To score or not to score, to let score or not to let score, that is the question.
With about 1 minute left to play and the ball on the 6-yard line, the Patriots elected to let the Giants'
Ahmad Bradshaw
score the game's final TD to save time on the clock for their own
Patriot offense and to give their quarterback Tom Brady a chance to
launch a closing perhaps game-winning drive, rather than to allow the
Giants to run down the clock and then kick a winning chip-shot field
goal with not enough time left on the clock to sustain a catch-up drive.
The strategy backfired as the Patriots could not move down the field, losing the game.
It
was a remarkable, virtually unwanted touchdown that won the game, as
some of the Giants were yelling at Bradshaw not to score, as he
virtually fell back unwillingly into the end zone for the TD.
The
NFL may have to enact a special penalty rule for that kind of thing, on
either side of the ball, or, what we would recommend, stop the running
of the clock between plays in the last two minutes of the game to put a
stop to games being decided by serendipity clock management instead of
football play.
The safety by penalty on Tom Brady for intentional grounding of
the ball on a long pass play in the Patriots' opening drive should also
be carefully reviewed and the rule changed to not give opposing teams
scored points as gifts. On a pass as long as that play was, a receiver
merely has to change his route due to blockage by the defender and the
quarterback's throw falls quite unintentionally into an unoccupied part
of the field.
We say that as an observer who was rooting for the Giants if only
because we have long-standing ties to the Big Apple and because a
family member went to the same
Waterloo High School in New York State as Tom Coughlin, head coach of the Giants.
The
New York Giants came back from a 17-9 deficit to unexpectedly beat the favored
New England Patriots 21-17 in U.S. National Football League Super Bowl XLVI in an entertaining game otherwise marked by top coaching by Tom Coughlin and
Bill Belichick
and their coaching staffs, top defensive play and great passing by both
Eli Manning and Tom Brady, the latter of whom set a record for most
career Super Bowl yards passing and also completed a record 16
consecutive pass completions, but it was not enough to beat the
well-prepared Giants, whose offensive strategy proved to be the right
one, dominating the clock and keeping Brady off the field.
In spite of the loss, congratulations have to go out to the Patriots'
Danny Woodhead, who scored one TD for the Patriots on a 4-yard pass reception in putting a real topper on his football career.
Take a look at our 2006 posting:
Danny Woodhead : The Best Running Back and Best "Little Guy" in NCAA College Football 2006
This was not the year for the Patriots to win the NFL championship, but there will be others.
Posts
