4th and 1 Game Call

In the Atlanta game in the 1st Qtr the Vikings had the ball on the 40yd line of Atlanta with a 4th and 1.

Now maybe I am being optimistic but with 2 guys being paid 5mil+ a apeice on the left side of the line. A 2 mil full back and 2 RB making another $5mil each I think we should have went for it.

If we cant make a 4th and 1 with the oline and rb that we have we are in some real trouble.

I realize that if we dont make it that they get the ball near mid field but to punt you only gain approx 20 yards ( Atl got the ball at the 12 on the punt).

Does anyone agree or do you think it was smart to play safe early in the game like Chilli did?

It was still early in the game and Chilly was playing percentages, and field position. With our defense that's the way it will go early in games. If the score was different then maybe we go, but not with us having a lead and momentum, early in the game.

I thought that also when it first happened but after thinking about I think it was a good move if we miss they have the mall almost mid-field and by punting we put pressure on their offense with our D
and make the Falcons make a play to earn the yards which you would think 8/10 times they are not going to!!!

I think it was a smart call on Childress's part.
It was early in a scoreless game, there was no reason to give Atlanta a competitive advantage if we didn't make the 1st down.
Our defense had yet to be on the field, so we had to real idea how effective they would be against Atlanta's spread offense.
If they would have stopped us on 4th down, and then found a way to score, it would have been a huge momentum builder for Atlanta.

Also, it was a long yard, and even listed as 4th and 2 on NFL.com, so I don't think it was a give-me by any means.

Actually, come to think of it, it was a good thing. The further we put Atlanta back, the more they'd have to deal with our defense, which is seemingly (being modest) better than our offense. I like the action though, so I wanted them to go for it too.

"howln4u" wrote:

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Does anyone agree or do you think it was smart to play safe early in the game like Chilli did?

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I, like a lot of fans at the game, mildly boo'd the decision to punt.
But I understand the call and the punt was a good one, downed at the 10, I believe.

=Z=

"CulpepperViking16" wrote:

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Actually, come to think of it, it was a good thing. The further we put Atlanta back, the more they'd have to deal with our defense, which is seemingly (being modest) better than our offense. I like the action though, so I wanted them to go for it too.

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I was going to say we should of went for it because I think we could have easily made it but this is a good point.

I was also initially dissapointed with the call, but agree that it was the right one. With an unproven offense (at the moment!) it made sense to give our defense some room to work with.

Damn judging from yesterday the Falcons could have been in the red zone 10 times and came away with a FG but yes I agree with the call...

"PurpleTide" wrote:

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It was still early in the game and Chilly was playing percentages, and field position. With our defense that's the way it will go early in games. If the score was different then maybe we go, but not with us having a lead and momentum, early in the game.

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I didn't like the call.
Anyone that has ever done a statistical analysis of NFL games and the decision as to whether to go for it on 4th down has concluded that you should almost always go for it on fourth and short (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...4&sportCat=nfl).
Certainly fourth and 1 or 2 from the 40 qualifies under any measure.
So Childress wasn't playing the percentages, he was playing his gut and playing for field position.


We were likely to get a first down if we had tried there.
That would have set us up with a good chance to score on at least a long field goal attempt.
We need to give our offense every chance we can to score points.

That being said, the Vikings decided to punt and executed it very well.
The defense was amazing.
So it's not the end of the world.