Isn’t football funny? Isn’t it ironic that on the day the two teams who were remembered for an infamous postgame coach’s handshake met in the “rematch” on Sunday Night Football, that another postgame coach’s handshake would steal all of the headlines?
As you probably know by now, on Sunday the New York Giants came back to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 41-34 in a shootout that showed, if nothing else, that neither defense is ready for primeitme. However, it wasn’t Eli Manning’s 510 passing yards that was the story. It was rookie head coach Greg Schiano ordering his team to rush the Giants on the game’s final play with five seconds remaining and the Eli looking to take a knee to run out the clock— a play that Giants coach Tom Coughlin did not appreciate. The two met at midfield seconds later and exchanged some heated words.
Here is a look at the play, along with the fallout of the two coaches.
For reasons I cannot understand, Coughlin, the Giants, many fans and media members have all condemned Greg Schiano for requesting his team to play until the game was officially over.
The last time I checked, 0:05 is not the same as 0:00.
Yet ESPN’s Sportsnation poll showed that fans mostly agreed with Coughlin. Media members such as Tony Kornheiser, Mike Wilbon and all four panelists from yesterday’s Around the Horn (J.A. Adande, Bomani Jones, Tim Cowlishaw and Bob Ryan) all sided with Coughlin and the Giants. While ex-coaches such as Steve Mariucci and Brian Billick were in Coughlin’s corner on the NFL Network, there seemed to be a split on “the worldwide leader” amongst ex-players. Guys like Tim Hasselbeck and Keyshawn Johnson criticized Schiano, however other former players, specifically defensive players like Mike Golic Je’Rod Cherry (ESPN Radio) and Antonio Pierce believe the Bucs did nothing wrong.
Here’s the point: As long as time still remains on the clock, Tampa Bay is perfectly within their right to try to win the game.
Many bogus arguments have surfaced since this game ended such as, “If Tampa wanted to play hard, they should’ve been playing hard during the first 59:55 of the game”, and “Where was all that intensity during the 4th quarter when Eli and the Giants were mounting their comeback?” Other favorites include, “That’s not the way we do things in this league”, and “It’s a matter of etiquette. It’s always been done this way.” And we can’t forget, “What if Eli or one of the offensive linemen got hurt?”, and “That move will only work once out of a million tries!”
All of these reasons are either erroneous or irrelevant, or both. Period.
If you continue to watch the rest of the above video, Ron Jaworski, a former quarterback, stood up for Schiano and referenced the Miracle at the Medowlands.
Sidebar: In the video, the commentator references a game earlier that season where a team tried to run the clock out, but fumbled the ball. That also happened just this past Sunday!
Jaws recounts an Eagles vs. Giants game in New York back in 1978 where his Eagles used the same method Tampa Bay did to the Giants. This tactic forced the Giants to switch up their style of running out the clock, and on 2nd down, a fumble occurred and Herm Edwards was there for the scoop and score.
Wait, did he say Herm Edwards? Yes! That Herm Edwards!
The same Herm Edwards who is most famous for that touchdown and this quote:
Here’s the fun secret about that quote from Herm, it applies for the entire 60 minutes of the game. Not just the first quarter, not the first half, but the ENTIRE GAME…including the final five seconds.
During media availability Monday, Schiano defended his actions and claimed the strategy of knocking the offensive linemen into quarterback in an effort to force a fumble while the opposing team was in the “victory formation” was successful four times in his last five years at Rutgers University. So if his method is tried and true, why shouldn’t he utilize it? Manning was caught off guard and knocked to the ground so suddenly, it’s conceivable that he could’ve fumbled the ball, and if you notice, two Tampa defensive backs were right there to recover it up had he put the ball on the ground. This was a designed play, as evidenced by the way the Buccaneers defense lined up. Did that look like a team that was ready to run out the clock and concede victory?
I don’t care what formation New York was in or how much time was left, that defense looks ready to play.
Given the fact that time still remained on the clock in a one score game and that the defense gave no indication that they were going to let up, it’s wrong to classify this move as bush league. While I do believe there is an etiquette in sports, football being no exception, at what point is etiquette actually allowed to interfere with the outcome of the game?
Think of the average lifespan of a coaching tenure in the NFL these days. In the time it takes the replacement refs to properly execute a booth review, Greg Schaino’s reign as head coach could be over. Ask Schiano’s predecessor Raheem Morris about how fast things can turn in the NFL. Morris went from 3-13, to 10-6 and barely missing the playoffs with an exciting and popular young team, back down to 4-12 and out of a job (That literally happened in three consecutive seasons). This man’s job is to win football games. That is what he does to help his players, his organization, the city of Tampa and it’s how he puts food on the table for his family. If I were Greg Schiano, I would do the same thing because winning is priority #1.
Do you think when Raheem Morris got boxed by Tampa Bay’s ownership, they called him in the office and said, “Raheem, we like you. We think you’re a great person, but we just cannot tolerate the years of poor etiquette anymore. Our season ticket holders won’t stand for it. We want you out of the building by 3 o’clock, and take your crappy etiquette with you.”
Pundits that claim the Bucs were in the wrong because, “this is the way it has always been” are living in a fantasy world. If this is the case, maybe we should all still believe the world is flat. Maybe this country should go back to being a British colony. There should be no replay reviews in sports and clown dancing should still be cool. Sometimes, the old way of doing things is the wrong way of doing things and that is not a good enough reason to expect Tampa to rolll over on the final play.
It is Schanio’s responsibility to win games; it is not his job to “play nice”, appease old sports writers or to worry about potential injuries that could befall the New York Giants. Coughlin was adamant that the Schiano stunt could’ve injured one of his players, particularly Manning. While this is true, the injury risk on this play was elevated for the G-Men only because they weren’t ready to play.
Coughlin should have focused less on what Schiano did and more on making sure his team is ready to play on every snap of every game.
It actually falls under the umbrella of the old boxing adage, “Protect yourself at all times.”
If you think Coughlin’s anger was justified, then you probably feel like the late Arturo Gatti once got a raw deal and Victor Ortiz got hosed. But guess what? Both of those fighters were on the canvas and Floyd Mayweather was left standing over them after clean knockdowns.
Sidebar: If you listen to the commentary after each video, the first thing that is said by boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. after the Gatti knockdown is “You gotta protect yourself at all times.” On the second video, the first thing that can be heard by HBO’s Jim Lampley is “Protect yourself at all times,” followed by, “This isn’t gonna win him any more fans, but IT WAS LEGAL.”
For some reason, Coughlin seems to believe the Buccaneers’ intent was to injure one or some of the Giants players. If it were, Schiano would absolutely be in the wrong, but his team was trying to make a play with time left on the clock. As a rookie coach working the sidelines of his second NFL game, Greg Schiano is attempting to brand his team with an identity that will galvanize that locker room and that town (And you better believe that team will be ready to run through a wall for him after this). Don’t we typically praise coaches for teaching their players to not give up and play through the final whistle?
This man is considered by many to be the greatest winner in the history of American team sports. What do you think he’d say about Schiano and the Bucs?
You never know what can happen at the end of a game. We saw that last year in Kansas City when the San Diego Chargers were ready to take a chip-shot 30-something yard field goal to beat the Chiefs, but Philip Rivers couldn’t handle a snap and the fumble cost the Chargres the win. What about in sports outside of football? Remember when Tracy McGrady scored 10,000 points in 30 seconds to beat the Spurs? Or what about Reggie Miller against the Knicks? It’s a good thing those guys played through the end of the game, Tom Coughlin.
Then there’s the flip side; what do people say when a team doesn’t play hard through the end of the game? Well, we’ve seen that story play out too (see paragraphs two and three). Can you imagine what the narrative would have been had the Bucs miraculously won on Sunday? The discussion wouldn’t surround ethics, it would be all about how Tampa Bay had no quit in them, and how Eli and the Giants should have had their collective head in the game on the last play.
Anybody who thinks differently is lying to themselves.
For so many people to stand back and chastise Schiano, (while also disrespecting his road to the NFL and his knowledge of the game by saying things like, “Well, this is the NFL, this ain’t Rutgers”) for doing something we’ve all been taught since Pop Warner, it makes you wonder where the criticism stems from. If this weren’t Eli Manning, a quarterback from football royalty that is one of the league’s leading pitchmen and holds two Super Bowl MVPs, Tom Coughlin, one of the oldest coaches in the NFL who also has won two Super Bowls, and the New York Giants, the defending champions from The Big Apple, would this be as big of an issue?
Whatever the case, you will never hear me criticize a player or a coach for playing through the end of the game. I never would’ve expected so much whining from a team built on toughness like the Giants, over an issue that was not a James Butler situation. This is a young coach trying to do something that every single sports fan across the world would want their team to do with time on the clock and the outcome still in doubt…win the game.
Tampa Bay didn’t win the game on Sunday, but Schiano’s tactic may have allowed him to win something much more valuable— his team’s respect.