More coaches weigh on piling on

[SVN]

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/patriots/


this is getting a ridiculous amount of coverage

Coaches weigh in on piling on
Posted by John Tomase at 4:32 pm

A number of NFL coaches have appeared on Sirius NFL radio recently and offered their thoughts on whether the Patriots are running up the score. Here’s a sampling:

John Fox, Carolina Panthers: “Typically in this league when you have the game in hand you do call off the dogs a little bit but not to the point where you could lose the game. You never can relax too much.”

Jack Del Rio, Jacksonville Jaguars: “You play to win. If you can score, score. Your job, as a defense, as an opponent, is to slow them down. Offensively you want to score. Obviously, late in the fourth quarter you’re going to make sure your starters don’t get hurt and things like that going forward but you still keep playing football.”

Herm Edwards, Kansas City Chiefs: “I just think that obviously [the Patriots] are going at a pace right now, they’re just playing. They’re having fun playing football. You’re caught in a bad situation there when you have a lead like that. All coaches have been in that situation. Sometimes you’ve been the guy that had the lead and sometimes you’ve been the guy on the other side of it. And that’s what’s great about athletics. People always look into things, trying to figure out is there something that he’s trying to do or say. The coach that is winning, does he run the ball on fourth down or does he pass the ball on fourth down? I don’t know what to tell you. It’s just one of those deals. There’s a lot being made out of things and at the end I think the thing you’ve got to realize is this. You’ve got a team that is playing very very good, setting all kinds of record. When I watch those guys play, they’re having fun. They’re just having fun playing football.”

Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings: “You’re talking about the Washington Redskins and one of the highest paid coaches in the National Football League and a staff full of head coaches and they’re coaching, too. Games can get left-handed like that, unfortunately, and New England has a way of making you be left-handed.”

Lane Kiffin, Oakland Raiders: “Coach Gibbs, I believe, said he had no issues with it. It’s so hard to win and so hard to score I don’t think that there really is running up the score. You’re just playing your players and trying to get better. In this league your backups do have so few opportunities to play that, from my perspective, if we were ever in that situation we would definitely run plays and put in some of our younger guys that otherwise don’t play.”

Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers: “We’re responsible for keeping their score down. They aren’t. That’s just being competitive. That’s what this game is about. That’s what any game is about. I have no comment or opposition to them ringing up as many points as they’re capable of.”

 

[PatriotsReign]

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/patriots/


this is getting a ridiculous amount of coverage

Opposing coaches actually stepped-up and backed the Patriots!!! Hallaluya & Amen!!!:rocker:

I LOVE when people WHO KNOW WHAT'S WHAT step up and tell it's like it is. This was the truth...the be all & end all about this running-up-the-score crap! There is no longer any other viable criticism of the Patriots scoring!

NONE AT ALL!

 

[Chris]

nice to see coaches stick up for us.. that just proves how much of a non story this is.. the media acts like this has been going on for weeks.. it was 2 weeks in a row that we dominated

 

[Pujo]

Wow, Childress certainly said it best.

Tomlin didn't mince his words either.

 

[JoeSixPat]

All the coaches train their offense to move the ball and score as much as possible... few coaches spend time or energy working to teach players when to ease up on the gas pedal

These guys all know that

The Patriots players have said as much - that for the 60 minutes of the game they are completely consumed by the need to move the chains on every play

These coaches also realize that handing off to a RB every play for the 4th quarter is a good way to get a RB or his linemen seriously injured... you maintain a balanced offense so the defense never knows what's coming... otherwise people get hurt.

Hurt for real... not just their feelings.

 

[Seacoast Fan]

I liked Tomlin's quote. I think he hit the nail on the head. Don't know much about him, I skipped the SI article about him since I hat ethe Steelers, but now I wish I had read it

 

[Horace's Ivories]

Tomlin didn't mince his words either.

Wow, my extreme dislike for the Steelers just dropped by 50%!

 

[Ghost of Ben Dreith]

Well.....I guess we won't be running up the score on the Steelers later on this year.....


Maybe they are all saying the nice things backing Bellicheck up out of fear.....

 

[Fogbuster]

.


The drive-by media are milking this for all it's worth because that's how they get paid. This Pats thing is starting to look like the paparazzi going after Diana. I mean, when will these media types be happy? When a nut-case fan shoots BB? Or an amped-up LB slams Brady? Or a ss crosses over and creams Moss? When will these fanners of the flames of hatred ever be satisfied???



//

 

[sdaniels7114]

One thing they mentioned of EEI today was what happens to a team that regularly takes 1/2 the game off. They turn into a 30 minute Football team. The past several weeks have been all sunshine and lollipops; but you have to believe that sooner or later this team will need to play all out for the entire game, and its highly unlikely that they'll only have to do this once. Its one thing to have 2-3 hard-fought games and then a blowout, followed by 2-3 additional hard games before the next blowout. The guys won't become adapted in that case; but when week after week the second 1/2 is goof-off time, regardless of whether the team is goofing off on the sideline or on the field, I can see problems emerging.

Goes to show you how good BB is. He had this problem solved before it even showed up.

 

[JoePats]

I also liked what Herm said...just havin fun...nice.

 

[Bella*chick]

Most coaches have been pretty much on the same page regarding all of this, haven't they?

It's some of these whiny players that are really embarrassing themselves.

 

[54Bruschi]

nice to see coaches stick up for us.. that just proves how much of a non story this is.. the media acts like this has been going on for weeks.. it was 2 weeks in a row that we dominated

It just goes to show how thirsty for ratings sports channels are.

A perfect comparison here can be seen with our news channels now.

CNN, Fox, MSNBC. They're agenda driven, ratings starved propaganda machines.

ESPN, et al are not much different. They have an agenda, they want higher ratings. They know that drama sells, they know we're the least liked team in the NFL, there's drama here folks - the smell ratings and $$$ - this is why it wont die.

 

[PlattsFan]

You know what would be more humiliating? The Pats go up by 40 on the Jets, then spend the entire fourth quarter driving past the Jets 25 yard line, taking the knee four times so they don't score, then rolling the football toward Mangini. Then forcing a punt every time.

Not THAT would be rubbing it in.

And pretty funny.

 

[Bella*chick]

You know what would be more humiliating? The Pats go up by 40 on the Jets, then spend the entire fourth quarter driving past the Jets 25 yard line, taking the knee four times so they don't score, then rolling the football toward Mangini. Then forcing a punt every time.

Not THAT would be rubbing it in.

And pretty funny.

Actually, I did wonder if something along those lines wouldn't be a lot funnier and more humiliating than the 70-3 thrashing we expect. Because I can see the Jets players trying to take shots at Brady in the 70-3 scenario. But the taking a knee thing is humiliating, makes a big point and keeps everyone protected all at once.

 

[upstater1]

Bull****. I'm going to inflame things here a little bit.

We didn't run the score up on the Buffalo Bills. We ran it up the middle and then we took a knee multiple times.

Obviously, Bill respects **** Jauron more than some of these other clowns (Wade Phillips, pshaw!)

 

[frankiesfly]

Do we really expect opposing coaches to talk smack? C'mon guys, they know exactly what to say to not start any controversy. It's up to the players like Crayton to talk, not coaches.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

I've resisted posting about the whole "running up the score" garbage, but I can't resist any more.

I honestly cannot remember a more stupid "controversy" in all my years of watching sports. The NFL is not tidleywinks or flower pressing. It's not kindergarten soccer, where everyone gets a medal for "participation." It's barely controlled violence between extremely strong and large men, whose profession it to impose their will on other equally strong men. It is about domination and submission. It is the job of the job of team A to make team B exhausted and to jam the ball down their throats with brute force.

Running up the score? What a bunch of freaking babies. Pick another sport. Anyone that complains about running up the score is a whimp who needs another job. For pete's sake, what a dumb controversy.

This is not to say that BB couldn't diffuse it in a second. He could simply say, matter of factly, "my job is to prepare my football team to win games, and I've concluded that taking the foot off the pedal would be counterproductive to that mission; I'm sorry if other teams are offended, but I'm simply trying to keep my team playing at a high level the best I know how." I think something like that would go a long way. Who can argue with it?

Anyone who thinks it's ever inappropriate for a coach to try to score and to try to keep the other team from scoring should follow some other sport.

I can't believe anyone would not be humiliated to be heard complaining about running up the score. Poor freaking babies. Man up, you wussies. That goes for the fans too. This is football.

 

[Ghost of Ben Dreith]

Anyone who thinks it's ever inappropriate for a coach to try to score and to try to keep the other team from scoring should follow some other sport.

I don't think this applies to other sports either. If I remember correctly, it was Texas Rangers 30 Baltimore Orioles 4 in a regular season baseball game this year. I didn't read anything about the Rangers striking out on purpose once it was 20-4. (Losing team might be wrong, but point is the same).

 

[Nordy]

This is not to say that BB couldn't diffuse it in a second. He could simply say, matter of factly, "my job is to prepare my football team to win games, and I've concluded that taking the foot off the pedal would be counterproductive to that mission; I'm sorry if other teams are offended, but I'm simply trying to keep my team playing at a high level the best I know how." I think something like that would go a long way. Who can argue with it?

You think that would diffuse it? Brady has been making comments like that all week and media outlets are refusing to run the other side of the argument. It's pretty clear by now that entities like ESPN want to make bad guys out of the Patriots.