I don't know if any of you saw the game between the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos on Sunday afternoon, but it featured one of the better finishes and riskier decisions I've seen in professional football in awhile. Down 38-31 with less than a minute to play in the 4th quarter, Denver scored a touchdown to make it 38-37, and I prepared to strap myself in for a rousing session of overtime. Looking away from the game for a brief moment to field a question from my 4-year old nephew, I turned my attention back to the TV just in time to see the ball flying through the air and into the hands of Broncos wide receiver Eddie Royal.

What happened? Was there a botched snap on the extra point attempt? Was there a fake? Was there a penalty on the previous play, forcing the Broncos to take another shot at the end zone?

No, it wasn't anything like that. Coach Mike Shanahan just elected to go for a straight-up 2-point conversion. No fakes, no tricks--they just lined up for two. And they got it. Rather than deal with the inherent risks of overtime and wanting to prevent 60 Minutes from starting any later than it already was, the Broncos took a preemptive chance at winning outright in regulation. It worked.

I was thrilled to see such blatant disregard for the stiflingly conservative late-game offensive philosophy we typically see in football today. It's just not that often that we see this risky of a play in pro football. It comes up every once in awhile in college, but seemingly never in the NFL. For years I've caught myself wishing pro football offense wasn't so conservative. In pretty much every situation, every scenario, there's something a team can't do, and it drives me nuts. They can't pass because it might get tipped and intercepted. They can't run because it might get fumbled. They can't kick a field goal because it might get blocked. They can't go for it on 4th down because they can't take that chance. They can't go for the win late in the game because they have to go for the tie and then try to win it in overtime. After awhile, you start to catch on to each and every thing a team can't do in a given situation, and the whole thing becomes predictable.

I don't know a lot about football. I'm not a coach, and I'm not a sports journalist, and the extent of my playing time can be traced back to the cold and unforgiving tundra of the playground during 5th grade recess. I'm sure there's a lot of deep-rooted philosophy and strategy and history in each play called during a game that I could never begin to understand. Game-winning formulas have been devised over the years, and these conservative decisions have been implemented in these formulas because they work, so I can hardly blame any coach for using them. However, as a fan, I love seeing a team take a chance every now and then, seeing them pull something out of their hat that's completely atypical of what we're used to seeing, especially when the game is on the line.

Unfortunately, I feel as though we as a nation of football fanatics are at least partially responsible for gradually eliminating a coach's luxury of going against the norm or taking risks in his play-calling. For example, because Coach Shanahan's call worked out, it will be lauded as brilliant and gutsy and the workings of an offensive genius. But, had Coach Shanahan's decision failed, he would have been blasted by the fans, buried by the media (and covered to death, no doubt), doubted by the front office, and his integrity and sanity would fall into question across the nation. And who wants to deal with that kind of pressure, especially when there's a good chance that the play won't work in the first place?

Well, it was nice to see Coach Shanahan take that chance and breathe some much-needed life into the usual NFL end-game offense that is so stiff with concern for losing the football that it's amazing it ever works at all. I'd be more than happy to see teams break out of their respective monotonies and take more risks. Hey, all these teams are going to have to win games eventually, anyway--might as well take care of business in regulation, rather than waiting around for overtime.

On a side note, I understand that the Cardinals were swept by none other than the Pittsburgh Pirates. Good job, guys. I definitely feel that eulogy coming on now.

I also heard Carlos Zambrano pitched a no-hitter for the Cubs. If there's one guy in the league who doesn't need a no-hitter to brag about, it's Carlos Zambrano. He was irritating enough as it was.