The Last Second
Posted: February 4th, 2008 | Filed under: Baseball | 40 Comments »
I was thinking that since New England football coach Bill Belichick missed the final second of Super Bowl XLII, since he had already stormed off the field* in what we back in high school might have described as a “hissy fit,” he might want a quick recap. Here’s what happened. The center snapped the ball to Eli Manning. He kneeled down. The clock ran out. The New York Giants hugged each other in a fog of confetti. And the New England Patriots who only 20 minutes before were more or less being acknowledged as the greatest team in the history of professional football, were relegated to the Mike Tyson historical scrap heap of “yeah, they were pretty good until someone punched them in the mouth.”
*I don’t know how you felt, but I thought it was pretty low rent for Belichick to run off the field with one second left. Hey, I appreciate he was ticked off, and of course it was pretty pointless to run that final play. But come on. You’ve won three Super Bowls as a head coach, your team just got beat fair and square, and you know the damn rules better than anyone. Show a little class. This isn’t a family ping pong tournament. This is the Super Bowl. Stick around to the end.
It was a stunning game — stunning in every way I can use that word. True, I thought the Patriots were going to blister the Giants, destroy them, pulverize them. But I was prepared to be wrong. I’m often wrong. I was prepared to see a close game. I was prepared to see the Giants defense hit Tom Brady. I was prepared to see the Giants move the ball. I was even, somewhat prepared for an upset.
I wasn’t prepared for any of this, though. I wasn’t prepared to see Tom Brady shrivel up and miss open receivers and do the “please don’t hit me anymore” dance in the pocket.* I wasn’t prepared to see a Giants team coached by Tom Coughlin out-scheme and out-prepare Belichick. I wasn’t prepared for the way the Patriots offensive line crumbled like a Hydrox cookie when you sit on it. More than anything, I was not prepared to watch Eli Manning drive the Giants 83 yards in the last two minutes to win the Super Bowl. Stunning. That’s all I can say.
*I’ve mentioned before, I think, that my one big complaint about announcers is when they go ahead and say something they obviously prepared earlier even when every shred of visual evidence in front of them totally contradicts it. This happened Sunday late in the game when Troy Aikman — who I thought had a strong game — was talking about Tom Brady. I was only half listening because deadline was approaching, but he basically said that he was amazed how Brady managed to stay calm even in the middle of all this Super Bowl madness. Aikman is better than that. I mean, yes, it’s true that Brady wasn’t running naked through the stadium shouting “Hoola Boola Hoola Boola!” But he was panicking. He missed a WIDE OPEN Randy Moss in the end zone exactly one play before that. He missed receivers all night. He was ducking away from shadows. This is not to take anything away from the guy — he’s a great player, and he has been a very clutch quarterback. And he did have the one drive at the end. But all in all on this Sunday, he was hardly calm and collected under pressure.
* * *
There was this moment before the game that I thought was sort of interesting. I like collecting moments before games — I’ll see a guy make 15 three-pointers in a row in warm-ups or a someone hit five or six homers in batting practice or something like that. I must tell you that these things ALMOST NEVER play out in the game. Before this game though — and I think they showed it on TV — Brady was warming up, throwing passes, when Eli jogged by and, I guess, kind of patted Brady on the back and shouted “Good luck.” Brady just stared at him in sort of an odd way. I mean it was really strange — he just kept staring at Eli in a sort of dazed, stalker sort of way. Obviously, you can’t take much from a little moment like that, but at that moment I did think (if only for a second) “Wow, Eli looks pretty loose and Brady looks tighter than the pants Mary Ann would wear on Gilligan’s Island*.”
*Pitcher: So it’s an ensemble cast.
Producer: Got it. Ensemble. How many.
Pitcher: Seven.
Producer: Sounds like a lot. We’ll be able to tell them apart?
Pitcher: Not a problem. They’re all lost on a deserted island.
Producer: How’d they get there?
Pitcher: They were on a three-hour tour.
Producer: How’s that?
Pitcher: A three-hour tour.
Producer: Can you get lost on a deserted island an hour and a half from shore?
Pitcher: Well, the weather started getting rough.
Producer: Got it. Who is on the cruise?
Pitcher: We’ve got a famous movie actress. Ginger.
Producer: I like it. Ginger.
Pitcher: We’ll dress her up in all sorts of outfits. People will love her.
Producer: Why would Ginger have brought different outfits on a three-hour tour?
Pitcher: Let writers handle it. We also have the richest couple in the world.
Producer: Richest couple in the world? They don’t have their own boat?
Pitcher: No.
Producer: OK.
Pitcher: They’re eccentric.
Producer: OK. They brought clothes on the tour too?
Pitcher: Yeah. Twenty suitcases.
Producer: They brought 20 suitcases on a three-hour tour?
Pitcher: Right. Then we have a farm girl from Kansas.
Producer: A farm girl from Kansas?
Pitcher: Could be Nebraska. But I’m thinking Kansas.
Producer: A farm girl from Kansas is on the tour with the richest couple in the world and the famous movie actress.
Pitcher: Yes. Mary Ann.
Producer: Is this a big boat?
Pitcher: No. Small boat. Piloted by two old Navy buddies.
Producer: How did the Kansas farm girl get on this boat?
Pitcher: She saved up all her life, maybe.
Producer: OK.
Pitcher: She’s wholesome. Sweet. Got Miss Nevada to play her.
Producer: Miss Nevada?
Pitcher: Right. We almost got Raquel Welch.
Producer: She’s from Kansas?
Pitcher: Maybe Iowa. Won’t matter. Put her in shorts. Tight pants.
Producer: Got it.
Pitcher: Guys will be arguing for years about whether they like Ginger or Mary Ann.
Producer: I apologize. I’m stuck on this. So she’s bringing a change of clothes too?
Pitcher: Right.
Producer: Why don’t we just make this a three-day tour?
Pitcher: Doesn’t work with the song.
Producer: There’s a song?
Pitcher: One more character. The Professor.
Producer: He’s a professor of what?
Pitcher: Well, he’s just really smart. Let’s say the smartest man in the world.
Producer: if he’s so smart why did he go on a three-hour tour with bad weather approaching?
Pitcher: Not that kind of smart. Inventor smart.
Producer: What does invent?
Pitcher: He can do wonders with coconuts.
Producer: Who’s the star?
Pitcher: Got Bob Denver.
Producer: From Dobie Gillis?
Pitcher: Right. He plays Gilligan. You know the type. Loveable numbskull who screws everything up.
Producer: Same role he played on Dobie Gillis.
Pitcher: Right.
Producer: OK. He’s the sidekick?
Pitcher: Right. To the Skipper. They sleep in the same hut.
Producer: Same hut? What about Ginger and Mary Ann?
Pitcher: They sleep in the same hut too.
Producer: I’m seeing it now. What’s the plot?
Pitcher: They try to get off the island.
Producer: Every week?
Pitcher: Yes.
Producer: If they got off the island, the show’s over.
Pitcher: We’ve figured it. They won’t get off the island.
Producer: Any other plot ideas?
Pitcher: Was thinking about the getting the Harlem Globetrotters involved.
Producer: How.
Pitcher: Maybe they play a fundraiser game.
Producer: On a deserted island?
Pitcher: RIght.
Producer: How good’s the song?
* * *
One more tidbit from this Super Bowl — you’ll love this. A few minutes after the game ended, I got an email from a public relations firm. The headline was: “Patriots’ loss is win for children and families in need.”
You may ask: How could that be? Well, it turns out that some place called World Visions has received hundreds and hundreds of mislabeled Patriots T-shirts, hats and stuff and they are sending those to families in need in Nicaragua, Romania and several other countries. This is a very kind thing to do, and I am not in any way shape or form trying to mock this charitable effort. But I have to say, I cannot help but smile thinking that there will be kids in Nicaragua walking around with “World Champion Patriots” T-shirts. It just seems right.
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1. Just imagine the thousands of children (now adults) running around Latin America in “Super Bowl Champion Buffalo Bills” gear.
2. It would’ve been almost too perfect if the Giants had elected to kick a FG with their last :01, for two reasons:
– So they’d have something exciting to fill Belichick in on when describing exactly what he missed by skipping out early.
– Just to remind the Patriots of how they ran up the score on just about every team they played this season.
3. Can’t wait for pitchers and catchers!
I watched the game with two Giants fans. After that amazing play where Eli escaped the rush and threw the miracle pass to Tyree, I was calling the play “The Scramble.”
It has to go down as something. There’s the “Immaculate Conception,” “The Catch,” “Wide Right.”
“The Scramble” is my term. Then one of my Giants’ friends got a text later a couple hours after the game (we hit a bar), the text said,
“The Great Escape.”
Not bad. Not bad.
Two things:
1) I only watched the fourth quarter, but Troy Aikman was killing me. In particular: 1:50 left in the game, Giants 4th-and-1 around midfield, and they’re going for it. Aikman: “I think this is a good decision, to go for it here, because bla bla bla.” Dude–what decision? The decision not to give up and wave the white flag? Yeah, tactical genius, that.
2) I never saw Gilligan’s Island, but I have listened to the Weird Al song Isle Thing (set to the tune of the Tone Loc version of Wild Thing. He makes a lot of the same jokes in it that you do above. Check it out.
1) Was Eli Manning a bad choice for MVP? I really though the Giants D-line should have gotten it. They defined the game.
2) Seems a world away when the Superbowl used to be the annual NFC Blowout Game
3) Was it just me, or were there no great commercials?
but Troy Aikman was killing me. In particular: 1:50 left in the game, Giants 4th-and-1 around midfield, and they’re going for it. Aikman: “I think this is a good decision, to go for it here, because bla bla bla.â€
He did have some good stretches, but there was a point when he said something like “If they don’t get the first down here, they’re certain to think about possibly trying to settle for a FG. Or maybe they’ll go for it.”
I know being an announcer is hard and I doubt I could do it, but that one just made me laugh.
My buddy spent a year in Bulgaria some time back, and said he saw countless people in Eastern Europe wearing Super Bowl Champion Buffalo Bills t-shirts.
Hey Joe,
Belichick did shake Coughlin’s hand and congratulate him when the swarm of people was on the field. I would not be surprised that the television crew overlooked that. So it’s not like he ran off without congratulating anyone.
Besides, the Giants D-line really won that game. I was impressed.
I was neither stunned or surprised. I had been predicting a Giants win for two weeks.
How did New England not throw more than a pass to Stallworth and basically nothing to Moss before the 4th quarter?
How did they leave Burress open on his touchdown? Well not open, but not double covered?
It seemed like New England only gave a half hearted effort on the whole thing.
Well done for the Giants, they didn’t fold and won a very winnable game.
New England’s play calling certainly left this viewer scratching his head.
What was going to happen when both defensive coordinators left their corners on an island against the premier wide receiver of the other team? Oops, 2 easy TDs.
Premature celebration penalty to Junior Seau and Teddy Bruschi. If nothing else reminded you of the Ram/Patriot SB, this was it. Back then, the Rams were happy to go to overtime. This time, the Pats discounted the Giant offense that had to get a touchdown.
Belichick wasn’t the only one to run off the field. Et tu, Brady? Joe Buck, the moral compass of sport commentary, let the Pats slide.
The Giants defensive front deserved to share the title of MVP, a la Randy White and Harvey Martin. Maybe Justin Tuck MVP?-5 tackles, 1 assist, forced fumble, and 2 sacks.
Tyree’s catch is so iconic, it will be turned into a Gatorade commercial.
I’ll withhold judgement of Belichick until I know if he’d ever been told there was still a second on the clock. For a while, the game clock showed zero, and if Belichick took off his headset at that point (i.e. no one talking in his ear about a second being put back on the clock), I can see where he just didn’t know. I mean, if the clock shows zero and the opposing coach meets you in the middle of the field, game’s over, right? But if someone did point out that they added the second back on, then Belichick should have stayed until the last play was run. It looks like that happened to some Patriot players, because they showed Randy Moss headed to the tunnel and turn back to the field when he got the word about the clock.
I agree about the Giants’ D-line, they won the game. I was mystified by the Pats’ inability to block them.
I’ll disagree on the word “panic” for Brady. I just can’t use that word on a guy who engineered a long TD drive to take the lead in the Super Bowl with less than three minutes to play. “Frustrated” works. I think I saw “dejected” on his face a couple of times. But I didn’t see him eluding “shadows”. I saw him getting hammered, play after play. Credit the Giants’ defense.
Come on. He had already run onto the field, shaken the other coach’s hand, and left the field. I really couldn’t care less if he stayed on the sidelines for the stupid NFL formality. He’s having probably one of the 5 or 10 WORST moments of his life. It’s like being in high school and your girlfriend breaking up with you for another guy, but you’re “such great friends” though, so it’s all good. You give her a goodbye hug, you manage not to fire off any curse words (out loud), and you’re about to walk away down the corridor when she says “Wait a sec – here he comes now. I want you to meet him.” Do you really have an obligation to stay there for another minute in agony? Or can we safely say you’ve done enough of the right thing already and can be excused to walk away?
Hydrox?
Sunshine Biscuits?
Did you have relatives south of the Mason Dixon line Joe… like me and? And did you too ponder their weird cracker’s and cookies?
Can we expect a future dissertation on Hi Ho’s vs Ritz Crackers.
I’d read it.
Belichick crushed and dejected. Perfect.
I agree with Ryan: that play needs a name. “The Great Escape” is pretty good.
Also, on that post, I’ve gotta say that the Immaculate Conception was indeed one of history’s all-time great plays. Without it, nobody would ever have even been able to throw a Hail Mary.
“It’s like being in high school and your girlfriend breaking up with you for another guy…”
Actually, it’s not like that at all. Belichick isn’t a 16 year old kid. He’s a man, and sometimes men have to do things that suck. 11 Pats defenders had to walk back onto the field and line up for the final snap, and they did it even though it must have hurt like hell. Too bad their coach wasn’t there with them.
“I’ve gotta say that the Immaculate Conception was indeed one of history’s all-time great plays. Without it, nobody would ever have even been able to throw a Hail Mary.”
Gah! Beat me to it!
Credit where credit is due. Yes, the Giant D-line was fired up and the Pats O-Line looked tired but I must give credit where credit is due. Eli Manning… Am I really saying this. Eli Manning won this SuperBowl hands down. The clutch throws against Green Bay in ridiculous whether, “The Great Escape”, his countless third down throws yesterday right on the button… Eli ya did it. Brady and the boys will be all right. 18-1 doesn’t suck. I for one, had wished they dropped one to Philly or Baltimore, take the pressure off. The only truly HORRIBLE thing about all of this – I have to listen to Mercury Morris. Is there anything LAMER than the ‘72 Dolphins? As for Belichik– I know it’s hard to resist so PILE ON. I daresay the Pats will be around for awhile and he’ll have another shot, or two. Congrats Giants fans. GREAT win. Eli frickin Manning? (No more oreo commercials please)
So I don’t know how bad of a person this makes me, but it has to be said… All those kids in Nicaragua and Romania can finally retire the 2001 St. Louis Rams Super Bowl Champions t-shirts.
I guess it would have been 2002 for that Rams upset. Super Bowl XXXVI, anyway.
Actually I’ve given to World Vision before and they are a good organization. I’m glad that stuff is going to good use.
I though there were some good commercials during the game. The standout for me was Justing Timberlake getting the snot beaten out of him. I have to admit that got me laughing hard.
In Super Bowl XXXVI, the first one the Patriots won, the NFL ran the final two seconds off the clock after Vinatieri’s FG. This with the possibility that the Rams could have taken the ensuing kickoff and pulled off something of the Music City Miracle order to win. But the confetti had been launched and that was that.
One second left on the clock last night, and this time the NFL decides that the Giants have to snap the ball once? Was everybody in Arizona just terrified of Goodell’s wrath or something? What a crock, the whole thing. Baseball can’t come soon enough — no clock, no problem.
Aren’t the Roman numerals enough to tell us that we’re fans of the right sport?
Ernie Adams, I was thinking the same thing! BTW, Belechick knew there was time on the clock because the referee was trying to tell him to get back but he ignored him. Yes, he was gracious congratulating Coughlin, who he knows, but he showed the officials no respect.
I grew up in southern CT as a member of a family of Giants fans, I never was, and now live outside of Boston. I’ve never been a big Patriots fan, but I would definitely call myself a “bandwagon” fan. That said, I was rooting for the Pats last night, expecting either a Pats blowout if they got ahead early or a very close game. Luckily it was a close game. I still thought the Pats would win after “The Great Escape” until Eli hit a wide open Steve Smith at the first down marker on 3 and 10. Then I was ready for the upset. Ellis Hobbs is still trying to find Plaxico Burres.
My reaction after the game was to laugh! I was hoping for 19-0, but it just seemed funny to me how the Giants pulled it off. I have to tell you, no one in Boston is accepting this well. I didn’t think of it at the time, seeing that Boston teams have won 5 major sports championships in the last 6 years, but it was brought up that it was probably the worst loss in Boston sports history. Hmm. I’m in a good mood today. Maybe I’m a Giants fan after all?
I will never feel as bad as I did when Aaron Boone crushed a straight knuckleball from Tim Wakefield into the upper deck on October 17, 2003 (to add insult to injury, I had to study for a test I had the next day AFTER the game, which meant I started studying at about 1 am, after sitting in the corner of my dorm room with the TV off and lights out for a solid 45 minutes).
But this is damn close.
To make matters worse, it seems like the entire nation is HAPPY that the Patriots lose. I can’t blame them – America loves the underdog, and Belichick doesn’t exactly endear himself to anyone outside of New England.
The Giants defense played the game of their lives and destroyed the sieve-like New England offensive line, which was unquestionably the most dominant in football in 2007.
So many things could have iced the game – Samuel and Meriweather dropping would-be INTs, half the defense not taking Eli down late in the game, the David Tyree catch that Rodney Harrison almost broke up… but they didn’t. As a Patriots fan, I’m just used to the BS luck going “my” way – I don’t think it’s possible for any team to have a run of sustained success without a ton of luck (see: Tuck Rule in 2001, Troy Brown stripping Marlon McCree after Brady threw a potential game-breaking INT in 2006, Rex Ryan’s timeout in 2007, ), but since so many breaks went the New England way, I was shocked to see that those few inches go in the other team’s direction.
Congratulations to the New York Giants for a well-deserved championship.
(I’m sorry for anyone that had to read my rant, but it’s therapeutic – I woke up at least five times last night with visions of Ellis Hobbs being burnt in the corner.)
As a New Englander, my worst loss ever was Game Three of the 2004 ALCS. Worse than Game Six in 1986 when I was 11.
Pedro, Varitek and Lowe were all going to be free agents. Nomar was already gone. The window of opportunity was closing, and we were about to get swept by the Yankees. Keep the faith? I wish. I was depressed beyond words. We added Foulke and Schilling, and still couldn’t beat them. Insert swear words as appropriate.
Anyone with a brain knew there was no coming back from 3-0 down.
This? This is just football, which is my answer to Rogers Hornsby. To wit, people ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare at football games and wait for spring. Maybe it’s because my dad has never been much of a football fan, or maybe because we were all watching Larry Bird and Ray Bourque in my formative years. I don’t know. The Pats never stuck. Maybe, except for baseball, I follow bandwagons.
I know that most of America likes football better. Most of America is thrilled that us snotty New Englanders got put in our respective places. But for me — and maybe this is because I don’t live there any more — there’s no way on earth a football team (however excellent) could hold the place in my heart that a baseball team can (and does).
One hundred and sixty-two games over six months. A month of pre-season. A month of post-season. Three months of the hot stove. Years of tracking the prospects down in Pawtucket and wherever the AA teams are each decade.
Compared to one game a week for four months? Really? I just can’t fall in love that fast, and so my heart can’t get broken, either.
Congrats to the Giants. Truck Day is right around the corner.
Josh in DC,
“One hundred and sixty-two games over six months. A month of pre-season. A month of post-season. ”
…and it’s still not enough.
Note for next year: Watching the Super Bowl without sound is really not such a bad thing. I am, in hindsight, rather thankful for the technical glitch by my lovely cable company that took away my audio feed for 3/4 of the game.
The only reason people care is becasue its Bill Belichick, and everyone want’s to be “holier than thou”.
If this was another coach, no one would have cared.
The most watched Super Bowl ever! And they blew it like that?…
Hell, if the ‘72 Dolphins had known that they had that many people watching they woulda won 73-0…they woulda had Jim Mandich scoring on quarterback sneaks, and Jim Kiick blitzing from right linebacker. The woulda run an entire 80 yard series of Csonca runs up the middle for 3 and 4 yards, max (he had to fall down at the end if no one was near him). They would have let Garo Yepremian throw to Paul Warfield (ok, on an out pattern).
I mean, realistically, the Patriots-compared to the Dolphins-just kinda suck.
Well, a lot, I mean.
totally.
I propose “The Belichick Rule”: any NFL game, the losing coach can choose to end the game any time after the two-minute warning. Do we need kneel-downs? Do we like QB rushing stats to be fouled up beyond interpretation? Does baseball make the home team bat in the 9th when they’re already ahead? No. Exactly.
As a Minnesotan (and former Viking fan), I must note the irony of Randy Moss standing on the sideline watching the final play of the game while his coach headed to the locker room.
As a former Vikings fan (for just a couple days, I grew up overseas and was looking for a team and liked purple), I have to say that the team that Dawson & Co. trashed in SBIV was incredible…Joe Kapp (Curt Flood of football!), Eller, Page, purple people eaters, Gene Washington…
I don’t necessarily disagree (though I reserve the right to, in a different mood) with the loyal writer who said that Len Dawson played for a better team than Namath’s Jets.
…but there was no Wahoo McDaniel! Johnny Sample, yeah. …eh..ok…
Anyway, you have to win the big one or it doesn’t matter. This year’s Giants are better than the Patriots. Just proved it.
As a mainly life-long Dolphins fan (when I cared, and a Saints fan ever since), I have to admit that the late 70s Steelers may have been better…
I like “The Great Escape,” but for a long time that’s just going to be “The Play.”
How can losing a non-elimination game possibly be worse than losing an elimination game? And wasn’t all the inner turmoil rewarded when y’all did win the WS?
I don’t think losing Game 3 could possibly compare to losing Game 5 of the 1980 NLCS in 10 innings and having a report due the next day. Maybe it does, but I just can’t imagine anyone feeling worse than I did that moment Unser scored.
Falling behind 3-0 is, for all intents and purposes, being eliminated. So Game Three felt like an elimination game to me. And to others.
http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/archives/2004/10/how_quickly_thi.php
I smiled when you mentioned the Nicaraguans and Bulgarians wearing the t-shirts. I’m a U of MN hockey fan, and whenever I meet a U of Maine fan (the Gophers beat the Black Bears in OT in 2002 in one of the greatest NCAA champ-eenship games ever) I say- “oh well somewhere in Africa there’s someone sporting a Univerity of Maine, 2002 NCAA Hockey Champs t-Shirt)
The Gilligan’s island bit is pure genius- how do you come up with this stuff day after day. Is it just natural, or do you work at it? Ingesting americana everywhere you go? I think that I need to win a fundraiser or something just so I can have lunch with Joe sometime. I think a real converstion with Joe would be fantastic- filled with all kinds of excellent jokes and references to the dred pirate roberts and other various whatnot.
Regarding the Eli-Brady exchange pre-game. Come on Joe. You media guys do this stuff all the time. If the Patriots had won you would have interpreted Brady’s response as “Don’t even, I am going to crush you!” Instead the Giants win and it’s an omen that Brady was tight?
By coming onto the field with 1 second left in the game Belichik was being gracious by conceding that the game was over and the Giants ought to celebrate the win they earned.
Belichik is a great coach with a dry personality. So what?
[...] Okay, here is the Posterisk that first pulled me into the almost daily musings of Joe — much to the loss of my [...]