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Chiefs Coach Todd Haley Won't Say Much About Fourth Down Calls

Photo source: KC Chiefs
Photo source: KC Chiefs

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley has been making headlines this year because of his decision to go for it on fourth down more often than is usual in the NFL. Haley's certainly bucking some trends by doing that. Some say it's reckless. Others say it's well calculated and coaches should be acting like Haley more often.

As for Haley? He won't stay much of anything about it.

"I really can't [explain the fourth down calls] because I do think from a competitive standpoint there would be enough things [to take into consideration when making the call], but somebody could have an awareness of what was going on at different times, which I just don't feel comfortable talking about."

I'm fine with the idea of going for it more on fourth down. I'm on the side that NFL teams don't go for it enough. That said, I'd like to see some consistency from the Chiefs in this regard. I think you get words like "reckless" thrown around because the Chiefs seem to be randomly picking when to go for it and when to punt it.

"You have to take into account the game and how each side of the ball is playing, what you feel like you're going to be able to do, weather conditions, all those things," Haley told reporters after the game. "I think there's a lot to take into account. You try to make the best decision possible at the time, but also some of the areas that I can't or won't delve into have an effect and there's some moving parts that I don't feel comfortable going into."

I'm not sure how I feel about every single fourth down call but I do like the overall attitude the Chiefs bring that they're often in four down territory. I'm guessing that sense of aggressiveness or urgency is part of the "long-term" reasons Haley gives for making these calls. That's me agreeing with the "long-term" reasons for the fourth down calls.

But the short-term? Some of them just don't make any sense to me. Haley stresses that these are well thought out but it's hard to see that right now. I don't think reckless is the right word is the right word and I don't think "well thought out" is either.

Thoughts on the Chiefs fourth down calls?

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