NFL coaches are brilliant people who have devoted most of their lives to the beautiful game. Even the biggest alleged hacks in the business know more about football than we ever will.
That does not, however, inoculate them from the occasional situational flub. And in the first Sunday of the 2022 NFL season, there were all kinds of situations in which coaches had the opportunity to do the smart thing, and did the other thing instead.
Such brainfarts do not discriminate. In our inaugural edition of the article detailing the worst coaching decisions of the week, we have veterans with multiple playoff wins, Super Bowl coaches, and new guys on the block.
We did a poll for readers asking their opinions of the worst coaching decision of the week so far, and while the entrants were pretty well-balanced, our faithful followers also added a few examples worth discussing.
What was Sunday’s worst coaching decision?
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 11, 2022
Here, for your perusal, are the worst coaching decisions of Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season.
Bengals HC Zac Taylor: Leaving too much time on the clock for the Steelers.
In all honesty, the Cincinnati Bengals shouldn’t have even been in this one. That they took the Pittsburgh Steelers into overtime after Joe Burrow’s four interceptions and one fumble seemed like a miracle. But there the Bengals were, with 1:04 left in the game, looking to salvage a 20-20 tie out of the entire disaster. This after Burrow took his seventh sack of the day.
What we do not know is why head coach Zac Taylor didn’t let the clock run all the way down before Kevin Huber’s punt. Instead of bleeding the clock down, the Bengals gave the Steelers 15 extra seconds on the clock.
Bad clock management: The #Bengals lost to the #Steelers on a 53-yard FG with no time left.
Cincy played for the tie when they punted with 1:03 left. They still had 15 more seconds to milk on the play clock.
That was the deciding factor in this game. pic.twitter.com/wmvYJ8qufV
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 11, 2022
And with those extra 15 seconds, the Steelers went on an eight-play, 45-yard, 56-second drive that ended with Chris Boswell’s 56-yard game-winning field goal.
Chris Boswell for the win. What a game! #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/uxMKHrVE18
— NFL (@NFL) September 11, 2022
What a game indeed, but if the Bengals had forced the Steelers to start that drive with more than a minute on the clock, they may have escaped their own stadium with a tie.
After the game, Taylor said that he was just making sure his team didn’t panic in that situation. Starting long-snapper Clark Harris was out with a biceps injury, putting backup Mitchell Wilcox in the spotlight.
“New operation. We snapped there with 13 seconds, I understand that, trust me, we’d rather do something different. But just trying to make sure the operation ran smoothly, it turned out that we sacrificed some seconds just to make sure that we were all on the same page there.”
Cardinals DC Vance Joseph: Blitzing Patrick Mahomes... at all.
In the 2021 season, per Sports Info Solutions, Patrick Mahomes faced just 112 dropbacks against five or more pass-rushers, which ranked 25th in the league. Defenses learned in 2020 that if you blitz Mahomes, he’ll kill you with it. That was the season in which, on 138 dropbacks and 129 attempts, he completed 88 passes for 1,178 yards, 14 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 133.2.
The drumbeat went around the NFL at that point, and teams have learned that there are other, far more effective ways to counter Mahomes. Two-high coverage and dropping extra defenders into intermediate areas are two.
Whatever was said in that memo, Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph didn’t get it. Joseph, who has never been afraid to blitz anybody in his generally estimable NFL career, probably should have run his strategy in this game past more than a few people.
Because boy, did it not work.
Defenses have been reluctant to blitz Mahomes throughout his career — he's the only qualified QB since 2018 to face a blitz rate under 24%.
Mahomes has generated +206.1 passing EPA vs the blitz since 2018, more than double any other QB.#ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/LmiXcMahuS
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 11, 2022
Mahomes completed 30 of 39 passes for 360 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions in the Chiefs’ 44-21 thrashing of the Cardinals. With that, he laid to rest any questions about his ability to get it done without Tyreek Hill (he completed passes to nine different receivers), and reminded everyone in the league that blitzing him is an absolute invitation to defensive disaster,
We’re betting that Joseph, a smart guy, will save the memo this time around. Especially since the personnel he currently has really isn’t attuned to blitzing in the first place. Last season, the Cardinals sent five or more pass rushers on 198 opponent passing attempts, the fourth-highest total in the league. They allowed 126 completions, 1,323 yards, 17 touchdowns, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 105.3.
So, why did Joseph insist on blitzing the “OMG DO NOT BLITZ THIS GUY” guy, when his own defense isn’t really good at it?
On such fractious decisions are losses created.
Texans HC Lovie Smith: Punting to tie after using the wrong running back.
The Texans put up a 20-3 lead on the Colts in the third quarter before things got weird for them. Indianapolis scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to tie the game and send things into overtime.
And then in overtime, nobody scored. Colts kicker Rodrigo Blankenship missed a 43-yard field goal with two minutes left in the fifth quarter, and the Texans took over at their own 32-yard line. They advanced all the way to the Colts’ 47-yard line, and then, on third-and-1 from the Indianapolis 47 with 40 seconds left, the decision was to give the ball to running back Rex Burkhead. The veteran lost two yards on the play, while preseason stud back Dameon Pierce, who had bullied the NFL to date, was not apparently an option.
Then, on fourth-and-3 from the Indy 49 and 26 seconds left, Smith made the call to punt for a tie. Which worked in the end, but the sequence of events didn’t make a ton of sense.
The Texans just ran Rex Burkhead instead of Dameon Pierce on third-and-1, and punted for a tie on fourth-and-3.
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 11, 2022
“As we look at the plays now, Rex got a chance to carry the ball more,” Smith said after the game. “Passing plays, passing situations, Rex was our lead back in that situation, so that’s kind of what happened. In an ideal world, of course, when you have a lead, you would like for that not to be the case, but once they came back at the end, that’s when the numbers started changing a little bit.”
As for the decision to punt, as opposed to going for it, Smith was certain about that.
“Because I felt like a tie was better than a loss in that situation. It’s a decision that you make. If you would guarantee that we were going to get it, then it was good. But if you miss it right there and they had stuffed us on the play, they have one play and they’re in position. It’s not like we were playing our best defense at the time. We were drained. We were gassed a little bit. That’s how it goes. In an ideal world, you don’t want a loss, you want a win, but if you can’t get the win, sometimes you settle for the tie. A lot of football left to go in the season.”
There are no guarantees in football. You have to play the percentages the best you can. The Texans did not do that in these two situations.
Titans OC Todd Downing: Refusing to use Derrick Henry on third-and-1.
So… here was the situation. The Titans had third-and-1 from their own 46-yard line with 6:21 left in their game against the Giants. They had a 20-13 lead, and a desire to run the clock down. They also had Derrick “El Tractorcito” Henry in the backfield. Offensive coordinator Todd Downing might have been a little squeamish about getting Henry the ball again after the franchise back fumbled a direct snap on third-and-1 earlier in the quarter, but this is Derrick Henry. When you have third-and-1 to deal with, you do not get cute. You hand the ball to Henry, and you let him demolish everybody in his way.
Unless you are Downing. If you are Downing, you apparently call a sweep and hand the ball to rookie fourth-round tight end Chigoziem Okonkwo, who did have three rushing attempts for Maryland for 72 yards and two touchdowns… in 2019. Okonkwo hadn’t had a single rushing attempt since, nor did he have any for the Titans in his first preseason.
This is the guy you want taking the ball to run clock and win the game, not El Tractorcito? Mmmm-kay.
On 3rd & 1, Okonkwo TE sweep loses 4-yds .. punting unit in#Giants 13 #Titans 20 4th pic.twitter.com/RzBleSDTPY
— Sᴘᴏʀᴛs 24/7 (@Sports_24x7_) September 11, 2022
The result was predictable. Okonkwo lost four yards, the Titans punted, the Giants scored a touchdown and a game-winning two-point conversion on their subsequent drive, and it was the Giants killing clock, taking 4L23 with that drive. Tennessee tried to counter with a last-second answer, but kicker Randy Bullock missed a 47-yard field goal as time ran out, and that was that.
Head coach Mike Vrabel was Not Amused after the game, for several reasons.
Vrabel on 3rd/1 with sweep to Okonkwo: “some of the stuff we prepared for…that was one of the plays. We have to be better.”
Notes Henry got a carry on 3rd/1 earlier. Did NOT address the formation of that play tho.#Titans
— Chris Harris (@ChrisHarrisWSMV) September 11, 2022
Packers DC Joe Barry: Not letting Jaire Alexander shadow Justin Jefferson
I want to see the All-22 before I really get into this, but I have to say that in principle, the idea of Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry refusing to let Jaire Alexander shadow Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson all over the field on a n-matter-what basis seems like a bad idea. The Packers have great defensive players from front to back, but there are two things you can’t really debate: Alexander is Green Bay’s best cornerback, and Jefferson is Minnesota’s best receiver. Jefferson tore that defense apart for nine receptions on 11 targets for 184 yards and two touchdowns.
On this play, the dots tell the story. Alexander (No. 23) didn’t follow Jefferson (No. 18), and the result was not great for the Packers. We are not sure what the coverage plan was supposed to be here, but we are pretty sure that we do not like it.
Kirk Cousins & Justin Jefferson (36-yd TD)
Through the first half, Jefferson has accounted for 90.9% of the offense's air yards, which would rank as the 2nd-highest in a game in the NGS era.
💡 Jefferson led the NFL in AY share in 2021 (45.2%).#GBvsMIN | Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/zWafCmPbje
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 11, 2022
Asked about it after the game, Alexander didn’t exactly give a political answer. Nor should he have.
Jaire Alexander to me and @RobDemovsky postgame on coaches not having him shadow Justin Jefferson: "All week, (I was) asking for that matchup. But it ain't about me. It's about the team. It ain't about me. If it was my way, you know what I would be doing."
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) September 12, 2022
After the game, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur tried to explain it all.
“It doesn’t necessarily always work that way in terms of — if you just commit to playing man coverage the whole game, sure, you can do it. But they do a nice job of putting them in different positions, whether it’s in the slot, whether it’s motioning. It seemed like he was in motion quite a bit, just moving him all over the place. You’ve got to give them credit. They put him in premier spots and attacked our coverage well, and certainly we had a couple blown coverages, as well, where we’re cutting him loose, and if there’s anybody you don’t want to cut loose, it’s No. 18.
“We’ll go back and look at the tape. Obviously, again, we have to coach so much better. This is two years in a row where we’ve come out Week 1 and have not looked prepared. I think all of us will look inward and we’ll make the necessary corrections.”
