I'm looking for someone to explain HOW he lost control of the ball. . . . Someone please explain how he lost control of the ball.
Kinda hard to do without watching a replay at the same time, but when the ball hit the ground while in the receiver's hands, it came loose. It's pretty evident from watching replays, and if you were to watch a recording of the actual broadcast, you can hear the moment when the color commentator (Romo?) realized why the review was taking so long. They broadcasters initially thought they were confirming that the ball had crossed the goal line before the defender touched the receiver. There is a moment where the commentator says, "OOHHH!" Hitting the ground caused the receiver to lose control, which makes it an incomplete pass.
Well...option #3 was far superior to options 1 and 2. The interception happened on third down. If Ben had spiked the ball, the only sane option on fourth down would have been to kick a field goal and tie the game, not run a run or pass play that could easily have resulted in the Steelers not scoring and turning over the ball on downs. Spiking the ball and kicking a field goal was the safe way to go. Trying a pass was not a terrible idea, but they had to run a play that either scored or resulted in an incomplete pass, and the "fake spike" crossing route was a terrible call. According to Ben's story, he was yelling "clock it," but he heard in his helmet speaker that the sideline was telling him not to do so. Rodney Harrison called BS on that explanation, so who knows.
Of course, Derek Carr decided to outdo Ben for "dumb play at the end of the game" honors. Any time the Raiders lose, it's a good thing.
Kicking the field goal and heading to OT seems like a better option in hindsight, doesn't it?
Honestly, I'd say no. There were two basic options: (1) spike the ball and kick a field goal; or (2) run a play and try to score a touchdown and then kick a field goal if it doesn't work. Obviously, the spike and kick option is the
safer option, but that doesn't necessarily make it the
better option, and running a play isn't necessarily a bad option solely because, in this particular instance, it resulted in an interception.
This reminds me of the end of Super Bowl 36. The Patriots got the ball on their own 17 with 1:21 remaining, and I always remember John Madden yelling about how the Patriots should just run out the clock and play for overtime because that was the "safe" thing to do. I remember thinking at the time that it was a stupid idea to leave it up to a coin toss whether the #1 offense in football would have a chance to move the ball 50 yards to set up a game winning field goal.
In the case of yesterday's game, no one would have faulted the Steelers for going with the spike and kick option. However, there was nothing inherently wrong with trying an
intelligent pass play, but the play they ran was designed for failure. The Patriots didn't fall for the "fake spike," and none of the other Pittsburgh receivers ran routes, so the guy who was the intended target was by himself in a sea of Patriots defenders. Whether it was Ben's fault or the coach's fault or some combination of the two is beside the point as far as I'm concerned.