Lions’ Dan Campbell Reacts to Giants’ Polarizing 4th-Down Decision After Week 12
In his second game as New York Giants interim head coach, Mike Kafta faced a critical decision with 2:59 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Giants faced a fourth-and-six from the 6-yard line against Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions.
Kafta elected to go for the touchdown. Giants quarterback Jameis Winston threw an incomplete pass intended for tight end Theo Johnson.
The Lions faced a long field, but after the stop, they needed just a field goal to tie. Detroit’s offense delivered and then scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime to knock off the Giants 34-27.
During his postgame press conference Sunday, Campbell seemed to indirectly defend Kafta’s decision and present an argument for why going on fourth-and-goal from the 6 was the wrong choice.
“We couldn’t give up a touchdown, you know, for sure. As long as we could keep in within one score, you’re good to go,” Campbell said in response to the Giants foregoing the field goal attempt. “But yeah, I’ll take anything that I can get.
“Any fourth down stop, I’m going to feel good. You’re going to feel relieved and feel better. Because certainly, you don’t have to go the distance anymore.
“You’re trying to, to win the game, but you’re just trying to get in position where you can at least tie it and finish it in overtime.”
Social Media Reacts to Giants Fourth-Down Decision
The analytics probably suggest to go on fourth down as the Giants did. But some social media users strongly disagreed with the decision.
“The Giants might have just blew this game by not kicking the field goal …,” wrote a fan on X.
“The Giants should have kicked the field goal,” wrote another social media user. “Mike Kafta has botched those last few plays.
“Make the Lions score a TD without their timeouts.”
Several social media users suggested New York’s poor record played a role in the aggressive fourth down decision.
“Giants clearly tanking,” wrote on fan. “You don’t go for it on fourth down there if you want to win.”
“I want an investigation into why the Giants didn’t kick the field goal in the 20 up by 3 with 2-mins left,” wrote an Eagles fan.
“The Giants are so unserious,” wrote yet another social media user. “Why not kick a field goal and make the Lions score a touchdown to beat you.”
As Campbell indicated, the Lions were going to feel good about forcing the Giants into a field goal attempt too. But as Campbell also implied, needing a touchdown is a lot more difficult than being in a situation where a field goal forces overtime.
Perhaps, though, it would have made more sense to go on fourth down if the Giants were just a couple yards from the end zone. A fourth-down try from the 6-yard line isn’t going to have a high success rate.
Dan Campbell, Lions Escape Giants in Week 12
The Lions took advantage of the fourth-down stop. Their offense drove 53 yards in 2:26 to kick the game-tying field goal.
Then in overtime, running back Jahmyr Gibbs continued to shine. He ran for a 69-yard touchdown to give the Lions their first lead of the day.
Gibbs rushed for 219 yards and two touchdowns, averaging an incredible 14.6 yards per attempt. Gibbs also caught 11 passes for 45 yards and another score.
Maybe the Lions win in regulation if they had to score a touchdown while down six. But it’s clear Kafta’s decision, and Detroit fourth-down defense played a significant role in the Lions comeback.
AJ Brown’s Absence Should Unleash Eagles’ Saquon Barkley
The Philadelphia Eagles are preparing for their second matchup against the New York Giants in three weeks.
New York was able to pull off the upset in Week 6, but the Eagles took a step back in the right direction in Week 7 and now will welcome one of its biggest rivals to Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday afternoon. The biggest news of the week was the Eagles losing AJ Brown for the matchup due to a hamstring injury.
While this is the case, the Eagles' offense should still be able to get the ball moving and it should start with Saquon Barkley. If there ever was a time for Barkley to get it going, it would be on Sunday. Last year, much was made about Barkley coming over to Philadelphia after spending the beginning of his career with the Giants. That's not as big of a talking point this year, but Sunday actually will be the first time he faces his old team as a member of the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
Week 8 should be Saquon Barkley's day to shine
The Eagles obviously faced the Giants twice last year, but Barkley and the starters were rested for the Week 18 matchup at home. On the road, Barkley was brilliant against his old team finishing the matchup with 176 rushing yards on 17 carries to go along with a touchdown.
This season hasn't gone as planned for Barkley. He has 369 total rushing yards in seven games to go along with three rushing touchdowns. In comparison, Barkley had 326 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the three games that Brown missed early on last year from Week 2 through Week 4. He averaged 6.7 yards per rush with Brown out, in comparison to 3.3 rushes per attempt this year.
With Brown set to miss Week 8, the Eagles need to turn to the running game more. Barkley had 18 carries for 44 yards last week, 12 rushes for 58 yards the week before against the Giants, and six carries for 30 yards against the Denver Broncos.
Although it's unfortunate that Brown is out, Barkley had success when he was out last year and there's some added theatrics to the matchup as it's Barkley's first matchup at home against the Giants as a member of the Eagles and Philadelphia is looking for revenge. With that being said, if there was a time to think Barkley could breakout, it would be this week.
