Osaka
I've got crooked referee skill!
Offline
That would be utterly dumb to do. There is no guarantee you score a touchdown from 2-3 yards away with the game on the line and only three downs to do it.
One run stuff up the middle and one incomplete pass on a fade route, and suddenly you're staring at 4th and goal, with the game on the line.
You take the points any time you can get them in that scenario.
I was thinking the same thing... this was a spot where teams almost always let you score on purpose. It comes back to the "Do you trust the defense to stop them?" point.
But wouldn't it have been funny if we just have Brees run a bootleg to the edge of the end zone, and the SD players all pulled up to let him score, but then he stops at the one half yard line and stands there...