When the Seattle Seahawks lost to the Atlanta Falcons back in September, I lamented Pete Carroll’s decision to both waste a timeout and kick a field goal on 4th and 2 at Atlanta’s 8. The Falcons would score a go-ahead touchdown and Seattle didn’t get any more points after that.
It was one of the many examples we can point to over the years of Pete’s historic tendencies not to be aggressive on 4th down calls when going for it is at least statistically advisable.
Even in Sunday’s win against the New York Giants, Seattle punted on 4th and 5 from the Giants’ 41, as opposed to kicking a long field goal or going for it.