Yesterday, the New York Giants played one of the most inspired games I have seen since 2002, when the new England Patriots came to the Super Bowl as huge underdogs and ended up beating the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, 20-17. Interestingly, there is a good chance the score in this Super Bowl would have ended up being the same - although for which team would have depended muchly upon the OT coin flip that should have happened if Bill Belichick and his offense not made what should go down as one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history.
With the score 7-3 in favor of the Patriots about halfway through the third quarter, New England had a 4th and 13 on the Giants 31-yard line. Instead of calling Stephen Gostkowski in for the 49-yard try, the Pats elected to go for it. This, in a game where Tom Brady had been pressured all day and the passing game was completely out of whack. Even on the occasions where Brady did have lots of time to throw - and he had what seemed like minutes on some plays - he had no rythym at all. The only passes Brady was hitting yesterday were short or intermediates that were closer to the middle. Long passes and sideline throws were errant like those we’ve come to expect from Eli Manning over the years.
In this game, however, Manning was able to take the reins and lead the Giants to the winning score near the end of the fourth quarter, while Brady and company looked on helplessly. The Giants had a ton of breaks go their way, but that happens sometimes, and the Patriots still would have been tied with New York instead of walking off the field dejected at the end of the fourth quarter if they had tried for the field goal - perhaps.
That’s the thing with life and football, right? Hindsight being 20-20, and all. Still, even in the middle of this game, with everything seeming to be going the way of the foe, it was imperative that each team take points when they came available. Gostkowski was six of ten career at making field goals over 40 yards, and 1-1 over 50 going into Super Bowl XLII. I could be wrong, but I’d be willing to bet that a 60% chance at taking three points here was better odds, and a better call, than showing hubris and throwing those probable points away on a long shot against a defense that was having the game of the year against you. You are talking about a defense that even Giselle could not have helped keep Tom Brady up against.
This is not the first time this playoff season that Belichick has made a bad call, but it is only the second time that I can remember all year. Unfortunately, as often happens with bad coaching, it came back and took away the opportunity for New England to salvage an overtime ending to their perfect season. The kind of hubris shown by that play might have been acceptable if the Patriots had seemed like the Patriots we have seen all year. You know, the type of team loved by the football gods? The cocky, self-assured team that kept the pedal to the floor whenever they could?
But this team that took the field against the New York Giants played like another team. A team that deserved to lose. Hey, everyone makes mistakes.
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