Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in /var/www/wp-content/themes/jnews/class/ContentTag.php on line 86
Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in /var/www/wp-content/themes/jnews/class/ContentTag.php on line 86
Please, football isn’t brain surgery. You block, tackle, run and catch. You get your teams to line up in the right place, and execute their assignments. It is amazing how often coaches in the National Football League make decisions that Pop Warner coaches wouldn’t make.
We saw it back in February at the Super Bowl when Seattle coach Pete Carroll, arguably the best coach in the NFL, decided to pass the ball at the 1-yard line against the Pats, when he had Marshawn Lynch, one of the NFL’s best running backs, in the backfield. Seattle quarterback threw an interception, that sealed a New England Super Bowl title.
Sunday night, New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin, who has won two Super Bowls, made one of the worst coaching decisions I have ever seen.
The Giants led 23-20 with 1:29 left in the game. They had third and one at the Cowboys’ 1. The Cowboys were out of timeouts and were lucky to have even 1:29 left, thanks to an illegal formation penalty on the Giants for lining up improperly, that stopped the clock.
The Giants could have run the ball, and taken 40 seconds off the clock. They could have quarterback sneaked the ball twice, and even if they didn’t score, leave the Cowboys with mere seconds at their own 1 yard-line.
But, they decided to pass the ball. And when Eli Manning couldn’t find an open receiver, he didn’t think to just eat the ball, and run time off the clock. He threw an incomplete pass. Finally, instead of going for it on fourth down, and at worst leaving the Cowboys in terrible field position with no time left, the Giants kicked a field goal, to make it 26-20 with 1:29.
Of course, they kicked off to the Cowboys, who promptly drove 72 yards and scored the winning touchdown with seven seconds left.
“It’s my fault at the end of the game,” Coughlin said. “There is nobody else to blame but me. The decision to throw the ball there on third down was not a good decision. It should have been a run, whether we scored or not.”
What else could he say? It was so freaking obvious. A junior high coach wouldn’t make that decision. So, even though these guys are paid millions, let’s not ever confuse them with brain surgeons…smh.
For more sports talk regarding the African-American community check out Talk 2 Me Sports radio at (www.blogtalkradio.com/talk2mesportsradio)
