One of the great coaches in American sport, perhaps even world sport is taking a severe beating today after a bizarre piece of play-calling cost his team a game on the weekend.

Leading by six points, Bill Belichick of the NFL's New England Patriots opted to go the first down on a fourth-and-two, from his own 28 yard line, with just over two minutes to play against the unbeaten Indianapolis Colts.

The pass from Tom Brady to Kevin Faulk was complete, but the referee ruled it didn't go the required two yards, meaning the Colts - and superstar quarterback Peyton Manning - got the ball back with enough time and not that far to travel, to win the game. As sure as anything, a few plays later, Manning found Reggie Wayne for the touchdown and the 35-34 win, and the millions of Monday morning quarterbacks across the United States and around the world have been hotly second-guessing Belichick since the final whistle.

Convention suggests that the Patriots should have punted on fourth-and-two, and that the Patriot defence (the defensive side of the ball has long been Belichick's hallmark) should have been able to prevent Manning from marching his team the 70 yards or so it would have needed for the score.

Belichick's justification for the risky decision was that he felt his team was good enough to get the two years needed for that first down, after which they pretty much could have run down the clock. Don't forget that his quarterback, Brady, is the other superstar signal-caller of the NFL.

All the Patriots, led by Brady, have fallen in behind their coach post-match. But a couple of recently-retired Patriots, media commentators Rodney Harrison and Teddy Bruschi have been among those calling out Belichick, not just for the call on fourth-and-two but for taking some unnecessary timeouts earlier in the match that prevented him from challenging the ruling by the referee that Faulk's catch had not gone for the two years needed for the first down. TV replays were inconclusive, but the referee may have come down in New England's favour had the call been challenged.

There is lots of glee in the States about Belichick falling on his face. Twitter went into meltdown in the minutes after the game. He is regarded by many as smug, charmless and perpetually grumpy (think of Wayne Bennett and Mick Malthouse at their most irascible) and has been accused of cheating. But with three Superbowl rings in his trophy cabinet, it matters not a fig what people think. And he has made that very clear over the years.

This episode, known now and forever as "fourth and two" overshadowed another intriguing piece of coaching in the NFL this weekend. Trailing 22-21, with less than two minutes to play, Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars was plunging in for the apparent go-ahead touchdown when he stopped and took a knee at the one-yard line against the New York Jets.

The Jags then ran down the clock until there was just enough time for them to kick the winning field goal, which they did for a 24-22 win. Once again, the thinking behind the move was not to score early enough to give the Jets - playing at home - enough time to move down the ground to score another touchdown.

And while the likelihood of the Jags kicking the chip-shot field goal to win the game was considered to be about 98 per cent, a bobbled snap or a freakish defensive play by the Jets could have brought it all undone and made Jags coach Jack Del Rio as much of a goat as Belichick is today.

There was another interesting twist to the play. By not running in for the touchdown, the Jags running back cost fantasy players across the world valuable points. Jones-Drew, who picked himself for his own fantasy team on the weekend, is among the millions cursing their luck.