Daily Options Report

Yes, even the rabid Vikings fan formerly known as Prince was at the game.

So there's an article in the Boston Herald titled Another fourth-down Failure.

If going for it on fourth-and-2 two weeks ago was a slight at the Patriots defense, then what transpired last night in the third quarter might've been more of a slap.

Laying out the situation ... Patriots have the ball at the Saints 10-yard line. Fourth down, 4 yards to go, and 4:12 left in the third quarter. Saints lead 31-17. And Bill Belichick and Co. go for it.

Bottom line: Three points wasn't going to cut it.

The reason why: The defense looked like Prairie View A&M trying to slow down the old Oklahoma wishbone. The result wasn't far behind.

It's funny how in 4 short paragraph's the writer both treats going for the 1st in that spot as the work of a Mad Scientist Who Belitttles His Defense, and then points out that the defense indeed had no answer for the Saints. At about that same time, the announcers joked that the Pats should onside kick if they score the TD.

Look, we'll know that Intelligent Risk Taking in the NFL will become accepted when headlines on a short artile like this are more like "Pats last gasp ends inside the 10" or better still, going on 4th down does not even merit a story to begin with.

I'm beginning to think Belichek actually has his finger on the pulse of the game. The Pats did indeed need to score a TD in that spot. And going for an onsides kick made perfect sense. I have no clue whether NFL defenders actually feel slighted if their coach plays it like this, but I really can't imagine that a bunch of very well paid professionals can't handle it mentally. I mean you could also make a case it lights a fire under them if they're that upset.

But here's exactly where stats meet intuition. The Saints move at will against pretty much everyone, you pretty much have to max out when you have the ball and keep it from them as much as possible. Field position means way less in a game like this. It's akin to a baseball team realizing a sacrifice bunt makes little sense in a high scoring game when the cost of an "out" is relatively high.

Hey, if Belichek gets canned for all this, maybe he will become a trader, I like his risk/reward analysis skill set.