Quote Originally Posted by vince View Post
Obviously McCarthy would have preferred yard gainage over Spriggs' whiff. But that's fanboy after-the-fact second-guessing.

McCarthy's finger on the pulse of his team and confidence in his guy in this situation was well placed and correct. Indoor stadium, no wind, plenty of leg, very consistent year, brimming with confidence, etc., etc. Your lack thereof based on past percentages going back many years in a wide variety of situations proved to be wrong and out of touch. Maintaining you were right after the facts prove the opposite is very hard to understand - the height of stubbornness perhaps...

P.S. - perhaps it was just this kind of belief, confidence and overall approach from McCarthy had some role in inspiring Crosby's confidence and methodical success in nailing three consecutive clutch kicks from 50+. The stats you cite would indicate that being VERY unlikely but Crosby was, in fact, money - repeatedly - in that environment, time, and situation. Crosby did it of course, but his coach was absolutely right in believing he would.
One could just as easily say that you are thinking like a results merchant. Just because the end result was good doesn't mean that the chain of decisions that led up to it was the percentage play. In this particular case things worked out, but what would we be thinking if Dallas had marched down the field and scored a TD or if the game had gone to OT?