Posted on Yard Barker, Tuesday, October 7, 2008:
Rarely will I ever comment on an individual game that I'm not a fan of.
But tonight's Monday Night football game was a coaching debacle on so many levels that not commenting would be a crime.
First you have Minnesota coach Brad Childress who decided to kick to Reggie Bush after Bush returned one punt for a td and then a second one for 29 yards.
And had Bush not slipped in the open field, he would have scored.
But that wasn't enough evidence for Childress who kicked to him a third time right in the middle of the god damn field. Not surprisingly, Bush pulled the same move most good punt returners use. Get the flow going one way and then make that quick cut back before they can react and scored his second punt return td.
And then you have Sean Payton, who misused the clock so atrociously at the end of the game that I would honestly consider firing him in the morning.
With 2:59 left in the game, New Orleans had the ball at the Vikings 29 with a first down. If they played it right, they should have been able to run the clock down to 2 minutes and then kick after the stoppage in play.
But after a Deuce McCallister 1 yard gain, there was some confusion on the sidelines and Brees was forced to take a timeout. A timeout the Saints would regret later.
At 2:13, Brees threw a very short incomplete pass to Stecker that took 4 seconds off the clock.
Instead of running Deuce or Reggie Bush for another short gain of 1-3 yards, they took the risk of the clock stopping and an incomplete pass.
Bad decision
On 3rd and long, Brees again threw a short incomplete pass which took the clock down to 2:04.
At this point, even if the field goal try was good for the Saints, Minnesota had plenty of time to get up the field and try to get into field goal range themselves.
Anyways, in strolled Martin Grammatica. A man who takes so long to kick a field goal that you wonder if the snap count needs to be in spanish for him to understand.
Earlier in the game, Grammatica's attempt got blocked and returned for a touchdown. Ron Jaworski commented that it took Martin a full quarter second longer to kick the ball than most field goal kickers.
A 46 yarder was no gimme and Grammatica proved it by hooking his kick.
And now Minnesota only needed about 35-40 yards to win the game.
Even though Minnesota's offense is inept beyond Peterson, the task didn't seem impossible. So Minnesota used the ol "I'll throw up a hail mary and hope my guy gets interfered with trick".
And by God, it worked. The New Orleans defensive back was so out of position that he ended up tackling the receiver.
So now, with 1:18 left, Minnesota was at the 13 yard line waiting for the clock to run down.
And New Orleans, who stupidly wasted a time out on their own drive could do nothing to stop them except use their last two timeouts.
Minnesota wisely ran the ball up the middle 3 times and Longwell trotted in and kicked a 30 yard field goal to win the game.
And this folks, is where NFL coaches fail to be innovative.
I don't know the exact statistics of field goals in the NFL but I can bet you that field goals of 30 yards and less are made more than 95% of the time; regardless of the time on the clock.
The odds of a professional kicker missing a field goal of that length is virtually nil.
So why not take your chances with your offense at that point? Why not just allow the Vikings to score a TD and put your offense on the field to see what would happen.
I can guarantee you that your chances of scoring a TD are much better than a Vikings blocked or missed field goal.
But Payton did nothing.
Let me say that again for coaches who are just not intelligent or creative enough to pull the trigger on some innovation.
If your opponent has a chip shot field goal and there is minimal time left in the game, let them score.
Put your offense on the field and take your chances scoring a touchdown.
I realize the old schoolers will say, "What about the Tony Romo botched snap in the playoffs".
Yes, that was the exception rather than the rule.
I can literally point to dozens of situations where a team scored a touchdown with less than two minutes on the clock but I can only point to a handful of missed field goals from that range.
So Payton sat there as the clock wound down to 16 seconds and the Saints walked away losers.
And while some of the blame falls on Saints players, a majority falls on the head coach.
A losing coach for a losing team.
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