The Rod Marinelli League

I posed this question to W.F. Skinner on Thursday night:

Who is the second-best coach in the NFL? (Obviously Belichick is first.)

He was stumped. Jeff Fisher? Yawn. Tom Coughlin? He's alright. Andy Reid? Somehow I don't think Johnny K. Woo would think so. Mike Tomlin? His team has lost five straight, including the last two to the Raiders and Browns.

At this point, Sean Payton would probably be the popular choice.

My choice for the second-best coach...Tony Sparano...and I ripped him earlier this year. He's mentally challenged regarding two-point conversions. But at least I can say for sure he knows how to get the most out of his talent.

I'm not suggesting that Herm Edwards should be getting his resume updated, but my god, the current crop of NFL coaches are just absolutely awful.

They go by the names Zorn, Phillips, Cable and Mangini. And the list goes on.

Cowher, Shanahan, Gruden, Holmgren...HURRY BACK! The NFL needs you.

And of course, this legend is still out there...don't think he isn't thinking about it. Early prediction, he'll be leading the Texans to the Super Bowl next season.

Giants fans = Ingrates

This rip goes after an unusual target for me: fans. Specifically, fans of the New York Giants.

Unappreciative and misguided Giants fans who like to boo the greatest offensive player in franchise history.

Tiki Barber returned to Giants Stadium on Sunday, honored along with fellow 2000 NFC champion teammates. He had his No. 21 jersey on -- a number that should be retired -- and should have received a standing ovation. A long one.

Instead, he was booed, like he always is when his (many) highlights are played at Giants Stadium.

Let's quickly go through Tiki's "crimes."

1: He attacked Tom Coughlin, saying he was outcoached in a 23-0 playoff loss to Carolina. (He also said the Giants didn't run the ball enough in a loss to Jacksonville during the 2006 season.)
2: During the middle of the 2006 season, he didn't deny that he was planning to retire at season's end when asked about it by the New York Times.
3. He said Eli Manning's leadership was comical when asked about it in an NBC broadcast in August, 2007.

Of the three, the only one that fans should even be remotely annoyed about is the third one. If fans want to make a case that Barber shouldn't have blasted a former Giant, fine. To some extent, I can understand that. Fans want to feel like they are supporting Manning, and some likely feel that they are backing Manning by booing Barber.

Of course, then he wouldn't be giving any real honest or inside insight as a member of the media. Calling Manning's leadership "comical" was a harsh choice of words, no question, but it shouldn't erase all the amazing things he did in his career. It's time to let it go.

As for the first two things on the list, it's incredible that those are actually considered grievances. But make no mistake, they are considered just that.

The Giants' performance against Carolina in the 2005 playoffs was one of the most pathetic displays ever given in football history. It's a pretty safe bet that every fan thought Coughlin was grossly outcoached by John Fox. So in a fit of frustration -- in a season-ending loss no less -- Barber didn't hold back. If players laugh after losses, fans go crazy, and make hilariously stupid claims that they care more about winning and losing than the players do. If a player criticizes a coach after loss, then he's being disloyal. The players can't win.

And the fact that Barber didn't keep his pending retirement to himself? This became a big story because WFAN's Mike Francesa and Chris Russo made it into one, and talked about it endlessly. It started a myth that Barber was all about putting himself ahead of the team, that he wasn't giving his all, etc. Of course, he put forth another incredible season, and had the greatest game of his career in leading the Giants to the playoffs in the final game of the regular season, rushing for 234 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries against the Washington Redskins to lead the Giants to the playoffs.

(Oh by the way, he saved Coughlin's job in the process.)

Here's what really is going on. Barber wasn't on the Giants' Super Bowl championship team and there is this belief in the minds of many Giants fans that the team improved because he left.

Wrong. Very wrong.

The Giants won the Super Bowl in 2007 for a variety of reasons, and those reasons have nothing to do with the team's best player retiring. Tiki Barber's departure didn't allow David Tyree to make an amazing catch, didn't help the Giants' defensive line manhandle the Cowboys (which led to this) and Patriots, didn't give Tom Coughlin the idea of firing Tim Lewis and hiring Steve Spagnuolo, didn't help Eli Manning and Plaxico Burress to play masterfully in the NFC Championship, etc. etc, etc. etc, etc.

Those, along with many other factors, were the reasons why the Giants won Super Bowl 42.

It's understandable for Giants fans to love their Super Bowl winning team. And I'm not suggesting that Barber should be as beloved as Michael Strahan, Manning, or any of the other key players that led the team to a championship.

But he should still be applauded for a fantastic career.

He's never wrong

Perhaps there is a clause in every NFL coach's contract that he simply can't admit to a mistake. The bumbling, inane responses take place every week trying to defend the indefensible. The latest one is courtesy of Tom Coughlin.

Why would the Giants play for a field goal when leading by three points with 3:01 left from the 14-yard line? Why call two running plays when a touchdown can win the game and a field goal only puts you up six?

"We didn't want to turn the ball over, obviously. We didn't want to be in a position like that," Coughlin said. "You can second guess it all you want. Field goal at that point in time forced them to have a touchdown and score a touchdown. There was plenty of time, over two minutes. But, we just had a couple of really good series defensively. We forced them into bad situations and we had a lot of momentum with our touchdown. We felt good about the situation we were in. We let them off the hook."

The Giants ended up with a field goal and a 20-14 lead before a two-minute TD drive by the Chargers won the game 21-20.

It's clever -- and in some cases fair -- for coaches to always fall back on the "You can second-guess it all you want" and "You're being a Monday morning quarterback" line as a defense when a decision turns out to be wrong. It's an understandable tactic to defend themselves against too many results-oriented fans (and media members) who only look at the outcome rather than the decision.

But it can't fly when the decision truly is abominable. The conservative playcalling in that situation was entirely misguided for one reason above all others: the field goal was a chip shot even with two incompletions.

Coughlin spent time in his press conference explaining that a six-point lead forced San Diego to score a touchdown rather than tie with a field goal. Thanks for the insight. A lot of people needed that information.

Had the Giants been somewhere around the 35-yard line, where every yard would have made a field goal more likely, running plays on 2nd-and-14 and 3rd-and-10 would have had some merit. But the extra yardage was meaningless in making the field goal more likely.

And the quote "We didn't want to turn the ball over, obviously" is exactly that: obvious. That wasn't a time to go into a shell and be petrified of an interception. It was a prevent offense and cost the Giants a chance to end the game.

Get this guy out now!

If I have to watch Lawrence Tynes botch another field goal I really may have to be put in a padded room. This guy STINKS!

STINKS!

I don't know what happened at the end of the Giants' first drive today - it looked like Tynes just froze up - and I really don't care. I think Coughlin should have gone for it on 4th and a foot, but he didn't, so the Giants have to make that field goal.

Enough already. He misses chip shots but somehow the Giants always seem to give him a chance to make a game-winner and so everyone forgets about his blunders. Ex: NFC Championship game at Green Bay, second week of this season at Dallas.

Well Larry, I haven't forgotten. Find another job.