John Harbaugh offers the best explanation for going for 2 after others disagreed with him – Yahoo Sports

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh didn't care if you criticized him for his decision to go for two on Sunday. He knows it was the right call, and he'll try to explain it to you.

For most of NFL history, the common approach for coaches was to keep a game alive. You'd see plenty of suboptimal decisions made in the name of not practically ending the game, but staying within a possession or two. There are many field goals that have been kicked to pull a game within 14 points in the fourth quarter, when coaches should have gone for it to actually help their chances to win.

That "keep the game going" line of thinking is hard to shake, and that's why Harbaugh had to explain his decision from the Ravens' 24-22 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

Here was the scenario: Late in the game, the Ravens scored to cut the Browns' lead to 24-15. An extra point would have pulled Baltimore within eight points and make it a one-possession game. Until teams started using some forward thinking in recent years, just about every coach would have taken the extra point. Keep the game alive.

Harbaugh went for two.

"Its really a non-decision," Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh explained the thought process as well as anyone could. In the Ravens' scenario, a team needs a successful two-point conversion at some point. Putting it off until later doesn't do any good. Going for two right away lets a team know what it needs the rest of the game.

"You do it at that point in time because youre going to have to win a two-point conversion, so you understand if you get it or dont get it early where youre at going from there, how many possessions you're going to need, and what youre going to have to do," Harbaugh said. "If you wait until the last two-point conversion and you dont get it, the games over. You lost.

"You try it early. If youre in a 7-point game, you know where we stand. We dont get it, youre in a 9-point game and you need two possessions."

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It's hard for many to embrace that thinking because of what happened to the Ravens on Sunday.

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh explained a debatable decision to go for two against the Browns. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Baltimore didn't make the two-point conversion, so it looked like the wrong call. Instead of being down 24-16 with an extra point, the Ravens trailed 24-15 and needed two possessions. For those who think the goal should be to extend the game as long as you can, that's bad.

There are more layers to the decision than Harbaugh's brief explanation. An extra point isn't automatic anymore and that plays into the math (although Harbaugh has Justin Tucker, who is close to automatic). Also, playing to get to overtime is far from a guarantee to win the game. Ben Baldwin of The Athletic explained that last week.

Going for two early and getting it would mean a team trails by seven points. Theoretically that team could go for two again later and try to win in regulation. Harbaugh went for two and the win in a Week 13 loss at Pittsburgh. That was another decision that looked bad because the result was unsuccessful. But, like going for two on Sunday, the decision itself was fine.

When coaches go against conventional wisdom, they get unwarranted criticism. That's why it took nearly 100 years of NFL football before some coaches realized going for it instead of punting on fourth-and-short isn't really a gamble. Harbaugh didn't get the result he or the Ravens desired when he went for two. That doesn't mean it was the wrong decision.

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John Harbaugh offers the best explanation for going for 2 after others disagreed with him - Yahoo Sports