A Week of Bad Decisions

I am starting to think that there is some sort of secret award given to the coach who can make the dumbest decision in a football game. Over the past 2 weeks there have been more questionable calls and bad decisions made than I can ever remember and they culminated tonight with the 97th Grey Cup (the Canadian Football League equivalent of the SuperBowl).

With only seconds left in the game the Saskatchewan Roughriders are leading the Montreal Alouettes 27-25. Montreal is lined up to kick the winning field goal. Kicker Damon Duval lines it up and boots it - wide right and Saskatchewan wins. But wait there are flags everywhere. Too many men on the field. Montreal gets another chance to make the field goal and of course you know what happens next. Duval makes it and Montreal wins the Grey Cup 28-27.

How as a coach do you let this happen? It is the biggest moment of your career and you get called for too many men on the field. That is inexcusable and a public apology to the fans should be given and a resignation should be handed in. I realize that it is a crazy moment and you get excited and caught up in the game but this is basic as basic gets. Just plain awful and a real kick in the nuts for Saskatchewan fans.

Ken Miller (the Roughriders coach) isn't the only moron who blew it this week however as he does have some company.

We turn our attentions now to the NCAA and the USC - UCLA game that took place on Saturday night.

Late in the 4th quarter USC was leading 21-7. In a show of respect USC head coach Pete Carroll told his quarterback to take a knee. He did just that. Then the idiocy began. UCLA head coach

Rick Neuheisel called a timeout in the desperate hope of getting the ball back with 2 seconds left so his team could score 14 points. Carroll didn't appreciate this and decided that instead of taking a knee he was going to go for the jugular. On the next play USC went deep and scored a touchdown to make it 28-7.

Why is this such a bonehead move by Neuheisel? This was the last game of the season and for many senior players on the team the last game of their football careers, and it ended like that. They got blown out and the score run up on them because their coach has a massive ego and couldn't handle losing properly. You don't call timeouts when there is 0 chance of winning the game. You take your loss with class and dignity and try and remember that it isn't a contest between coaches but a game between players. Neuheisel should apologize and resign.

Neuheisel may have acted like a jackass but Tom Williams (the head coach for Yale) acted like a retard.

The annual Harvard-Yale game is a nationally televised event and is pretty much the highlight of Ivy League football. Neither team is very good as compared to the BCS teams but that doesn't make the game any less important. The annual event is referred to as "The Game" and is anticipated as much as Christmas for students and alumni. This years games will be one that is remembered forever, although not for the right reasons.

With just over 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter Yale was faced with a 4th and 22 from their own 25 yard line trying to protect a 10-7 lead. The punt team came onto the field and everything seemed normal. What unfolded next was the biggest clusterfuck "The Game" has ever seen as one of the worst coaching decisions in modern sports was made.

Williams decided that instead of punting and letting his defense protect the lead (they had been playing great all game) he would try a fake run...with his punter no less. Punter Josh Powers took off and had tonnes of open field to work with. He ran for what seemed like forever and was finally brought down after a big gain. A big gain that was 7 yards short of the 1st down.

Turnover on downs. What transpired next? Well I wouldn't have included Williams if Yale had won. Harvard scored a touchdown with the benefit of a short field and went on to win the game 14-10. Rivalry game lost. Players devastated. Fans holding their collective groins after just being kicked in the testicles. A truly sad day to be a Yale grad.

Williams along with Miller and Neuheisel should hand in his resignation and walk away from the team after issuing a very public apology.

Bill Simmons has a theory that every football coach in the NFL and NCAA should have a kid on the sidelines that is an avid Madden player. This would ensure that coaches wouldn't make any stupid calls or decisions because the kids would use their expertise in game and clock management to stop them. If you have played enough Madden you have been involved in every game scenario at least 100 times so you know what to do. These kids would make sure that too many men weren't on the field and that a team didn't fake a punt on 4th and 22 from their own 25 yard line while protecting a 3 point lead late in the 4th quarter.

I know that being a football coach isn't easy and that there is a tonne of pressure on you but that doesn't excuse you from being a moron or an arrogant prick. These coaches need to learn that they are in charge of the team. The players look to them for leadership and if they let their ego get in the way or their inability to count then they have failed their team and their fans.

If you have learned nothing from reading this or chose to skim the whole thing and get to the bottom then at least make sure you take this one point and remember it forever. When it is 4th and 22 from your 25 yard line and you are ahead, PUNT!