Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) reacts after scoring on an 8-yard landing run throughout the first half of an NFL divisional spherical playoff soccer sport in opposition to the Buffalo Payments, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022, in Kansas Metropolis, Mo. (AP Photograph/Colin E. Braley)
The coin toss controversy is again, courtesy of Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
For what it’s price, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t shopping for it.
Mahomes had the gall to steer his group on a 75-yard, eight-play drive for the game-winning landing in a 42-36 win Sunday evening over the Buffalo Payments on the primary possession of extra time. Counterpart Josh Allen, each bit as magnificent as Mahomes all through an all-time traditional playoff sport, by no means made it off the bench.
These are the foundations. Rating a landing, sport over.
Fact be advised, if the NFL determined right this moment to let each groups have an offensive possession in extra time, I’d be positive with it. However the rule because it stands isn’t a dying sentence in terms of profitable and dropping. Video games aren’t coming right down to heads or tails.
Shanahan has some expertise with extra time success and failure. The 49ers gained in extra time twice this season in opposition to Cincinnati and the Los Angeles Rams as a result of his protection didn’t enable a landing.
With the rating 20-20, the Bengals obtained the ball to the 49ers’ 19-yard line on their first possession, however Nick Bosa sacked Joe Burrow on third-and-3. Cincinnati needed to kick a area purpose, the 49ers obtained the ball again and Jimmy Garoppolo drove them for the profitable landing and a 26-23 win.
In opposition to the Rams in Week 18, the 49ers gained the toss, obtained all the way in which to the Rams’ 8-yard line, stalled and Robbie Gould kicked a 24-yard area purpose. The Rams had their likelihood to win, however rookie nook Ambry Thomas intercepted Matthew Stafford to win the sport.
Bosa made a play. Thomas made a play. It's potential, and defenders relish the chance.
Shanahan additionally skilled the flip aspect, so to talk.
Within the Tremendous Bowl following the 2016 season as offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons, Shanahan’s unit by no means noticed the ball because the New England Patriots drove the size of the sphere on the primary possession for a 34-28 win.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid mentioned Monday to make issues “equal” in extra time ought to in all probability embrace each side, offense and protection.
Shanahan is okay with the way in which it's.
“It doesn’t hassle me. I feel it's best to be capable to cease somebody on a landing in order for you (the ball) again,” Shanahan mentioned once I requested him concerning the rule throughout a convention name. “It’s actual powerful to not get (the ball), however I by no means felt it wasn’t truthful.”
Nick Bosa.#ProBowlVote
📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/ryzhc05zwa— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) December 13, 2021
He even mentioned he was positive with how overtimes had been up till 2010, the place a area purpose on the opening possession would finish the sport, though Shanahan does like the present rule higher.
“They offer us the foundations, you realize the foundations, and that’s what you go in making an attempt to win the sport on,” Shanahan mentioned. “My thoughts doesn’t change based mostly on what occurs.”
Allen, contemporary off the frustration of not getting a shot in extra time for the Payments, had motive to really feel aggrieved. He wasn’t.
“The principles are what they're, and I can’t complain about that as a result of if it was the opposite approach round, we’d be celebrating too,” Allen mentioned.
Any protection aspiring to be champions ought to really feel it will possibly stop a landing with the sport on the road. That’s all we’re actually speaking about. One possession. Do or die. Pressure a turnover. Get the ball again on downs. Even pressure a area purpose to present your personal offense an opportunity.
Buffalo ranked first within the NFL in scoring protection (17.0) and gave up the fewest yards per sport (272.8). Mahomes obtained the ball again with 13 seconds left in regulation at his personal 25 however obtained his group in place for a game-tying area purpose. Then the Payments gave it up in extra time.
And it was the coin toss that beat Buffalo? If it was, the Payments would have walked off the sphere and the Chiefs would have celebrated the second the coin hit the turf.
Look no additional than the Raiders for proof the coin toss doesn’t determine the extra time winner. They haven’t had an upper-echelon protection in perpetually however are 8-1 in overtimes below the present rule, which went into impact in 2010 for the playoffs and 2012 within the common season.
In each a type of wins, each side obtained the ball. These subpar defenses did their job.
In playoff video games since 2010 there have been 11 extra time video games. Seven occasions the group that gained the toss scored a landing on its first possession to win the sport. In fact you need the ball and an opportunity to attain and finish it, nevertheless it’s removed from computerized.
When the 49ers hosted the New York Giants following the 2011 season for the NFC Championship, the Giants obtained the ball first, picked up one first down and punted. The 49ers took over with Alex Smith and went three-and-out.
They ended up dropping on a Kyle Williams fumble off a Giants punt and a 31-yard area purpose by Lawrence Tynes.
Nobody blamed a coin toss that evening both.
It was Mahomes’ brilliance mixed with Buffalo’s defensive breakdowns that doomed the Payments. That they had each likelihood to make a play in regulation after which when it mattered most in extra time.
So far as defenses being exhausted in extra time, each group within the NFL talks about conquering adversity. Come by in extra time and it turns into a type of “by no means hand over, by no means give in” moments coaches begin making an attempt to instill in coaching camp.
Payments security Jordan Poyer, top-of-the-line n the enterprise, conceded as a lot.
“The protection has to have the ability to go on the market and make a cease,” Poyer mentioned. “We weren’t capable of do it.”
Change the rule, don’t change the rule. That a part of soccer won't ever change. Make a play or go residence.