There haven’t been a shortage of criticisms for New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen during his stewardship of the team, but one recurring issue has been his decision-making on fourth down. Allen was lambasted for punting deep inside Chicago Bears territory on Sunday, but he also caught flak for going for a conversion instead of what was perceived to be an easy field goal kick.
But it’s tough to see any field goal try as a sure thing when rookie kicker Blake Grupe ranks third in missed kicks (5) through Week 9, from distances of 52, 51, 47, 46, and 29 yards. He isn’t someone the Saints can rely on right now, though Allen gave him a shot at a 55-yard field goal early in the third quarter (with 11:43 remaining). And to his credit, Grupe connected on his new career-long field goal to give the Saints the lead at 17-14.
Later, though, stuck at the Chicago 39-yard line on 4th-and-5 late in the third quarter (with 1:12 remaining), Allen elected to punt instead of trying a 56-yard field goal or a conversion attempt. The Bears took over at their own 9-yard line with the game tied at 17-17. Allen shared his thought process on that decision after the game.
“All those options go through your mind,” Allen said, “But I felt like trying to pin him down. Obviously, that’s a long field goal and the percentages of making those aren’t necessarily great and so, the thought process was, let’s pin them down there in that situation and see if we can create some field position, get the ball back in good field position for the offense.”
When Grupe’s earlier successful field goal try was brought up, Allen responded, “Every minute of the game changes the thought process in terms of what you’re thinking, in terms of your aggressiveness, whether you’re going to go for it, kick the field goal, or try to plot them and pin them deep. Those are your three options and we chose to try to pin him down there.”
Fans have turned on Grupe, but for good reason: Allen had seen him push kicks wide of the uprights from lesser distances before. Outside a long catch-and-go pickup by Kendre Miller, the offense hadn’t shown anything on that drive. With the fourth quarter ahead punting felt like his best path forward. Fortunately the defense forced a quick three-and-out and Rashid Shaheed returned the punt back inside Bears territory.
That brings us to the next fourth down decision in Chicago territory. Facing 4th-and-1 from the Bears’ 17-yard line and protecting a 24-17 lead midway through the fourth quarter (with 7:52 remaining), Allen gave the offense the green light to go for a conversion rather than try a 34-yard field goal to go up two scores. But their execution was off. Derek Carr didn’t reach the line of scrimmage on the quarterback sneak and the offense turned the ball over on downs. It may have been a good opportunity to send Taysom Hill into the game given his greater success as a runner. Grupe has missed shorter kicks before, and at the end of the day the offense should expect to get a yard when they need it.
Still, Allen called Grupe’s number later in the game. He chose to try a field goal from the Chicago 29-yard line on 4th-and-3, still up 24-17 late in the fourth quarter (with 2:30 remaining). But the rookie kicker didn’t reward that confidence by banging a 47 yarder off the left upright. Once again the Saints defense took the field, and once again they came away with a clutch turnover — this time with Demario Davis punching the ball from Tyson Bagent’s grasp where Pete Werner recovered it.
So what can we take away from all of this? Allen isn’t aggressive on fourth down, which we already knew, but the offense isn’t executing its plays well when given an opportunity to go for a gutsy conversion. The field goal unit isn’t reliable enough to settle for easy points, and Grupe isn’t performing well enough to inspire much confidence. This Saints team might have won back-to-back games but they’re still flawed. The good news is that a 5-4 record with the bye week in sight makes it much easier to iron out those wrinkles. For now, time is on their side.
