[Colts And Orioles]

o


There was a point very early in the 3rd quarter in which I was hoping that Reich would send out Vinatieri for a 52-yard attempt. for several reasons ........ unlike earlier in the drive when they went for it on 4th and 1 and-a-half (and succeeded), the situation (4th and 4) was less in favor of a team making it (the Colts or any other team, in general.) Secondly, Vinatieri has not been bad at all on very long field goal attempts. He has tried 3 from beyond 50, made 2 of them, and the one that he missed (from 57 yards) had plenty of leg and just went a little wide to the left. In fact, Adam's biggest problems so far this season have been from short range (4 missed extra points) and medium range (he is 3 out of 6 from field goal attempts from 40-49 yards.)


I think that it was early enough in the game to take the risk of trying a field goal from the 42-yardline ........ if he made it, great, and if he didn't, it would not have been much different than what actually happened in terms of giving good field position to the Steelers.


As others have pointed out, there were numerous reasons why the Colts lost yesterday's game, and the hypothetical situation that I offered may or may not have made the difference between winning and losing. But I do think that it was a rare bad decision made by Reich, and I think that Vinatieri could have used the confidence boost of making a long field goal at that time.


o