Tom Coughlin, the Giants’ coach, made such a stupid coaching decision at the end of today’s game that you have to wonder if he didn’t want the bears to win. More on that below.
As previously discussed, each time the bears are in a must-win game, the refs do everything possible to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Packer, Eagle, and Raider games were all must-win games for the bears, and were blatantly given to the bears by the refs. The calls in today’s game were an effort to do the same.
- Down 7-0, the Giants scored a touchdown on first down, but the refs disallowed it because Lovie Smith had thrown the challenge flag. The only problem was the flag was in the air after the ball was snapped. Can the opposing coach throw his flag and ask for a review to see if the other coach’s flag was thrown in time?!! This was ridiculous, and almost cost the Giants a touchdown (they did score on third down).
- Down 16-7 at the end of the third quarter, the Giants had the ball deep in bear territory (I believe inside the 5). Manning threw a pass to Burress in the endzone. Charles Tillman held Burress’ jersey at the chest for a few seconds to hinder Burress, then broke away and intercepted the pass. Instead of it being first and goal due to the obvious penalty that was in the open field with an excellent chance to pull within 2 points, the bears got the ball and the Giants were still down 2 scores.
Tom Coughlin made no attempt to score in the first half, which is why the Giants only had 7 points. Manning only threw 9 passes in the first half. Yes, the Giants ran well, but as we know, running does not produce points and lets the other team stay in the game. The Giants even ran on third and longs. Jeremy Shockey’s first catch was a dumpoff pass with 10:00 left in the third quarter, and he didn’t have a downfield catch until less than 2:00 to play in the third quarter. Again, this shows no attempt to score. Finally, in the 4th quarter, Coughlin called slants and higher-percentage passes, and the Giants scored two touchdowns. They could have done this all game.
All 16 bear points were the result of turnovers. We’ve discussed how you can’t let the bear defense and special teams beat you and must make the offense beat you, but Coughlin doesn’t seem to understand this.
On the bears’ last drive, on 4th and 15, Coughlin rushed 4 and put no pressure on Grossman, allowing him time to complete a 20-yard pass.
Now, for Coughlin’s crowning moment! With 1:33 left, the Giants, down 2, had a first-and-goal from the bear 2. The bears only had one timeout left. Coughlin should have been thinking that if he scored quickly, he would give the bears a minute-and-a-half to try to win the game and he’d have to kickoff to Hester and risk the runback or kick short or out of bounds and give the bears field position. He would also be putting the game in the hands of his defense, which is extremely risky and frequently backfires in this situation.
The ONLY thing to do is have Manning take a knee, moving the ball to the middle of the field, and forcing the bears to take their last timeout. On second down, he should take a knee again, and the clock would continue to run. On third down, you take a knee again and call timeout with 3 seconds left to kick the winning FG (which is from extra-point distance) on the last play of the game.
Coughlin had complete control of the game, and could have prevented the bears from getting the ball. He could have kicked a very short FG on the last play. Instead, he had his running back score on first down, giving the bears a minute-and-a-half to try to win. It’s possible the bears let the runner score, knowing this was their only chance. The bears nearly scored on their first play, and got the ball inside the Giant 30. It never should have come to this.
1. Jeffrey Wilson on December 3rd, 2007 8:59 am
At the end of the game, I agree that Coughlin pulled the usual “the book says” attitude. I think he should have ran a play to force the bears to use a timeout, but then to try to score the touchdown, and here’s why – he would still have three timeouts, and I’d rather try to get the touchdown with time running out BEFORE settling for the field goal. Taking two or three knees would have depleted their chances, and the bears’ special teams and defense are known for making big plays.
2. Larry on December 3rd, 2007 10:33 am
I did consider taking a knee twice, and then trying to score the touchdown on third down. The reason I did not go with this strategy is that if you do score the touchdown on third down, the bears would have over 30 seconds to try to win, you have to kick to Hester or give them good field position, the Giant running backs were fumbling all day as the bears were stripping the ball, and although the bears have blocked a number of field goals, this would basically have been an extra point (distance-wise). I still feel the odds of making the short field goal and not giving the bears the ball were better. If the Giants did go for the TD, I would have had the running back have two hands protecting the ball. If you go for the TD on second down after making them use their timeout, the bears would have had about 1:20 left, which is a lot of time.