Exceptions to the Rules..?.. Part 1

Life is not perfect. Rules are made to be broken. The Rules For Winning in the NFL were posted on July 4th 2007. They cover a wide array of football decision-making, so it is not an easy task of assigning grades/performance. Yesterday we had some good comments that indicated some exceptions, but are the exceptions really EXCEPTIONS? I contend that the exceptions actually bolster even more evidence that the Rules continue to work.

As an example, it has been suggested that Rule 8 (being unpredictable) and Rule 21 (getting quality wins of 11+ points) were not used by the Giants and thus disproves and provides exceptions to the idea that a championship needs those elements. It is very clear that Coughlin (and through his mediocre assistant, Gilbride) used a very straightforward offensive approach, which on the surface supports this contention. My rebuttal is that the Giants offense was HELD BACK by Gilbride/Coughlin (specifically in Dallas) or else we would not be sitting here looking back and comfortably indicating the exception.

EVERYONE WHO HAS ENOUGH SELF-RESPECT AND RESPECT FOR THE GIANTS RUN will freely admit that we needed a whole lot of things to go right to squeak out wins of 4 (last defensive drive stop), 3 (OT) and 3 points (last drive) in the last 3 games. It did not have to be that close.

AT TB:
This was a quality win. Technically it is not (since the final was by 10, not 11), but when you are up by 10 and put the dagger in them with a long sustained drive to go up by 17, that is the definition of letting your offense win the game for you.

AT DALLAS:
1) Patrick Crayton’s dropped ball (..if caught he is still running)
2) Patrick Crayton cuts off his route in the penultimate play or else Romo’s ‘overthrown’ ball is a TD.
3) Romo’s overthrown ball to a wide open TO in the red zone.
4) Gilbride’s decision to use Bradshaw so much less than his effectiveness warranted (even Aikman and Buck wondered aloud about that one)
5) Shutting down the offense with 9:27 left

The Giants held on but violated too many rules. When you play with fire you get burned. The Giants were the better team but they gave the Cowboys opportunities. How about the personal foul on Davis for diving on Strahan- a drive killer. Point is that if the Cowboys executed just slightly better we are bemoaning the violation of Rule 17, 18 and 21.

AT GREEN BAY:
1) Tons of points left on the field

The Giants offense was not conservative in the GB game. They played to win and could have chalked up a ‘quality’ win in so many ways but the team shot themselves in the foot too many times. Imo, that game does not refute the rules at all. The final score of this game could have easily been as much as ~37-16 Giants.

PATRIOTS SUPER BOWL:
1) 4th and 1 on the final drive
2) Why all the running between the tackles?

The Giants shot themselves in the foot in the first half, consistently driving on the Patriots and coming up with very little. This was simply a hard fought game. And when you play an 18-0 Tom Brady team the way our defense played them, it just shows that Defense Wins Championships.