Final answer:
The coach's decision to consider substituting the quarterback is depicted using economic concepts, specifically marginal thinking and the evaluation of trade-offs.
Step-by-step explanation:
The coach is weighing a slightly increased risk of losing against a slightly decreased risk of injury to the star quarterback. This weighing of trade-offs is an example of marginal thinking, because the star quarterback was in for most of the game, and the coach's decision concerns incremental shifts in probabilities with the game nearly over.
Like the basketball player in the passage who makes a pass without calculating all physical factors, the coach makes a decision based on the economic concept of marginal analysis. Instead of considering all possible outcomes, he focuses on the marginal changes in the risks associated with altering the current situation – the marginal increment or decrement in the risk of losing the game versus the marginal improvement in the health prospects for the starting quarterback.