Look, there are no guarantees, only probabilities. There is a chance of a bad snap, a muffed hold, a blocked attempt, or even an outright shank by the kicker. But all these possibilities combined still give the kicker a 98-99% chance of success for a kick from what is essentially the extra-point distance.
So, if you're Bill Belichick, and you don't allow the Giants to walk into the end zone unchallenged, you are left with 1 or 2 chances out of a hundred of winning the game.
If you allow your quarterback to get the ball with just under a minute to play and one timeout, you are still in a fairly desperate situation, needing a touchdown to win, but I think it's a lot better than one or two per cent. I don't know what the percentages are for Hall of Fame caliber quarterbacks engineering a touchdown drive under those circumstances, but they would seem to be a lot better than one or two percent. You talk about a botched snap. What about defensive pass interference, which is far more likely? A team could easily pick up 30 or 40 yards like that, with time stopped on the field. Geez, Brady managed to get a Hail Mary all the way into the end zone, with some tall receivers there to outjump the defenders or catch a rebound.
I've been a Giants fan since I was 8 years old (which takes us back to 1956) and I was mortified when Bradshaw scored, instead of milking the clock and trying the field goal with virtually no time left. Nothing that happened in the last 57 seconds did anything to persuade me otherwise.
Sure there are. Bradshaw was guaranteed a touchdown. The Giants were guaranteed a 4-or-more point lead, with less than a minute to go. That's where I would want to be - firmly in the driver's seat - rather than 2 points down and waiting for a chip shot FG with time expiring.
Now, if the score would have been closer and the Pats can tie or win with a FG....then that's a little different. Running the clock out to nothing makes some sense.
OR, if Gronkowski is at something closer to 100%, he's a difference-maker on the Pats offense. Again, I might sit on the ball.
But we've been hashing this out all day. Bradshaw had a second or two to make his decision. The coaches had maybe a handful of seconds more? Tough call to make.
I missed all of the postgame wrapup. Are the talking heads on ESPN, etc etc having as good a debate as this? :-)