yasoon

ScottyRo actually made a good point, whether preseason or not, this is indicitive of Haz's poor 2 point strategy of the past. He played Thursday's game like a real game and I guarantee that he would have done that in the regular season.

You do not go for 2 in the third quarter unless you're way down. We have done this numerous times in the past and we end up going for (and usually missing) the 2 pointer. And then going for, and missing, the one we have to go for afterward. The end result is 2 free points lost late in a game.

Five points down in the 3rd, if you go for 2 and miss it, an opposing field goal puts you eight down. If you kick, then you just need the TD and the kick to tie.

Going for 2 to make it a 3 point game should only occur at some point with less than half of the 4th to go. If you do it in the third, that one point can quickly get erased as the rest of the game unfolds. Percentage wise, it is a huge risk to do so. The success rate is not as high as you'd think and the Saints are really bad in ALL short yardage situations....we all know that. I bet we've been better at 3rd and 7 over the last five years than we have been at 3rd and 2.

The success rate, league wide, on 2 pointers since it came into play is just a hair over 50%. I would bet that the Saints percentage in the Haz/McCarthy era has been about 30%. Meanwhile, you miss one extra point (which we all remember) over that same time.


It's a risk/reward thing and you gotta take the free point until the game has played out a bit more. Then, when it gets crunch time, you take your shot.