Never take points off the board

It's an old football axiom: you never take points off the board.

There's two minutes left and you're down by two. Your drive stalls at the other guys' 3-yard line. You kick a field goal, but as it sails through, a blitzing defender brushes your kicker. It's a penalty that gives you a first down.

There's too much time left. A one point lead leaves you vulnerable to a field goal. With four downs, there's a good chance you can push it in. If not you can always kick another field goal. You'll be no worse off than you are now, plus you'll take a lot of time off the clock. Seems like a no-brainer, so you accept the penalty.

On first down, your tailback runs smack into your quarterback and the ball ends up on the ground. A defender falls on it. And just like that, next year you're going to be coaching Pop Warner football.

Many of us hate what the Senators have wrought in the way of Health Care Reform. Some of us are convinced we can do lots better if we take this one off the board and come back next year.

Don't bet on it.

Shit like this.

What you see is what you get.

Both football and bad legislation have their cheerleaders...

Now we are behind.

"We" never HAD any points on the board.

Why take the small prize and then give the ball back to other team with two minutes on the clock? Why not show a little confidence in your offense by letting them smash it into the endzone, thus requiring the other team to get a touchdown, and show confidence in your defense by letting them shut the other team down? Why not, you know, be a goddamn COACH and show some LEADERSHIP and make people understand that they're involved in something greater than themselves and by doing the right thing they can make things better for EVERYONE?

Wait, I think my metaphor just broke down.

It was a brave but lonely gesture.

Never say never.

There are plenty of football situations where accepting the penalty so you can score 7 points instead of 3 is a wise decision.

Just depends on too many factors to list here.

A gambling offense may win some games for you, but it won't get you to the playoffs.

There are no coaches that don't "gamble."

If you never took chances your offense would never score.

The Woody Hayes era ended for a reason.

It didn't work.

because Woody Hayes was nuts, but he was right about one thing. It's a game of inches.

Don Corryell was from the same era.

How many current coaches imitate him vs. how many imitate Hayes?

This is an argument you're not going to win.

Because you're wrong.

whose philosophy was mostly 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Air Coryell was a way different approach to the game. If you want to see how well gambling to win works out, look at the NOPers. They're outmanned, so they bet the farm on an all in defensive stand,, and they are going to lose. If the reforms actually work, as I believe they will, the Republicons will wear this loss for a generation. It makes absolutely no difference that we're winning ugly. In the standings, a W is a W, no matter how you got it.

It's indisputable that there are situations where it's the right call in a football game.

Mike Tomlin just tried an outside kick with the lead.

Who ended up winning the game?

Who's to say this piece of legislation does not take points off the board?

They may be wrong, but that remains to be seen. If this legislation fails, all doubts will be removed. And it will be remembered for a long time.