This week on Planning for Success, a weekly video segment presented by Ameriprise Financial, Sporting News NFL insider Ross Tucker looks at Belichick's surprising decision to decline the first possession of overtime after his team's comeback from a 24-point halftime deficit.
"In overtime, rather than take the ball, he took the wind, which made sense because the wind was significant. Now, you look really bad if Peyton Manning marches down and scores a touchdown and you never get the ball. But the wind was significant enough that it probably was a 5-10 yard difference.
"Plus with the new overtime rules, which by the way I'm not a big fan of, you have to score a touchdown on the first [possession.]"
And that has happened, NFL Media research notes, only 15% of the time under the new rules. The resulting 85% chance that the Patriots would get the ball back with a chance to tie or win the game with a field goal (assuming they haven't already won with a defensive score) made Belichick's decision, while counter-intuitive, very smart indeed.
