Sean McVay was faced with a few tough decisions during Sunday night’s loss to the Detroit Lions. He went for it on fourth-and-5 in the second quarter, a conversion that led to a touchdown one play later. It was the right call and it paid off for the Rams.
In the fourth quarter, however, McVay wasn’t as aggressive when given another difficult fourth-down decision. After an incompletion to Puka Nacua on third-and-14 with 4:20 remaining, the Rams had fourth-and-14 from the Lions’ 44-yard line while trailing by only one point.
It would’ve been a long field goal attempt for Brett Maher, and the chances of converting on fourth-and-14 are very slim. McVay opted to punt despite only having one timeout, putting the game in the hands of his defense against a high-powered Lions offense.
That decision backfired because the Lions picked up two first downs and iced the game, beating the Rams, 24-23. According to the analytics, that punt had a surrender index of 29.05, which ranked in the 99.2 percentile of cowardly punts this season and in the 98th percentile of all punts since 1999.
LAR decided to punt to DET from the DET 44 on 4th & 14 with 4:15 remaining in the 4th while losing 23 to 24.
With a Surrender Index of 29.05, this punt ranks at the 99.2nd percentile of cowardly punts of the 2023 season, and the 98th percentile of all punts since 1999.
— Surrender Index 90 (@surrender_idx90) January 15, 2024
In other words, it was one of the worst punt decisions in 20-plus years.
McVay knew he was taking a chance by giving the ball back to the Lions, but the punt wasn’t very good and didn’t pin the Lions deep enough in their own territory to restrict their play calling and add some extra pressure to the offense.
In hindsight, McVay regrets punting it to Detroit on fourth-and-14.
“Still having a timeout and 4 minutes, the way our defense was playing, we were hoping to get a stop,” McVay said. “Hindsight is 20/20 and certainly regret that decision now.”
With the punt going to the 13-yard line and the Lions returning it 4 yards, the Rams really only gained 27 yards of field position by kicking it away. Had they gone for it on fourth down and not picked it up, the situation wouldn’t have been much different. All the Lions had to do was pick up a couple of first downs to kill the clock, regardless of where they were on the field.
What might’ve been a better option is trying to get some of the yardage back on third-and-14 in order to either set up a more manageable field goal attempt or getting into a situation where converting on fourth down would’ve been easier than fourth-and-14.
As McVay said, hindsight is 20/20 and burning two timeouts earlier in the half really hurt, but punting clearly turned out to be the worst option because the Rams never touched the ball again.
