One more defensive stop and we win the game too. I get what you are saying but the team put up 32 points. That should be enough to win any football game unless your defense gives up 33.
You're absolutely right. One more stop was all it would take. They did give up a lot of points, but it wasn't above the average that the Falcons were scoring all year. I've always reserved part of my judgment to relate to how well the Packers did against the opposition in comparison to what the opposition normally does, in other games.
Many years ago, I was coaching a team that quite honestly wasn't that great, even though we were in the hunt for a championship. We'd been winning games simply because our kids outplayed the opposition, not because of our coaching job, or us having more talent. Our team was disciplined.
It came down to one game for the championship. Our team and the other team were both unbeaten. They won games playing defense, with not much offense. A couple of TDs was enough for them to win all year long. The competition was averaging about 6 points a game against them. We came into the game averaging over 35 per game, but were giving up at least two TDs per game. In fact, we gave up 32 in one game, and still won.
We practiced defense the entire week. All except for the first and last days of practice. On those days, we added an additional 30 minutes teaching the kids two plays, with variations off them. Daffy Duck, and Donald Duck. It was complete offsets of the lines to one side or the other, and all we had was an end, center, and QB, on one side. We used each of the two variations twice, and scored four TDs, and won the game 27 to 21. Their coach was livid, saying we cheated, and that what we did was against the rules. It wasn't. In fact, because it was such a change from the normal, I showed the officials the plays in diagrams, and showed them in the rule books where it was legal, just to insure they didn't blow a whistle when it shouldn't have been blown.
The point is, we out-schemed a team that was much better than we were, and beat them. When we scored all four TDs in the 4th quarter, after they were ahead 21-0, and already celebrating, it was easier, because they lost sight of their goal. When it was over, their HC wouldn't even shake hands with us. Every time we ran the plays, we scored a TD. The shortest was 23 yards. Sometimes you just have to go out of your comfort zone to find what works.
