The New England Patriots made a controversial decision during overtime of their 35-29 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 6. At midfield, the Patriots elected to punt away the football to quarterback Dak Prescott and the impressive Cowboys offense.
There was not a consensus in the analytics community, with multiple services suggesting Belichick and the Patriots should have gone for the fourth-down conversion. And then there were others that suggested he had a better chance of winning by doing what he did: punt.
But the logic seems somewhat simple. The Patriots got a great game from quarterback Mac Jones, who made one hugely costly mistake: a pick-six. Otherwise, he was stellar, and arguably one of the best QBs of the week. New England needed to trust their quarterback to pick up a fourth-and-3 — particularly because the alternative was punting to Dak Prescott to drive against an exhausted Patriots defense.
ESPN’s Mina Kimes spelled it out perfectly.
"I think we're at a point now in this season where the conservatism of the head coach is actually holding this team back." @minakimes on how Bill Belichick is affecting the Patriots. pic.twitter.com/DDtdseu9Hq
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) October 18, 2021
Makes sense right? What do you think? Do you think punting was the right decision? Or do you think that they should have gone for the fourth-down conversion? Reply in the comments.
