?
New England offensive coordinator Charlie Weis is considered the front-runner in Buffalo because of his familiarity with quarterback Drew Bledsoe. But Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey also interviewed there and turned down a chance to interview in Oakland. If Mularkey gets the job, offensive line coach Russ Grimm is expected to succeed him as the Steelers’ coordinator if he doesn’t get the Bears job.
The Steelers also are trying to fill their defensive coordinator spot after firing Tim Lewis. Bears defensive coordinator Greg Blache, still under contract and consideration in Chicago, fired New York Jets defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell and former Cincinnati head coach and current Bills assistant Dick LeBeau have interviewed.
Lewis was hired by Tom Coughlin as the Giants’ defensive coordinator, but Coughlin may still want to reunite with Jauron, his former defensive coordinator in Jacksonville. Jauron would become assistant head coach/defense and work with Lewis.
Davis hurt: Carolina running back Stephen Davis is questionable for the NFC championship game with a strained left quadriceps. Carolina coach John Fox said Monday he did not know what Davis will be able to do in preparation for Philadelphia.
“It’s a pull, and typically you just start treatment on those and kind of play it by ear,” Fox said. “Everybody’s different. It’s the degree of the pull, the particular player and how they handle injuries. There’s no 100 percent diagnosis.”
