Actually, they were probably better off going for just the one point on both of those occasions. In a game of that magnitude, you never really want to risk taking points away from yourself.
Would it have changed the game? Who knows, as the final score was 32-29, but it just goes to show the inexperience of the coach for Carolina.
And that kickoff that went out of bounds after Carolina had tied it, oh my. You couldn't even see where the ball landed on TV, that's how bad it was.
I was impressed with Delhomme's performance, especially considering that.
#1) Carolina is not a passing team by any stretch of the imagination. They are built around running the football.
#2) Once New England had proved that they could stop Carolina from running the ball, and daring Delhomme to throw, he was able to come through.
The thing is though, you can't give Tom Brady 1:00 left on the clock, with three time outs remaining, and excellent starting field position (40 yard line). You saw what happened next.
The scary thing is, New England, in this upcoming draft in April, have (2) 1st round, (2) 2nd round, (1) 3rd round, and (2) 4th round draft picks through trades that they had made. They'll just keep re-loading.