Down 41-34 late in the game, head coach Greg Schiano instructed his defense to go after the ball when the New York Giants went into the victory formation. This led to Giants' quarterback Eli Manning going down (not injured) and head coach Tom Coughlin yelling biblical scriptures, I'm sure, into Schiano's face when the clock finally read all zeroes.
I have mixed feelings about this, but while I can understand Coughlin's concern, I don't see anything wrong with what Schiano did. The game wasn't over. Crazier things have happened in the game of football before. In baseball, if the New York Yankees were down 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays with two outs, nobody on and an 0-2 count to Derek Jeter, should he just hold the bat and allow the pitcher to toss strike three to end the inevitable loss for his team? Late in a basketball game, should a team trailing by a handful or less just allow the clock to run out without fouling its opponent? In hockey, should... ...ah, who cares about hockey anymore?
It would have been one thing if Schiano instructed his defense to aggressively go after the ball, when Eli Manning was getting set to take a knee, if they were down by two or more scores. It's quite another when the team's within one score. While I can completely understand Coughlin's beef with the move or any head coach in a similar situation, I'd have a bigger beef if I were Schiano and knew that my team didn't give its all on each and every play, from the very start of the game to the end.
I have mixed feelings about this, but while I can understand Coughlin's concern, I don't see anything wrong with what Schiano did. The game wasn't over. Crazier things have happened in the game of football before. In baseball, if the New York Yankees were down 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays with two outs, nobody on and an 0-2 count to Derek Jeter, should he just hold the bat and allow the pitcher to toss strike three to end the inevitable loss for his team? Late in a basketball game, should a team trailing by a handful or less just allow the clock to run out without fouling its opponent? In hockey, should... ...ah, who cares about hockey anymore?
It would have been one thing if Schiano instructed his defense to aggressively go after the ball, when Eli Manning was getting set to take a knee, if they were down by two or more scores. It's quite another when the team's within one score. While I can completely understand Coughlin's beef with the move or any head coach in a similar situation, I'd have a bigger beef if I were Schiano and knew that my team didn't give its all on each and every play, from the very start of the game to the end.
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