Seahawks dumb fake field goal cost them a win, plus 6 more terrible coaching moves from Week 11

The Seattle Seahawks trailed the Atlanta Falcons for most of Monday night’s game, but they had a shot to get some points at the end of the first half. Blair Walsh lined up for a field-goal attempt to make it a 24-20 game at halftime, and... Pete Carroll called a fake instead:

Keep in mind that there were seven seconds left and Seattle had a timeout. Even if the Seahawks converted the fourth down, they’d have to use that timeout and kick a field goal anyway. There was zero upside to this fake and it’s a baffling choice by Carroll, taking three points off the board.

“That would have been a really good call if we made it,” Carroll said after the game. “We saw what we wanted to do. Terrific opportunity, right where we wanted it. Defensive tackle made the better play ... he wasn’t supposed to be there.”

Those three points wound up being pretty important when the Seahawks lost by a score of 34-31. You know, a three-point game.

The only thing worse than the execution of the play was the rationale behind it.

Later in the fourth quarter, Carroll threw a bad challenge on an obvious Doug Baldwin drop, leaving him with just one timeout and his team trailing by one possession. Thanks to those miscues, the Falcons were able to bleed the clock and escape Seattle with the win. At 6-4, they now own an important head-to-head tiebreaker over the Seahawks (also 6-4).

It feels like a million years ago, but at one point the Buffalo Bills were 5-2 and Sean McDermott was a Coach of the Year contender. Despite some strange-looking personnel decisions (like trading away Sammy Watkins during the preseason), the Bills were in good shape to finally end their 17-year playoff drought.

Then it all fell apart from there. Buffalo made another questionable trade, sending defensive tackle Marcell Dareus to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The run defense immediately collapsed as the Bills lost two straight games. After a 47-10 humiliation by the New Orleans Saints in Week 10, McDermott made his strangest decision yet — benching quarterback Tyrod Taylor for fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman.

The result was even more disastrous than anyone could’ve anticipated. Peterman threw five interceptions in the first half alone, torpedoing any shot the Bills had at staying competitive. The Los Angeles Chargers got a 40-17 lead at halftime and strolled to the 54-24 win. McDermott waved the white flag and put Taylor back in for the second half, with everyone involved well and truly embarrassed.

Plenty of other smart people have already hit the relevant talking points here, so rather than repeat them, I’ll refer you to Adam Stites’ excellent breakdown of the whole situation:

What’s worse is that the self-destruction against the Chargers came when the Bills had a tenuous grasp on the second wild card spot in the AFC. Now at 5-5, Buffalo is on the wrong side of a tiebreaker with the Baltimore Ravens and on the outside looking in.

Benching Taylor reeked of panic when the decision was made, and it looks even worse now.

“I don’t regret my decision,” head coach Sean McDermott said after the game. “I regret the result ... This is in part about winning now and in part about winning in the future.”

The Bills have to go back to Taylor now, especially after McDermott’s foolish gamble cost them a winnable game against the Chargers. With their playoff hopes suddenly hanging by a thread, it’s hard to take him seriously now that he’s spending another week waffling about his starting quarterback.

It’s not often you see first-year coaches tank their credibility this fast, but McDermott lost the benefit of the doubt from here on out. He easily made the biggest coaching mistake of Week 12, and it’s not close.

Of course, McDermott wasn’t the only coach to make major mistakes in Week 12, so let’s go down the list.

Against all odds, the Arizona Cardinals were competitive with Blaine Gabbert, but one mistake in the fourth quarter proved fatal. Facing fourth-and-1 at his own 34-yard line, with a 24-21 deficit, Arians decided to go for it despite the poor field position. Adrian Peterson got stuffed at the line and the Houston Texans scored a touchdown on the next play, icing the game.

Arians knew full well that he goofed, given his comments after the game. “It’s very simple: I cost our team the game ... You deserve to lose, especially when you make the decision I made and the play I called,” said Arians, via PFT.

The Cardinals are now 4-6 and showing little signs of life without Carson Palmer and David Johnson. With the Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Rams, and Tennessee Titans next up on the schedule, they can probably start making January golfing plans.

You knew McAdoo would show up in this column again.

Somehow, the New York Giants managed an overtime win over the Kansas City Chiefs, but it could’ve been won in regulation if not for this horrific trick play from Shane Vereen, leaving the Giants without any points on a red-zone drive:

The good news for Vereen is that he wasn’t even the worst quarterback that day.

There were a lot of strange challenge decisions in Week 11, and Harry Lyles Jr. did a good job covering the most notable ones, so here’s a quick rundown.