What REAL coaches do...

[disaacks3]

In otherwise UNIMPORTANT games...

Doug Flutie converted the NFL’s first successful drop kick for an extra point in 64 years. Rookie quarterback Matt Cassel, who threw 33 passes in four years as a backup at USC, threw two touchdown passes. And rookie wide receiver Bam Childress, who made his first pro catch after being activated before the game, gave up a touchdown catch while playing cornerback.

“We played guys to get them experience, get them out there to play,” coach Bill Belichick said, “give them a chance so they will be better prepared to play if they are called upon.”

From the MSNBC story

 

[TopTexanFan16]

sorry dont wanna sound stupid but how do you get points from a drop kick?

 

[texan279]

In otherwise UNIMPORTANT games...

Doug Flutie converted the NFL’s first successful drop kick for an extra point in 64 years. Rookie quarterback Matt Cassel, who threw 33 passes in four years as a backup at USC, threw two touchdown passes. And rookie wide receiver Bam Childress, who made his first pro catch after being activated before the game, gave up a touchdown catch while playing cornerback.

“We played guys to get them experience, get them out there to play,” coach Bill Belichick said, “give them a chance so they will be better prepared to play if they are called upon.”

From the MSNBC story

There has also been discussion that the Pats played to lose so they could face the Jags in the playoffs, just rumors and speculation though...

 

[disaacks3]

sorry dont wanna sound stupid but how do you get points from a drop kick?

The same way you do from a "normal" PAT, you kick it through the uprights! Essentially, you're PUNTING the XP - the reason it's not done very often is reliability of the kick.

 

[wiley2002]

Too bad the Texans didn't take the advice and put in Dave Ragone at QB. I mean he did get his team to the championship in NFL Europe.

 

[tulexan]

Too bad the Texans didn't take the advice and put in Dave Ragone at QB. I mean he did get his team to the championship in NFL Europe.

But then we might have won.

 

[MorKnolle]

Tony Banks looked OK until those two very costly INTs, but I assure you he is still a better QB than Dave Ragone. Carr probably would have stayed in the game if he hadn't gotten banged up on that first half hit he took, but we got to see Tony Banks against the worst defense in football for half of the game. I still find it amazing that we refused to throw the ball downfield on by far the worst pass defense in the NFL. I guess one positive we can take from the weekend is that was the last time we'll have to see Fangio and Pendry calling plays for our team, and alone that brings a little smile to my face.

As for the drop kick, it is essentially a punt but you drop the ball and let it bounce off the ground before kicking it, then it becomes a FG/PAT rather than a punt type of kick. It is a valid kick but it is rarely done because the uncertainty of the bounce coming off the ground and it generally doesn't get you any more distance than a regular FG-type kick, so on the rare occasion you see it, it is done as a surprise like in Flutie's case.

 

[Snapple]

From what I understand, the difference between a punt and a kick is that the ball touches the ground. So if you drop the ball like a punt, but let it touch the ground before kicking it, it counts like a field goal try, hence the dropkick.

 

[HJam72]

I still don't get the point of running a regular offensive play and then drop-kicking it. I guess he saw that the receivers were covered and then decided to kick it?

 

[awtysst]

I still don't get the point of running a regular offensive play and then drop-kicking it. I guess he saw that the receivers were covered and then decided to kick it?

He planned it. The point was to do somethign different. In my opinion it was not a smart call. If Flutie misses, then at the end of the game the Pats do not have a chance to tie on the 2 point conversion. Yes they lost anyway, but why take silly risks like that. If you are going for 2 go for it. If you want a single point kick it the regular way. there is a reason nobody has used the kick since 1941.

 

[tulexan]

He did it because Bellicheck is really big into the history of football and knew that it hadn't been done in over 60 years. Flutie had experience doing it because he converted a few in the CFL a long time ago. He was practicing drop kicks all week and Bellicheck was confident that he could make it.

It didn't matter that they lost because they are already in the playoffs and that game was irrelevant. In fact, it would be better that they lost because then they played Jacksonville rather than Pittsburgh.

 

[edo783]

it would be better that they lost because then they played Jacksonville rather than Pittsburgh.

Ding, Ding, Ding we got's a winner. He was positioning them for the playoffs and had no intention of winning the game.

 

[michaelm]

Ding, Ding, Ding we got's a winner. He was positioning them for the playoffs and had no intention of winning the game.

I agree that this is what happened, but it's funny how it's ok for the Pats to lose for reasons of playoff position, but if Texans fans mention it for draft position we are ridiculed...

of course Bellicheck is so respected that people just pretend not to know what's going on...

 

[GoPats]

I don't think Belichick tried to lose the game. I just don't think he felt it was worth the effort to try to win. Maybe that makes no sense, but... I'd describe it more as indifference than taking a dive. If he was really thinking ahead to the Jags, then my guess is that he's thinking more about second and third-round match-ups (as in, if the Steelers beat the Bengals, they go to Indy next weekend, not NE, and it would be best to not play Indy until the AFCCG). Maybe I'm just drinking the proverbial Kool-Aid, but I've got to believe if there's a plan at work here, it's a lot deeper than just setting up a first-round game against Jacksonville.

Don't forget, this is the first time the Patriots have gone into the playoffs without a bye week since their SB run began. The road to Detriot has three stops, not two, and that's new for this team. Since 2001, they've played more games than any other team with more than half a season's worth of playoff games added to the total. Plus they're pretty banged up and a lot of guys needed an extra week.

As for Flutie's drop-kick... he's probably not coming back in 2006, so Bill wanted to give him a chance to make history on his way out. I think that's all that was. It didn't have anything to do with strategy or trick plays.