Tomlin has HUGE BALLS???

[Chi_archie]

or absolutely no confidence in his team's defense?


unreal

[Chi_archie]

desperation move

[Chi_archie]

give GB a short field, hope they score quick, so you get the ball back with about 90 secs or so...... strategery

[Chi_archie]

may go down as a 10x worse call than Belichek's going for it on 4th down

[The Seer]

game over, what a dumbass, cant believe this guy won a SB

[Mudcat]

desperation move

when there was absolutely no reason to be desperate. I can't imagine his justification.

[jgray]

Huge, stupid balls.

[pokernut9999]

They have not stopped anyone this year with the game on the line.

[Chi_archie]

when there was absolutely no reason to be desperate. I can't imagine his justification.

he won't say it...but because he knew knew knew his D could not hold Green Bay, even from deep in GB's territory......


I almost think, he is doing this to take heat off his team, cuz he KNEW they'd still lose this..... no the press conference and newspaper headlines will focus SOLEY on him.

that's the kind of idiot thing this guy would do

[nosniboR11]

black coach for ya, stupidest move i have seen in awhile, they brought the hell in December all right

[Mudcat]

he won't say it...but because he knew knew knew his D could not hold Green Bay, even from deep in GB's territory......

Yeah maybe. That's not huge balls in my book though. That kind of thinking is epic wimpiness.

[Chi_archie]

unleash hell for pittsburgh fans and backers in December......

[Chi_archie]

Yeah maybe. That's not huge balls in my book though. That is epic wimpiness.

thus the ????? and the OR in the original post

[seaborneq]

Tomlin does not have anything to work with this year. Its like having the Titanic in a speed boat race.

[mmike032]

top 3 bonehead coaching decisions of the season

[Shortstop]

Don't forget the pooch kickoff too...

What the fvck was that about???

[Chi_archie]

he really lucked out.... He'll still face alot of scrutiny but it won't be as bitter a pill to swallow

[increasedodds]

In a game with 70 points, it is almost certainly the right call. Kind of funny to hear you all call him an idiot

[Chi_archie]

In a game with 70 points, it is almost certainly the right call. Kind of funny to hear you all call him an idiot

so in a high scoring game, coaches should just onside kick all the time?

[pimike]

He is an idiot

[Chi_archie]

unreal the statistician's strike again.....

http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/reviewing-steelers-decision-to-try-onside-kick/?emc=eta1

[Chi_archie]

Brian Burke of Advanced NFL Stats sent us an e-mail on the Steelers’ unorthodox decision to try an onside kick in their victory over the Packers. He gave us permission to re-run his blog post, and here it is:
Up by 2 points with 3:58 left against the Packers, Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin called for an onside kick. Was it a good decision?

When onside kicks are expected, they are successful only about 20% of the time. But unexpected onside kicks are successful a surprising 60% of the time. I think we can say this particular kick was certainly unexpected. And surprise onside kicks can be most beneficial when a team is ahead late in the game. Possession is critical.
In this case, had the Steelers recovered the kick, they would have had a first down at about their 40, which is good for about a 0.76 win probability (WP). An unsuccessful onside kick gives the ball to the Packers at the Steelers’ 40, worth 0.58 WP for the Packers (which is 0.42 WP for the Steelers.) With a 60% success rate, the overall WP for the onside kick would be:
0.60 * 0.76 + (1-0.60) * 0.42 = 0.64 WP
A conventional kickoff gives the Packers a 1st and 10 at their own 30 or so (28 is the average, 33 is the median). This gives the Packers a 0.46 WP, which is 0.54 WP for the Steelers.
The onside kick is the better decision by 0.64 to 0.54 WP. These estimates are only league baselines, but they suggest it was probably a good call. What’s most interesting to me is that a failed onside kick is hardly certain death — a 0.42 WP. There was plenty of time for anything to happen — a stop, a turnover, a score. And sure enough the Steelers gave up a touchdown but came back with one of their own.
Also, a successful onside recovery doesn’t seal the game. The Steelers would still need at least two first downs to clinch the win. Essentially, the Steelers traded 30 yards of field position for the chance to keep the ball out of the Packers’ hands.

[StraitShooter]

black coach for ya, stupidest move i have seen in awhile, they brought the hell in December all right

[soli]

Tomlin won the game from what I saw

[Chi_archie]

will there ever be a day in football where stat-heads and mathmaticians co-coach a team.... kinda like a tony larussa guy from baseball combined with all the money-ball sabermetrics guys... but in football

[hhsilver]

I like that math analysis --- the thing most are neglecting to consider:

60% success for unexpected onside kick vs 20% success for expected...

thanks for posting that, archie