Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady admitted he would have called things a little differently if he was the one making the decisions for the Detroit Lions in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers.
The Lions went for it on fourth down on multiple occasions and did not succeed. Those missed opportunities proved to be crucial in their 34-31 loss. San Francisco will now have the opportunity to play the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl for the second time five years.
Brady commented on the aggressiveness of Lions coach Dan Campbell when speaking on the “Let’s Go!” Podcast, particularly on the late hand-off in the fourth quarter.
There was 1:05 left to play in the game with the Lions on the 49ers’ goal line and down 34-24. The Lions still had three timeouts, which meant they could score a touchdown and still have an opportunity to get a three-and-out on defense and get the ball back. But oddly, the Lions made the decision to run the ball on third down and failed to get into the end zone. That failed effort forced them to burn a timeout and eliminated their three-and-out opportunity.
They ultimately failed to get an onside kick, and the 49ers were able to bleed the rest of the clock for the victory.
“You know obviously, when you’re aggressive and it doesn’t work, it comes back to bite you,” said Brady, via Bleacher Report’s Scott Polacek. “It came back to bite them yesterday. Again, I would’ve taken the points….
“The handoff there late in the game, that was the one I didn’t understand,” Brady said. “Unless you saw some incredible look to walk the ball in, you just can’t take the chance that you’re gonna be stopped short and keep the clock running. You just can’t get the ball back. So that was the one I just said, ‘I don’t know what they’re doing.’ I thought it was just a flat-out error.”
With the loss, the Lions missed out on their first Super Bowl appearance and ended one of the all-time great runs in franchise history. Now, Lions fans will have to wait another year to see if the success is sustainable.
