The New England Patriots had enough time for one play at the end of the first half in Sunday night's game against the Baltimore Ravens, and instead of rolling the dice and going for a touchdown on 4th-and-goal at the 1-yard line, head coach Bill Belichick opted for a field goal.
The Patriots had no timeouts remaining and 10 seconds were left on the clock. Newly signed kicker Nick Folk converted from 19 yards out and the Patriots went into halftime trailing 17-13 after the Ravens jumped out to an early 17-0 lead.
Belichick explained the decision to kick the field goal during his Monday appearance on WEEI show "Ordway, Merloni and Fauria."
"We had the ball at the start of the second half," Belichick said, as transcribed by ESPN's Mike Reiss. "It was a 7-point game at that point. Of course, we would have liked to have scored a touchdown, but we felt like that was the right decision at that point in time. It certainly could have gone the other way. There was a lot of time left in the game, but I really felt like we could have a chance to come back out, put a good drive together in the third quarter.
"We had started to move the ball in the second quarter, it seemed like things had started to gain a little bit of momentum. Tried to keep that going. Unfortunately, we lost it, then got it back, and then just couldn't do enough in the last quarter and a half on offense, on defense, or on special teams to change the outcome of the game."
Belichick absolutely made the correct call kicking the field goal.
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He's right, the Patriots had the momentum and their defense was starting to play a lot better after a horrendous start. Going for the touchdown, getting stuffed and coming away with no points would have fired up the crowd and the Ravens entering halftime. Sure, Tom Brady is one of the best QB-sneakers in the league, but the team's offensive line wasn't having a stellar night. The plan to kick the field goal and start the third quarter with a strong drive was smart, and it probably would've resulted in the Patriots taking the lead if Julian Edelman hadn't fumbled on their opening drive of the second half.
The Ravens recovered that fumble and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown to increase their lead to 24-13. Baltimore dominated the time of possession battle the rest of the second half en route to a 37-20 win.
You can debate Belichick's decision all day long, but the bottom line is the Patriots didn't play well enough in the second half to win that game.
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