Jennings: I was told not to score

[Allstarjim]

So dogshit... Are you going to go in to hiding for another 4 years when the Giants win their fifth Lombardi? You have no credible voice here. Pretty much embarrassed yourself off the site and came back because we lost one game... And refuses to claim who your own team is (Eagles).

 

Guess you reached down and thought your balls were still there... Guess what doggy... You were neutered 4 years ago.

[Bigblue25]

What gets me is Eli's inability to do simple math. A touchdown puts the game out of reach there.

It's like he thought they were playing from behind. Christ Jerry World has a monster fucking scoreboard

[Storm]

It's like he thought they were playing from behind. Christ Jerry World has a monster fucking scoreboard

 

As a what, 11 year veteran, how does Eli lack the game awareness to not even know how many time outs the Cowboys had left? He can ask the official!

[enjaygee]

I believe Eli is doing what a good teammate does - taking the blame. The call most likely came from McAdoo, but Coughlin would have known. Between the three of them (Coughlin, McAdoo, & Eli) one of the should have realized that this was a bonehead decision.

 

To be honest, I'm more mad at Jennings for letting this get beyond the locker room. I'm surprised nobody is bringing that up. I remember a postgame interview last year where he threw someone under the bus. I forgot who or what it was about I just remember thinking that he was a douche for doing that. I tried searching giants.com but their search feature was driving me nuts. If someone remembers or wants to have a crack at it - It was a postgame interview in street clothes not at the podium or in the locker room. Anyway, dude is a dooooosh.

[Iceman_NYG]

Eli is making himself the fall guy. Like the good team mate with the new contract, he is saving some face for McAdoo and TC. He could have audibled yes - but he is just taking some of the heat off since it can be forgiven as in-game screw-up jitters. Either way - it was a collective self-bamboozling idea where everyone lost track of what the fuck was going on in the game regarding the clock, time left, timeouts left etc. They were so engrossed in just making the offense work that they forgot about everything else. Infact, I think even they were shellshocked that they were actually in a close game - let alone leading with practically a W in the books. They couldn't digest it and puked it out. Im just so livid right now.....

[Herc]

even if it's eli's decision they should cut that shit out. the head coach is paid to make end of game decisions like this, the qb has enough on his plate as it is

[MikeGL]

I believe Eli is doing what a good teammate does - taking the blame. The call most likely came from McAdoo, but Coughlin would have known. Between the three of them (Coughlin, McAdoo, & Eli) one of the should have realized that this was a bonehead decision.

 

To be honest, I'm more mad at Jennings for letting this get beyond the locker room. I'm surprised nobody is bringing that up. I remember a postgame interview last year where he threw someone under the bus. I forgot who or what it was about I just remember thinking that he was a douche for doing that. I tried searching giants.com but their search feature was driving me nuts. If someone remembers or wants to have a crack at it - It was a postgame interview in street clothes not at the podium or in the locker room. Anyway, dude is a dooooosh.

 

Whatever, call him a doosh or whatever you want, but I think someone needs to shed light on this shit. I know he could have said it privately, but I'm so happy we know about this shit

[Herc]

i just heard on a podcast that out of the 85 seconds the cowboys had we gave them 75 of them

[gmenroc]

How unbelievable are the circumstances for this loss? In no order whatsoever...

 

1. Three (3) drops by Preston Parker that killed drives.

 

2. A phantom pass interference call on DRC that gifted the Cowboys a TD as opposed to a FG...4 points.

 

3. AT LEAST three (3) plays on our final drive of where the ball was snapped before the game clock was inside 5 seconds...could've run off an additional 20 seconds there.

 

4. Passing on 3rd down as opposed to running the ball...could have run off at least another 40 seconds.

 

4a. Not taking the sack on 3rd down instead of throwing incomplete...still could have run off the 40 seconds.

 

5. Deliberately not scoring a TD...had the Cowboys been down 10 with 2 minutes remaining and 1 timeout...would have still needed an onsides kick recovery, drive the field for a TD, and drive the field for a FG.

 

 

It's shit like this that destroys ALL hope for a season in a single 3-5 minute period. And really, when it comes down to it...I don't want to hear reasons...or excuses...like how many timeouts you thought the Cowboys had...nor do I buy the Jennings comment that he thought about scoring anyway...I think that's for him to save his own face.

 

This is literally as bad as the Desean Jackson punt return years ago.

[Nas]

I believe Eli is doing what a good teammate does - taking the blame. The call most likely came from McAdoo, but Coughlin would have known. Between the three of them (Coughlin, McAdoo, & Eli) one of the should have realized that this was a bonehead decision.

 

To be honest, I'm more mad at Jennings for letting this get beyond the locker room. I'm surprised nobody is bringing that up. I remember a postgame interview last year where he threw someone under the bus. I forgot who or what it was about I just remember thinking that he was a douche for doing that. I tried searching giants.com but their search feature was driving me nuts. If someone remembers or wants to have a crack at it - It was a postgame interview in street clothes not at the podium or in the locker room. Anyway, dude is a dooooosh.

 

Actually I thought the same thing when I first read about it... Look I get there's a lot stink, but to let that stink out in that way is unprofessional...

[Storm]

 

Actually I thought the same thing when I first read about it... Look I get there's a lot stink, but to let that stink out in that way is unprofessional...

I disagree. When a meltdown like that happens, the fans deserve an explanation as to why your team was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Otherwise, keeping incompetence under wraps keeps the status quo. And the end of that game was handled with incompetence. From Coughlin to McAdoo to Spagnuolo to Eli.

[Nas]

I disagree. When a meltdown like that happens, the fans deserve an explanation as to why your team was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Otherwise, keeping incompetence under wraps keeps the status quo. And the end of that game was handled with incompetence. From Coughlin to McAdoo to Spagnuolo to Eli.

 

That's not necessarily true... but we can agree to disagree.

[Storm]

But Jennings should know better. He should know that a TD there effectively ends the game. He's not a rookie and shit, fans know that a being up ten points with less than 2 minutes left likely means victory. It doesn't take a football genius to know that Eli was completely wrong with his logic. Timeout left or not, if the Cowboys are letting you score, take the points.

[Nas]

But Jennings should know better. He should know that a TD there effectively ends the game. He's not a rookie and shit, fans know that a being up ten points with less than 2 minutes left likely means victory. It doesn't take a football genius to know that Eli was completely wrong with his logic. Timeout left or not, if the Cowboys are letting you score, take the points.

 

I think we all know that most pro athletes aren't the sharpest tools in the shed... which is why we have coaches...

[gmenroc]

i just heard on a podcast that out of the 85 seconds the cowboys had we gave them 75 of them

 

I've heard estimates closer to half...in other words, we gave them 45 seconds of the 1:30 they had (roughly).

[Allstarjim]

It's actually the opportunity cost of the time that would've been run off on a running clock after third down + the seconds remaining on the play clock while the game clock was running during the final drive minus 1-2 seconds per play (delay of game penalty avoidance). When you do that math it comes down to roughly 80 seconds if memory serves. I still have it on DVR so I'm going to watch again. Basically, the Giants could've left the Cowboys with about 24 seconds to score had they managed the game clock on their final drive correctly.

[Herc]

the funniest part about all of this is that we went through years of eli running the play clock down to .5 seemingly every snap and taking a ton of delay of game penalties. now he can't wait to get rid of it when we need to kill the clock

[gmenroc]

At that point, the Giants should have just taken their own timeouts to save the ones the Cowboys had.

[CrazedDogs]

They've obviously had it drilled into them to play up tempo and to maximize offensive snaps.

 

I guess I should feel lucky that we haven't seen more of this kind of thing... there are more than a few teams that have been dealing with this kind of common sense retardation for years.

[Mr. P]

It's not terrible, he literally cannot think straight. A smart QB wouldnt have thrown that ball and not realize time management.

 

As someone who has a close friend with a special needs kid, it IS indeed a terrible post.

[MikeGL]

 

As someone who has a close friend with a special needs kid, it IS indeed a terrible post.

 

Okay, you know I didn't mean it like that. Sorry

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Monday, September 14, 2015

Rashad Jennings says Giants told him not to score on consecutive runs

By Dan Graziano

ESPN Staff Writer

 

New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings confirmed Monday that he was ordered not to score on two run plays inside the Dallas Cowboys' 5-yard line with less than two minutes left in Sunday night's game and the Giants leading by three.

"On the first-down play, I was told, 'Rashad, don't score,'" Jennings said. "On second down, 'Rashad, don't score.' I was tempted to say, 'Forget it,' and go score because I could. But I didn't want to be that guy. But definitely, I was asked not to score."

Jennings said his orders came in the huddle from quarterback Eli Manning, who spoke with him after the game and took responsibility for the way things turned out -- a 27-26 loss. Jennings said he was under the impression that Manning was relaying orders he got from the sideline.

Offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo is the Giants' offensive playcaller, but coach Tom Coughlin has the power to overrule him. Coughlin took responsibility for the late-game play calling Sunday night. McAdoo is permitted to speak to the media only once a week, and not after games.

After the game, Jennings told ESPN, "As a running back, it's really tough when they tell you not to score" but didn't elaborate.

Jennings said this was the first time he has been given such an order since he was in college, and back then the reason was that his team had a lead and a chance to run out the clock with the ball still in its hands. That wasn't the case Sunday, but it still was odd to ask Jennings not to score.

Had he scored a touchdown on first down and Josh Brown hit the 33-yard extra point, the Giants would have led by 10 with 1:50 left. Had he scored on second down, there would have been 1:43 left.

Part of the problem was that the Giants were confused about the timeout situation. Jennings said Monday that he and the rest of the team believed the Cowboys had called their final timeout after the first-down play. That was based on the belief that the Cowboys had called their second timeout after Odell Beckham Jr.'s third-down catch the play before.

But Dallas had not been charged with a timeout there. The clock had stopped because the Cowboys were called for an offside penalty on Beckham's catch. Even though the Giants declined the penalty, the rules say the clock stops after such a penalty in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.

The NFL said the clock used to run on the snap after all penalty calls but that in 1985 the rules were changed to shorten game time, allowing the clock to run following certain penalty calls prior to the 5:00 mark of the fourth quarter.

The league kept the traditional timing rules in place for that critical end-of-game period, as well as for the final two minutes of the first half, because, NFL spokesman Michael Signora said Monday, those are "particularly exciting parts of games" and "there was no desire to reduce the number of plays that might occur in those time segments."

“

On the first-down play, I was told, "Rashad, don't score." On second down, "Rashad, don't score." I was tempted to say, "Forget it," and go score because I could. But I didn't want to be that guy.

”- Giants running back Rashad Jennings, on not scoring at the end of Sunday's game vs. Dallas

When Jennings was told not to score on second down, the Giants believed they would be able to churn 40 seconds off the clock and run their third-down play with a little more than a minute to go. When the Cowboys stopped the clock with 1:43 to go after the second-down run, the Giants were surprised.

As for the runs themselves, Jennings insists he could have scored on either one.

"On one of them it would've been a grind," Jennings said. "But on the other, I cut the wrong way [on purpose] and found somewhere soft to fall."

Jennings and the Giants were obviously disappointed to lose a game they led by three with the ball on the opponent's 1-yard line and less than two minutes to go. Cowboys quarterback Tony Romowent down the field "like a knife through butter," in the words of Coughlin, for the game-winning touchdown after Manning threw an incomplete pass on third down and the Giants settled for a field goal.

But while the instructions surprised him, Jennings wanted to make it clear that he wasn't second-guessing whoever told him not to score.

"I'm not mad," he said. "We're doing this as a team, and we thought it was best for us not to score at that point. Of course I wanted to, but that's just the football player in you."

The night didn't get a lot better for the Giants, whose departure from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was held up until 4 a.m. CT, delaying their arrival in Newark, New Jersey, to 9 a.m. ET.

Jesus H. Christ... if this is true there needs to be an accounting for such ...such... such... blatant overthinking of an issue. Always try to score... cause as we know as Giants fans... we can come up with some creative ways of losing. I want as many points up on that board as possible. The victory formation was created because of a Giants decision 37 years ago...

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

even if it's eli's decision they should cut that shit out. the head coach is paid to make end of game decisions like this, the qb has enough on his plate as it is

Agree... Leave the strategy to the coaches... the tactics are what Eli should be concerned with... as in how to implement the play as called...

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

I disagree. When a meltdown like that happens, the fans deserve an explanation as to why your team was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Otherwise, keeping incompetence under wraps keeps the status quo. And the end of that game was handled with incompetence. From Coughlin to McAdoo to Spagnuolo to Eli.

Exactly... no one loves a snitch... but there are reasons why there is a snitch... if people make decisions that make sense to a High School football coach then there would be no need for discussion here...

[Treehugger]

I'm not convinced Jennings would have scored anyway.

 

He really pissed me off doing his stupid little TD dance after getting handed the ball on the 1 by McBride. He'd done fuck all up to that point.