Belichick's Baffling Blunder

Fourth and two on your own 28 yard line. Your team is winning by six points and the clock reads 2:08 remaining in the game. The opposing quarterback is future Hall-of-Fame passer, Peyton Manning. You’re punting the ball if you’re the head coach of any team, right? Not if you’re Bill Belichick.
The Patriots masterful head coach is the subject of scrutiny in the sports media today. There's a public outcry because the result did not work last night. Belichick cost his team a win against the rival Colts when he inexplicably chose to go for a fourth and two. New England failed on the stunning gamble in their own territory. Tom Brady’s completion to Kevin Faulk came up a yard short of the first down, and Belichick’s infamy became instantaneous. Melvin Bullitt, replacing the injured veteran, Bob Sanders, drove Faulk into the ground to stifle the Pats. The Colts, playing at home in a Sunday night AFC battle, took over on downs. It took Manning just two throws to take give his team the lead. The prolific passer connected with Reggie Wayne in the end zone with 13 seconds left to rally Indianapolis to a 35-34 win. The Colts remained undefeated, but the bigger story was the questionable decision by the championship coach on the opposing sideline.
The Lucas Oil Stadium crowd sensed the Colts’ chances slipping away along with the team’s 18 game regular season winning streak. Indianapolis trailed by 17 points in the fourth quarter before the improbable comeback. Manning’s two interceptions were close to as uncharacteristic as Belichick’s call in the fourth quarter. Joseph Addai hauled in a Manning spiral from 15 yards out to give the Colts an early advantage. New England running back, Laurence Maroney, poked into the end zone for a one yard touchdown to even the score before the first quarter ended. The Patriots and Colts were equally humble in the backfield, but both teams scored a rushing touchdown a piece. Addai scored on a four yard scramble following a six play Colts drive in the final quarter.
New England padded the lead in the second quarter after Stephen Gostkowski’s 31 yard field goal split the uprights. Brady found Randy Moss and Julian Edelman for 63 and 9 yard touchdown receptions, respectively. Wayne’s 20 yard heave from Manning before the half put the Colts within ten points. The receiver caught 10 passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns. Neither team scored in the third quarter. Manning was 28 for 44 on the night, with four touchdown passes. He threw two in the fourth, the first a rocket to Pierre Garcon from 29 yards. The second was the game-winning launch to Wayne. Brady totaled 375 yard and three touchdowns in this AFC shootout. The 2007 MVP found Moss in the end zone for the second time Sunday during the fourth quarter. Moss finished 21 yards shy of 200 yards, with nine receptions and a pair of touchdowns. Belichick’s aggressive game strategy has often made him a winner. Last night, he made a poor, unconventional choice. The Colts punted seven times on fourteen possessions. They weren’t playing their best and Belichick should have had more faith in his own men. The Patriots’ demoralized defense was an obvious scene when they came out to stop Manning from the 28 yard line. Sunday marked the first time the Pats lost when leading by at least 13 points in the final period in Belichick’s tenure as head coach. You can’t give Manning three timeouts and over a minute with the ball when all the All-Star needs is one touchdown to win. Jim Caldwell’s team has not lost and now lead the Patriots by three games. Belichick’s morose monotone is always the same, win or lose. This time, he needs to take the heat for putting his team in position to lose. Head coaches are supposed to put their teams in a position to win, but Belichick was unafraid to go for it on fourth down. His decision shows how little he thought of his own defense, and of Manning. The ridiculousness of the call is quite evident. Belichick is perhaps the only NFL coach to get away with it. The Belichick error doesn’t undermine the Patriots coughing up a 14 points lead in four minutes. The dubious decision can be dissected and discussed, however, because the Patriots outplayed the Colts for 56 minutes. Belichick believed Brady would come through, and his Bean town team would run out the clock. Not so. Not in Indianapolis. Not against an undefeated team. Sunday’s disconcerting one point loss will stand as the defining moment of the season for New England. November games are meant to solidify your position in the NFL. Belichick risked the game and made the wrong call. Do the former Superbowl Champions bounce back and move on, or does this interfere with Belichick’s legacy?