Tom Brady Discusses Dan Campbell's Questionable Decisions in Lions' NFC Championship
There is nobody in NFL history who knows how to get to a Super Bowl better than former Buccaneers' quarterback Tom Brady. Well maybe his former head coach with the New England Patriots Bill Belichick as well, but for Brady he will go down as the best quarterback to ever play the game and without him the success of Belichick may never have been realized.
The greatest quarterback to ever play the game, who knows a thing or two about what it takes to win, discussed Detroit Lions' head coach Dan Campbell's questionable decisions during the Lions' NFC Championship loss to the San Francisco 49ers on the most recent episode of his "Let's Go!" podcast.
"They've been aggressive all year," Brady said. "You know obviously, when you're aggressive and it doesn't work, it comes back to bite you. It came back to bite them yesterday. Again, I would've taken the points.
"I've been in those situations. I look at them and say, okay, this is the opportunity to continue to keep the pressure on the 49ers to make great plays and you're in a great position."
Obviously, Brady is speaking on the fact that Campbell went for it twice on fourth down in 49ers' territory in the hopes of ultimately ending with a touchdown to put the game further out of reach. Both fourth-down opportunities were denied by the 49ers' defense and left six points on the field for the Lions as they turned the ball over.
The 49ers stormed back and eventually won the game by just three points... meaning if Campbell would have taken the three points in both those instances it is likely Detroit would be headed to the Super Bowl rather than San Fran.
Campbell has stuck to his guns of going for it on fourth down all season and they had been pretty good at converting in those situations. That wasn't the case in perhaps the biggest game in Detroit Lions' history.
Detroit tried to make a last-ditch effort to try and salvage their chances of winning the game when the Lions' made another questionable call at the goal line. They ran it on third and goal rather than throwing the ball to retain all three of their timeouts with just a couple of minutes remaining in the game. The 49ers dropped the runner short of the goal line and Detroit had to use one of their timeouts, ultimately decreasing the odds of them being able to pull off the upset.
"The handoff there late in the game, that was the one I didn't understand," Brady said. "Unless you saw some incredible look to walk the ball in, you just can't take the chance that you're gonna be stopped short and keep the clock running. You just can't get the ball back. So that was the one I just said, 'I don't know what they're doing.' I thought it was just a flat-out error."
It is a hard pill to swallow for Detroit fans as they still have yet to make it to a Super Bowl. They will look to retain the core of what got them to this point this year in the offseason in the hopes of once again having the opportunity to make it to the Super Bowl. Hopefully, this time, Campbell and the Lions understand the magnitude of the moment and go with the points rather than just sticking to their guns.
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