This is not a joke.
Another Patriots season ends in disappointment for Tom Brady, who hasn’t won a championship since 2004. Brady won three titles in his first four seasons as New England’s starting quarterback. (Damian Strohmeyer/SI)
GALLERY: Rare Photos of Tom Brady
Brady-ing
Sorry, I’m just not buying this belief that Bill Belichick is becoming some sort of softy as he grows older.
Wait, is that “The Hoodie” kissing a boo-boo on the elbow of Aaron Hernandez?
Oh well, I’ve been wrong before…
(photo credit: Amanda Swinhart / For the Boston Globe)
Over/Under on how many gin & tonics Partiots owner Bob Kraft must have inhaled before agreeing to make this audition tape with his girlfriend: 11.5
The “Polish Goalline” tactic and the Super Bowl
Graydon Gordian highlights how the NY Giants might have purposely sent 12 men on the field. Did Tuck really try to get off the field in time? Was it smoke and mirrors? Was this a case of Bill Belichick getting out Belichick’d? You decide.
On the third to last play of the Super Bowl the New York Giants were penalized for having 12 men on the field. However the Giants largely benefited from the play: The 5-yard penalty put the Patriots at their own 49, but New England lost valuable seconds and was prevented from completing a pass by the extra defender. After the play there was a mere 9 seconds left to move the ball over 50 yards.
I’d argue that the Giants sent the twelfth man out on the field on purpose, using a slightly altered form of Buddy Ryan’s “Polish Goalline” tactic:
The opponent is inside the 5 yard line going in to score. There is less than 15 seconds left. We want to stop their offense from scoring and in the process, we want to run the clock down to where they have enough time for just one play. So, we will stop them, get penalized half the distance to the goal, but leave them with enough time to run one play. We will then go back to our regular goal line defense and stop them to win the game.
Although originally used in a goal line situation, the same logic applies to what Tom Coughlin did in the closing seconds of the Super Bowl. It’s a pretty clever idea, honestly.
UPDATE: Somewhat disappointingly it appears that this was not an instance of the “Polish Goalline” tactic. As Deadspin pointed out, during the replay you can clearly see Justin Tuck, helmet off, hustling toward the sidelines. But he fails to get off the field before the ball is snapped. The graphic NBC used to point out the 12 men made it look as if they were all set, but the video replay makes it clear that the penalty was genuinely unintentional.
Maria Menounos loses a bet, wears a bikini in Times Square.
I’m pretty sure I don’t need to say much else here.
