New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin
First of all, I’d just like to point out that this better be the first and only time I have to talk about this. It’s almost as ridiculous as the cold tub incident the New York Giants had to deal with.
Unless you were living under a rock on Sunday, everyone knows the incident that occurred at the end of the Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. With five seconds left, the Giants had the lead and Eli Manning went to take his victory knee to end the game. Suddenly as his knee hit the ground, the Tampa Bay defensive line rushed the Giants offensive line and knocked Manning right on his rear. Giants head coach Tom Coughlin showed his fury after the game when he met Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano midfield after the game.
So instead of everyone expressing the amazing clutch play of Manning to bring the Giants to yet another fourth quarter comeback victory and throwing 510 yards for three touchdowns and missing Phil Simms’ single game record by three or four yards, the talk has been about the argument after the game between Coughlin and Schiano, and everyone debating who was right or wrong.
There are many ways to go about this debate, but I will tell you all one thing: nobody wins. You can argue that Schiano is right because there was nothing illegal he did and he wanted his team to play hard every second. You can argue that it’s one of those unwritten rules that you just don’t break in the pros.
Of course Giants fans are upset over what happened because of the possibility that some of the players could have gotten seriously injured over a silly attempt to try and knock the ball out with five seconds left in the game, especially after Manning’s knee was down making the play dead. One thing that irks me about these debates is fans all around the NFL saying that Giants fans are being Giants fans and they’re complaining too much. Well…let me ask you this: How would you feel if this happened to your quarterback? The Giants center is David Baas. He’s a big guy. Thankfully he didn’t fall on Manning’s leg and break it. Think about that.
There’s a reason for the victory offense, and you can thank Bob Gibson and Larry Csonka for that.
And I’m sure Schiano would easily be upset if another team tried that against Josh Freeman.
And how typical of the “expert analysis” I’m finding all over the internet: Former and current offensive players say Coughlin is right, and former and current defensive players say Schiano is right.
Like I said, in this debate nobody wins.
Here is my full opinion on the situation just for funsies:
Yes, I believe in playing until the whistle. I was a soccer player. It’s implemented into your brain. Yes, Greg Schiano didn’t technically break any rules. However, it doesn’t necessarily make him right in this situation.
Tom Coughlin is not a hypocrite for getting angry with Schiano. He would only be if he actually tried to rush a victory offense. In the professional level of football, that’s just not something that you do. The opposing team is informed when the offense is taking a victory knee. It’s only out of respect and courtesy. If they didn’t they would continue to try and run up the score and risking turnovers and injuries. When Schiano takes his turn at a victory offense and his quarterback gets rushed, I would love to see his reaction.
There’s no other way to describe it. You just don’t do that.
But that’s my opinion. Not like it matters anyway.
