Mike Vrabel Punting Was 'Most Cowardly' of Year
Titans coach Mike Vrabel was lambasted for his decision to punt on fourth-and-2 on the Ravens' 40-yard-line with the Titans trailing 17-13 in the fourth quarter. Nothing encapsulated his confounding decision more than the always-objective "surrender index," which, according to them, determines "how cowardly every NFL punt is, quantitatively."
Here are the numbers.
TEN decided to punt to BAL from the BAL 40 on 4th & 2 with 10:06 remaining in the 4th while losing 13 to 17.
— Surrender Index (@surrender_index) January 10, 2021
With a Surrender Index of 138.87, this punt ranks at the 100th percentile of cowardly punts of the 2020 season, and the 99.92nd percentile of all punts since 2009.
So it's the most "cowardly" punt of 2020 and only 0.08% of punts were more "cowardly" since 2009. Not great Mike!
For further context, Vrabel's decision to punt was historically significant. No coach has ever punted in a similar situation since 1994 when stats were taken on these types of plays.
This is the first time in our database (complete back to 1994) that a team in the playoffs punted on 4th and 2 from this field position, down by one score in the 4th Quarter https://t.co/DNdUZL4fzw https://t.co/LLUp1yMUgt
— ProFootballReference (@pfref) January 10, 2021
A stunningly-bad decision by Vrabel further exemplified by historical stats and "cowardly" percentages. That's not opinion. It's just facts.