Thread: Did John Fox's conservative approach cost the Broncos a win?

From Slate.com

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports...st_denver.html

IMO. It aided to the loss.

nfl.com also wrote an article about it.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100...t-to-lose-game

I dont fault him for the 3rd and 7. I would have done the same thing. No excuse letting a team go 90 yards with 1:09 left.

Hindsight really pisses me off in this situation. I'm still pretty shocked at the loss, but I can point to SO MANY things besides conservative play calling that cost us the game. Football is a gamble, and we played the odds. The Ravens on the other hand were playing with house money like a sailor on leave and it just turned up roses for them inexplicably time and time again. You can't explain 3 turnovers by the normally stoic and composed Manning. You can't explain Champ Bailey getting targeting by the Ravens and it actually paying off. And you sure as hell can't explain some of the calls (on both sides) or the fact that Rahim Moore could have done anything (Pass interference, trip the receiver, gouge his eyes out, etc.) besides let a receiver BEHIND HIM in a prevent defense and he did.

The series of events that led to the Broncos losing that game is still staggering to me, but I don't want to take away anything from how the Ravens took advantage. I've just never seen so many low percentage plays pay off, its like Manning pissed off some Gypsies before the game.

Hopefully we restructure this team and come back on a mission next season. I will be there all the way through, but I do not want another loss like this.

I honestly think Fox's style of play calling is fine. Sure, we as fans wish he was aggressive and risk taking... but as soon as he takes a chance on something and it bites us, we'll be calling for the conservative style of play calling.

The biggest point here is trust... as a coach, when you have a strong D like we did this season, you tend to fall back on them under high pressure. I think John Fox thought it would be no problem stopping with Ravens in overtime, and I agree with that call 100%. People trying to compare the Atlanta situation to ours are forgetting that Atlanta was down, they had no choice but to go for it. We were tied and there was no point in trying to force a situation. Trust the D and rely on the O. That's what you do when you are good and John Fox knows that. That's how we won 13 games this season.

John Fox did not cost us this game. He is a solid coach for this team.

No, giving up a hail mary cost us this game.

My thing with 3rd and 7 is that defense was having issues all game and making lots of mistakes. You have peyton f****** Manning. He knows what he is doing. If he could not get a pass off cleanly he could have dropped and taken the sack to not stop the clock. He is not an idiot, he is the smartest QB to ever play the game. The defense knew we were going to run too. That is what Fox/McCoy do. They play it safe. They do not take chances. Fox should have put the ball into the hands of his best player, Manning.

If Fox does not takes chances I do not see him ever getting a ring, and that means us getting another win. I liked to NFL article. He plays to not lose, he does not play to win. he does not take chances.

~you play to win the game

It sure didn't help. Neither did the dozen other things that made use lose though.

A lot of things went wrong...Fox is what he is...Everyone (including Elway) knew they were getting a conservative-minded coach with Fox.

I'm just surprised that as well as we had been playing leading up to this game, we got 2 free TD's with those kick returns and still didn't win the game...If someone would have told me we get 2 special teams TD's I would have said we win in a blowout.

The fact we had those 14 free points and still lost tells me that either A. We did several things wrong, B. the Ravens just outplayed us, or C. Both A & B

It wasn't the only reason but it was a big reason. Not even considering the 3rd and 7 call which, while not desirable, is understandable. The kneel down with 2 timeouts and time on the clock is a bigger mess up.

Originally Posted by aberdien

It wasn't the only reason but it was a big reason. Not even considering the 3rd and 7 call which, while not desirable, is understandable. The kneel down with 2 timeouts and time on the clock is a bigger mess up.

Again, the 3rd and 7 call has been reported on several outlets that Manning audibled into that play...might have to give the coaching staff a pass on that one.

As far as the kneel down before OT...Yeah, that was inexcusable, and that is why Fox is a Dinosaur in today's NFL...We are paying our QB the big $$ for that very situation..the fact we didn't even try with 2 timeouts and PM under center is beyond me.

Fox defended the kneel down because the team was "In shock mode and needed to regroup"...

Originally Posted by Dzone

Fox defended the kneel down because the team was "In shock mode and needed to regroup"...

end of both halves?