HOUSTON — Kyle Shanahan was asked the question in every which way, but really there was no good way to answer.
The Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator, who is set to become the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, faced his share of scrutiny after the Falcons’ 34-28 overtime loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLI. The game marked the biggest collapse in Super Bowl history, as the Falcons squandered a 28-3 lead with 8 minutes, 31 seconds left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter with the Falcons leading 28-20, the Falcons seem to be in prime position to withstand the Patriots’ charge by converting a field goal and pushing the lead to 11. Julio Jones made a breathtaking, tip-toe catch on the sideline to give the Falcons a first-and-10 from the Patriots’ 22-yard line. The Falcons ran the ball with Devonta Freeman on first down for a 1-yard loss. Fellow running back Tevin Coleman was out of the game with an ankle injury.
Then on second-and-11 from the New England 22, Shanahan went with a dropback pass, where Matt Ryan was sacked by Trey Flowers for a 12-yard loss. The Patriots called timeout with 3:50 remaining. Then on third-and-23 from the Patriots’ 35-yard line, a Ryan pass to Mohamed Sanu for 9 yards was negated by holding penalty on tackle Jake Matthews, pushing the Falcons back to third-and-33 from the Patriots’ 45-yard line and pushing them out of field goal range.
So why not a run a little more on second down or even third to kill the clock?
“You always want to run the ball, if you can,” Shanahan said. “You’ve got to look at each situation when you’re given the ball with down and distance. Got a few big plays there in the pass game, missed a couple in the run game. Had a couple guys go down, a running back [Coleman] and a tackle [Ryan Schraeder]. Got behind the chains a little bit. We were trying to score there. Got into field goal range where we would have ended it, but again that sack and that holding call was tough.”
Shanahan was asked again why not run the ball while in field goal range with such little time left in the game.
“I think we did on first down,” Shanahan said, referring to the Freeman play. “I think we lost a yard. You think just run the ball and make your guy kick a 50-yard field goal. You want to try your hardest to give him a great chance to first sure to make it. Thought we could get some yards but ended up getting sacked. It’s really an option after that.”
Patriots 34, Falcons 28 (OT)
The field goal would have been more in the 40-yard range, which would have been right up Pro Bowler Matt Bryant’s alley.
There was another instance earlier in the quarter when Shanahan opted to have Ryan drop back to pass on third-and-1 from his own 36-yard line. The end result was a sack-fumble that the Patriots recovered. Then Tom Brady marched the Patriots on a five-play, 25-yard scoring drive capped by a touchdown pass to Danny Amedola and a two-point conversion.
Again, Shanahan was asked about not running the ball in the quarter and the balance between wanting to stay aggressive and shrewd clock management.
“It’s not really the run-pass ratio that I look at,” Shanahan said. “It’s you stay on the field, and you run your offense. When we went three-and-out two times, which was huge. I think we had second-and-1 on both of those. To not convert on second-and-1 and then third, it was tough. That’s why we let them get back into the game.”
Shanahan, one last time, was asked about the playcalling when the Falcons were in field goal range.
“The thought is to get as many yards as you can,” Shanahan said. “And we were right there on the fringe. It was by no means an easy field goal. From what I remember, we ran in on first-and-10 and lost yards. Got into second-and-11, so we try to get a pass to get us back into a manageable third down, closer to the field goal, and we took a sack.
“Taking a sack ? got us into a third-and-20, so we threw a quick pass trying to get back into field-goal range, which we did. But there was a holding call on the play. And when you get a holding call on third-and-20, it goes back that far. We were way out of field-goal range. We tried our best to get back in but couldn’t get it done.”
Dan Quinn offered his thoughts on the playcalling on the particular sequence after the Jones catch.
“It was a fantastic catch and so my initial thought, we’re getting closer here, but having a chance to go score, we knew how good the other side was, too, so we wanted to go attack at every opportunity,” Quinn said. “So when it didn’t work out, it’s easy to second guess on that.”
