Fourth-and-season? Go for it

[Ox]

Fourth-and-season? Go for it

By Paul Daugherty • pdaugherty@enquirer.com • November 11, 2008

Desperate times require desperate measures, don’t they? When you’re 1-8 with an underperforming, 32nd-ranked offense that’s averaging just under 14 points a game, that defines desperate, and the Cincinnati Bengals.

I have the cure.

It’s simple. It’s also revolutionary, which is why Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski chuckled Monday when he heard it. The NFL doesn’t do revolutionary. In some precincts, it needs to start. Such as Cincinnati.

Go for it on fourth down. Every time.

No, check that. Every time you start a possession at your 30-yard line or better.

Make every four downs four-down territory. This is nuts when you are 9-0, or 5-4 and still competing for postseason face time. It makes absolute sense when you are 1-8 and couldn’t find the postseason with Mapquest and a Sherpa guide.

What do you have to lose? Another game?

The Bengals are a good team to ask this, because at 1-8, their season isn’t exactly riding on the next seven weeks.

“It has the potential for disaster,” Bratkowski said. “It has upside, but the upside isn’t worth the downside.”

Upside, downside, who cares? You’re scoring 14 a game doing it by the book. Your fans fill the postgame talk-fests with complaints of predictability. Three years ago, your offense was a bomb in your hand. Now, it just bombs. And you worry about downside?

“It would put a great amount of stress on your defense. It could put you at risk, to where it would look really ugly. You could get embarrassed,” Bratkowski allowed.

Embarrassed? The Bengals?

Common sense says you have a better chance making 10 yards with four tries than with three. Further common sense says giving an offensive coordinator four downs instead of three is like giving Dr. Jekyll another beaker. Further-est common sense says the head of the opposing defensive coordinator would be spinning like Dale Jr.’s tires on Turn 3 at Daytona.

Set a few loose parameters, dependent on the situation in the game. Don’t use the Four Down Law when you begin inside your 30. Don’t use it when you’re up 21 with five minutes to play. Football coaches love to make their game sound like Black Hole theory. It isn’t.

If you know you have four downs to earn four more, your playbook expands.

Second-and-10? Not necessarily a passing down. Third-and-1? Throw it. Think of the mind-mess it would do on defensive coaches. They make their living watching more DVDs than Roger Ebert. They thrive on “tendencies”: Here’s what Cincinnati likes to run on 3rd-and-8. What if 3rd-and-8 suddenly became 2nd-and-8?

“It would make a big difference,” Bratkowski acknowledged. “On second-and-long, you can think of running, making a short throw or taking a shot at the end zone. Even on third down, it opens up twice as many options.”

So … good idea? Am I the new Bill Walsh, or what?

“Well, I don’t think you’re nuts,” Bratkowski said. “There would be some defensive coaches who think you’re nuts.”

What if it worked? You couldn’t find a wagon big enough to fit the NFL band. We’d all hail the “courage” of Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. Bob Bratkowski wouldn’t be an offensive coordinator with his job on the line. He would be a “pioneer.” Any coach can go 3-13. Might as well get there in a Lamborghini, even if it doesn’t have brakes or a steering wheel.

They do it at Texas Tech, where the coach, Mike Leach, has his team on a path for the national championship. Leach isn’t crazy; he’s “innovative.” By mid-October, the Red Raiders had gone for it 13 times on fourth down, and made eight. Four of those attempts were from their 30 or inside their 30. Tech averages 48 points a game. Of course, they don’t play a great opponent every week, and Leach’s players can compensate for Leach’s mad-scientist urges.

But, again, the Bengals are 1-8. They boarded the Last Train to Nowhere weeks ago. What else do you have going on? Let ‘er rip.

“You’re playing against the odds,” Bratkowski decided.

What odds? It has never been done.

You can finish 4-12 with style and innovation, offense blazing. Or you can punt on fourth down. It’s not a difficult choice.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081111/COL03/311110042

[gregstephens]

Fourth-and-season? Go for it

By Paul Daugherty • pdaugherty@enquirer.com • November 11, 2008

Desperate times require desperate measures, don’t they? When you’re 1-8 with an underperforming, 32nd-ranked offense that’s averaging just under 14 points a game, that defines desperate, and the Cincinnati Bengals.

I have the cure.

It’s simple. It’s also revolutionary, which is why Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski chuckled Monday when he heard it. The NFL doesn’t do revolutionary. In some precincts, it needs to start. Such as Cincinnati.

Go for it on fourth down. Every time.

No, check that. Every time you start a possession at your 30-yard line or better.

Make every four downs four-down territory. This is nuts when you are 9-0, or 5-4 and still competing for postseason face time. It makes absolute sense when you are 1-8 and couldn’t find the postseason with Mapquest and a Sherpa guide.

What do you have to lose? Another game?

The Bengals are a good team to ask this, because at 1-8, their season isn’t exactly riding on the next seven weeks.

“It has the potential for disaster,” Bratkowski said. “It has upside, but the upside isn’t worth the downside.”

Upside, downside, who cares? You’re scoring 14 a game doing it by the book. Your fans fill the postgame talk-fests with complaints of predictability. Three years ago, your offense was a bomb in your hand. Now, it just bombs. And you worry about downside?

“It would put a great amount of stress on your defense. It could put you at risk, to where it would look really ugly. You could get embarrassed,” Bratkowski allowed.

Embarrassed? The Bengals?

Common sense says you have a better chance making 10 yards with four tries than with three. Further common sense says giving an offensive coordinator four downs instead of three is like giving Dr. Jekyll another beaker. Further-est common sense says the head of the opposing defensive coordinator would be spinning like Dale Jr.’s tires on Turn 3 at Daytona.

Set a few loose parameters, dependent on the situation in the game. Don’t use the Four Down Law when you begin inside your 30. Don’t use it when you’re up 21 with five minutes to play. Football coaches love to make their game sound like Black Hole theory. It isn’t.

If you know you have four downs to earn four more, your playbook expands.

Second-and-10? Not necessarily a passing down. Third-and-1? Throw it. Think of the mind-mess it would do on defensive coaches. They make their living watching more DVDs than Roger Ebert. They thrive on “tendencies”: Here’s what Cincinnati likes to run on 3rd-and-8. What if 3rd-and-8 suddenly became 2nd-and-8?

“It would make a big difference,” Bratkowski acknowledged. “On second-and-long, you can think of running, making a short throw or taking a shot at the end zone. Even on third down, it opens up twice as many options.”

So … good idea? Am I the new Bill Walsh, or what?

“Well, I don’t think you’re nuts,” Bratkowski said. “There would be some defensive coaches who think you’re nuts.”

What if it worked? You couldn’t find a wagon big enough to fit the NFL band. We’d all hail the “courage” of Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. Bob Bratkowski wouldn’t be an offensive coordinator with his job on the line. He would be a “pioneer.” Any coach can go 3-13. Might as well get there in a Lamborghini, even if it doesn’t have brakes or a steering wheel.

They do it at Texas Tech, where the coach, Mike Leach, has his team on a path for the national championship. Leach isn’t crazy; he’s “innovative.” By mid-October, the Red Raiders had gone for it 13 times on fourth down, and made eight. Four of those attempts were from their 30 or inside their 30. Tech averages 48 points a game. Of course, they don’t play a great opponent every week, and Leach’s players can compensate for Leach’s mad-scientist urges.

But, again, the Bengals are 1-8. They boarded the Last Train to Nowhere weeks ago. What else do you have going on? Let ‘er rip.

“You’re playing against the odds,” Bratkowski decided.

What odds? It has never been done.

You can finish 4-12 with style and innovation, offense blazing. Or you can punt on fourth down. It’s not a difficult choice.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081111/COL03/311110042

WTF???

Has Daugherty lost what little mind he has left? Ok...so we start on the 31, maybe gain seven or eight yards in four tries, turn the ball over on downs...every single time?

Can you imagine the point spreads on the games from now on? We'd be losing 57-17 or worse.

Then again...what do we have to lose?

[Ickey44]

Fourth-and-season? Go for it

By Paul Daugherty • pdaugherty@enquirer.com • November 11, 2008

Desperate times require desperate measures, don’t they? When you’re 1-8 with an underperforming, 32nd-ranked offense that’s averaging just under 14 points a game, that defines desperate, and the Cincinnati Bengals.

I have the cure.

It’s simple. It’s also revolutionary, which is why Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski chuckled Monday when he heard it. The NFL doesn’t do revolutionary. In some precincts, it needs to start. Such as Cincinnati.

Go for it on fourth down. Every time.

No, check that. Every time you start a possession at your 30-yard line or better.

Make every four downs four-down territory. This is nuts when you are 9-0, or 5-4 and still competing for postseason face time. It makes absolute sense when you are 1-8 and couldn’t find the postseason with Mapquest and a Sherpa guide.

What do you have to lose? Another game?

The Bengals are a good team to ask this, because at 1-8, their season isn’t exactly riding on the next seven weeks.

“It has the potential for disaster,” Bratkowski said. “It has upside, but the upside isn’t worth the downside.”

Upside, downside, who cares? You’re scoring 14 a game doing it by the book. Your fans fill the postgame talk-fests with complaints of predictability. Three years ago, your offense was a bomb in your hand. Now, it just bombs. And you worry about downside?

“It would put a great amount of stress on your defense. It could put you at risk, to where it would look really ugly. You could get embarrassed,” Bratkowski allowed.

Embarrassed? The Bengals?

Common sense says you have a better chance making 10 yards with four tries than with three. Further common sense says giving an offensive coordinator four downs instead of three is like giving Dr. Jekyll another beaker. Further-est common sense says the head of the opposing defensive coordinator would be spinning like Dale Jr.’s tires on Turn 3 at Daytona.

Set a few loose parameters, dependent on the situation in the game. Don’t use the Four Down Law when you begin inside your 30. Don’t use it when you’re up 21 with five minutes to play. Football coaches love to make their game sound like Black Hole theory. It isn’t.

If you know you have four downs to earn four more, your playbook expands.

Second-and-10? Not necessarily a passing down. Third-and-1? Throw it. Think of the mind-mess it would do on defensive coaches. They make their living watching more DVDs than Roger Ebert. They thrive on “tendencies”: Here’s what Cincinnati likes to run on 3rd-and-8. What if 3rd-and-8 suddenly became 2nd-and-8?

“It would make a big difference,” Bratkowski acknowledged. “On second-and-long, you can think of running, making a short throw or taking a shot at the end zone. Even on third down, it opens up twice as many options.”

So … good idea? Am I the new Bill Walsh, or what?

“Well, I don’t think you’re nuts,” Bratkowski said. “There would be some defensive coaches who think you’re nuts.”

What if it worked? You couldn’t find a wagon big enough to fit the NFL band. We’d all hail the “courage” of Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. Bob Bratkowski wouldn’t be an offensive coordinator with his job on the line. He would be a “pioneer.” Any coach can go 3-13. Might as well get there in a Lamborghini, even if it doesn’t have brakes or a steering wheel.

They do it at Texas Tech, where the coach, Mike Leach, has his team on a path for the national championship. Leach isn’t crazy; he’s “innovative.” By mid-October, the Red Raiders had gone for it 13 times on fourth down, and made eight. Four of those attempts were from their 30 or inside their 30. Tech averages 48 points a game. Of course, they don’t play a great opponent every week, and Leach’s players can compensate for Leach’s mad-scientist urges.

But, again, the Bengals are 1-8. They boarded the Last Train to Nowhere weeks ago. What else do you have going on? Let ‘er rip.

“You’re playing against the odds,” Bratkowski decided.

What odds? It has never been done.

You can finish 4-12 with style and innovation, offense blazing. Or you can punt on fourth down. It’s not a difficult choice.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081111/COL03/311110042

WTF???

Has Daugherty lost what little mind he has left? Ok...so we start on the 31, maybe gain seven or eight yards in four tries, turn the ball over on downs...every single time?

Can you imagine the point spreads on the games from now on? We'd be losing 57-17 or worse.

Then again...what do we have to lose?

Why does he think he's a revolutionary? Anyone who plays Madden does this.

[HairOnFire]

I think I've solved the mystery of who stole Chick Ludwig's stash.

[Ickey44]

I think I've solved the mystery of who stole Chick Ludwig's stash.

Did he have any left? I figured he smoked it all before he wrote the top ten article.

[whizzo]

well heck, we do we have to lose? being 1-8 as we are, i'd love to see this. dammit, even the fans would love it. i'm all for it. season's more or less down the drain, so let's play some football.

[HoosierCat]

Doc's idea is neither new nor crazy, and is actually supported by at least one analysis.

[BengalPimp]

LOL....We cant convert on 3rd down, yet he thinks we'll convert on 4th? What a moron.

I'll bet you he doubles as a Bookie.....wonder what kind of over/unders he wants to set?

[Bearcat1975]

Well if I had bet against the Bengals covering the spread over the past 18 years I'd be a billionaire so maybe Doc is onto something...

[HoTbOy]

I agree with alot of things that are posted, but I don't care if we are 1-8, we are stll a resemblance of an NFL team you don't go for it on every 4th down, that is not competitive football that is throwing games...

[HairOnFire]

Doc's idea is neither new nor crazy, and is actually supported by at least one analysis.

I find it interesting that Don Shula brought the idea up.

As Super Bowl III was winding down Shula's heavily favored Baltimore Colt team found itself trailing the upstart Jets. In what might have been the first back breaker in a series...the Colts finally put together a 4th quarter drive, but had to pass up a FGA because Shula didn't have a real kicker on his team, using instead an offensive lineman on very short attempts. For longer FGA attempts Shula had for weeks opted in favor of....(wait for it)....going for it on 4th down.

[Kirkendall]

LOL....We cant convert on 3rd down, yet he thinks we'll convert on 4th?

Yep. My thought exactly. The Bengals have converted 3rd-and-two (and closer), eight of 15 times. We're just not good enough to try them -- and if we do it a couple of times, I doubt the element of surprise remains. Then again, Daugherty acts surprised when the Bengals lose with rehashed, words changed via thesaurus, every Sunday.

[Kazkal]

Disagree with doing this,I say keep playing games like you would if it was first game season and just let defense continue to build...hopefully for offense we can get our line fixed.