(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
In Thursday night's loss to the Vikings, the Steelers went for two when down 29-20 in the fourth quarter and ended up failing on the conversion. The Ravens faced the same situation in Sunday's game against the Browns, as they trailed 24-15 in the fourth quarter, and they didn't convert on the two-point attempt.
The Ravens' decision was more costly than the Steelers, however, as the Steelers at least had a chance to tie the Vikings at the end of the game. With it being a two-possession game, the Ravens scored a touchdown to make it 24-22 but had to rely on an onside kick to stay alive, which they ended up recovering. Although, Tyler Huntley wasn't able to drive down the field to set up Justin Tucker for a game-winning field goal.
On the CBS post-game show, Phil Simms and Bill Cowher ripped John Harbaugh's decision to go for two when down nine points in the fourth quarter, along with criticizing analytics.
Phil Simms mentioned that he would like to see the person in charge of analytics be interviewed after the game and asked why they did it. Simms said the response would just be, "Well, analytics told us me to do it." Cowher chimed in, "Paralysis by analysis, we overanalyze things. It's not that hard."
At one point during the segment, Cowher even said, "Don't talk to me about analytics," along with saying "you gotta have a feeling for the game." Simms also said, "Show me why a spreadsheet told you to do it."
After the game, Harbaugh said it was a non-decision to go for two points because at some point they were going to have to win a two-point conversion. By doing it early, he claimed that they had a better idea of where they were at and how many possessions they had left.
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