How could this pass without comment? Why did St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo and Co. decide to kick a 27-yard field goal with seven seconds left to play?
On the surface of it, with so little time they risked burning the clock on the third down play. Kick it, tie it, send it to overtime, so the thinking doubtlessly went. Clearly, they were willing to risk Jacksonville winning the toss. That showed a lot of faith in the defense, too much. The defense had been on the field for thirty-five minutes through the first four quarters of the game; even worse, the Rams defense was on the field for just almost 13 minutes of the second half. They had been getting railroaded as the game went on, letting Jacksonville go 72 yards in less than three minutes on the drive after Little's TD.
They should have gone for it.
With nine yards to go they could have left Jacksonville guessing. Sometimes you need, you want a win so badly. Teams that can finish drives and stop them can play for OT; winless teams heading into their 16th straight loss as a franchise, cannot play for OT. Spagnuolo et al got too conservative reaching for the win.