Not short on criticism

While Patriots coach Bill Belichick hunkered down in his office, back to work after one of the most debated decisions of his illustrious career, criticism rained down. For the first time since he was a beleaguered coach of the hapless Browns, Belichick was hit from all sides for going for it Sunday night on fourth-and-2 from the Patriots 28-yard line with 2:08 left and a six-point lead. The decision was the key play in the 35-34 loss to the Colts in Indianapolis. Ex-players such as Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison ridiculed the call and the message it sent. Local and national pundits pounced, lambasting the call on all mediums. In Belichick's day-after news conference yesterday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, 23-of-27 questions were about the call. What was the reaction to the public flogging for the coach with three Super Bowl rings? ``I don't think I am up on all the commentary,'' Belichick said. ``Everybody's entitled to their opinion out there. I respect that.'' Few have been complimentary. In the end, Belichick said calling for the fourth-down pass, one on which Kevin Faulk was stopped inches short to hand the ball back to Peyton Manning and the Colts, was the ``best chance to win.'' ``I thought we needed to make that one play and then we could basically run out the clock,'' he said again yesterday. ``We weren't able to make it.'' Belichick took responsibility for using his final two timeouts during the sequence, a situation that left him unable to challenge the spot of Faulk's catch. Asked if he could take back the call, Belichick said, ``You only get one chance.'' It wasn't pretty all day. Check out a sample of the reaction: CBSSports.com's Pete Prisco named the play ``Fourth-and-Jackass.'' NFL.com's Vic Carucci called it ``one of the all-time goofiest decisions an NFL coach can make.'' Sports Illustrated's Peter King said it ``smacked of I'm-smarter-than-they-are hubris'' and compared it to ex-Red Sox manager Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in a little too long in the 2003 ALCS. Harrison, now an NBC analyst, said, ``This was the worst coaching decision I have ever seen Bill Belichick make.'' Bruschi, who retired before the season, wrote in an article for ESPN.com that ``The decision to go for it would be enough to make my blood boil for weeks. Bill Belichick sent a message to his defense.'' Bruschi believed Belichick did not give enough respect to the defense, though the unit did allow Manning's offense to cruise down the field and score on two 79-yard drives in the fourth quarter that took 2:04 and 1:49, respectively. Asked if his defense would feel slighted, Belichick said, ``You would have to ask them.'' No players questioned the call, and cornerback Leigh Bodden said it showed confidence that the `D' could stop the Colts with a short field. There were a few Belichick supporters. A statistics-based Web site called ``Advanced NFL Stats'' calculated that, based on the past, the Pats had a 81 percent chance of winning going for it, compared with a 79 percent chance of winning if they punted. The Patriots were 3-of-4 going for it on fourth-and-2 during the past two seasons, compared with an NFL average of 55.7 percent. According to the ZEUS computer program, based on the offenses and defenses of the Patriots and Colts, Belichick's team had a 77.3 percent chance of winning going for it, compared with just 75.7 percent punting. The information was posted on the New York Times Web site. Former players such as Cris Carter and Deion Sanders supported the call, while coaches such as Mike Martz and Mike Ditka said they understood the decision, even if they wouldn't necessarily make it. Yet it is Belichick in the line of fire. He might be again today, too. His message to the team? ``We will start getting ready for the Jets,'' he said. ``That's what we do every week. We turn the page and move on.'' - irapoport@bostonherald.com