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Even NFL's Best Can Drop The Ball

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By IRA KAUFMAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2007

Updated: 12/05/2007 12:13 am

Good coaches, even those with busts in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, can have a bad day.

As Week 13 proved in the NFL, the men who roam the sidelines occasionally can stray off course.

It happened to the reigning Coach of the Year as Sean Payton admittedly outsmarted himself Sunday ... and may have cost his Saints a playoff berth in the process.

With New Orleans ahead of the Bucs 23-20 and 3:30 remaining, Payton ordered up a flanker reverse to Devery Henderson at midfield, but Reggie Bush's pitch went astray and the Bucs recovered the fumble.

Tampa Bay needed to cover only 37 yards for the winning TD and a 27-23 triumph that left the Bucs one win from clinching their third NFC South title in six years.

"With a call like that, you gulp," acknowledged Payton, who pushed all the right buttons in 2006 while leading the Saints to the NFC title game as a rookie head coach. "There's a lot of risk in a play like that, and your worst fear is realized when you don't handle the exchange and block it just like you want."

Payton wanted to exploit Tampa Bay's aggressiveness with a trick play built on misdirection, but there was no compelling reason to risk a turnover with the scoreboard and the clock in his favor.

"We were in a position to win a game and we didn't," said Payton, who was brought into the league a decade ago by Bucs coach Jon Gruden, then serving as offensive coordinator of the Eagles. "That's the thing I beat myself up over. In hindsight, it's something that I would have done differently."

Payton isn't the only coach under scrutiny following a cruel weekend that likely ended the playoff chances of the Saints and Redskins.

Eleven years after his induction into the Canton, Ohio, shrine of excellence, Washington's Joe Gibbs is feeling culpable for Sunday's excruciating 17-16 home loss to Buffalo.

With the Bills barely in field-goal range for Rian Lindell late in the game, Gibbs tried to call consecutive timeouts to freeze the kicker. Newly adopted NFL rules prohibit back-to-back timeouts, and the Redskins were flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty before Lindell nailed a 36-yarder with four seconds remaining.

"You're hoping in your career that you make some decisions to help your team win, but today I did not feel like I did that," said Gibbs, who added he was aware of the rule but simply lost his focus in the frantic final minute.

It was a tough day all around for Gibbs.

The shocking death of Sean Taylor surely had an effect on all of the Redskins, but there's no excuse for Gibbs not to know that Washington would open the game with only 10 defensive players on the field as a tribute to the slain safety.

Redskins players were quick to defend a coach who won three Super Bowls within a 10-year span.

"I really wish we hadn't put Coach Gibbs in that situation," defensive end Phillip Daniels said, referring to the costly timeout gaffe. "We can't just blame him. He always tells us we have to stay together as a team. Now, we're telling him that."

While Gibbs and Payton were quick to fall on their playbook, Ravens coach Brian Billick remains defiant.

Baltimore had an opportunity to spring a huge upset Monday night, but the Patriots remained unbeaten by rallying for a 27-24 victory that featured some fourth-down conversions down the stretch.

On a fourth-and-1, the Ravens appeared to stuff Tom Brady on a quarterback sneak, only to have the critical stop nullified when officials ruled Baltimore called a timeout before the snap.

"We didn't feel we were in the right configuration," Billick said. "We kind of knew what they were going to do and felt like we needed a better call, I guess."

Billick bristled when asked whether he or defensive coordinator Rex Ryan called the fateful timeout.

"We called the timeout," he said. "If he Brady had gotten the yard, you would've been screaming, 'Why don't you call a timeout?' So let's make sure we don't have revisionist history here."

Even in victory, Giants coach Tom Coughlin was questioned about his clock management after beating the Bears 21-16.

Trailing 16-14, New York had a first down on Chicago's 2-yard line with 1:37 remaining and the Bears down to their final timeout.

Instead of letting the clock wind down and bringing Lawrence Tynes on for a chip-shot field goal to win the game, the Giants scored immediately on a Reuben Droughns run, leaving plenty of time for the Bears.

"I didn't want them to be within a field goal," Coughlin said. "The idea was, I wanted a TD and that is how we played it."

Although the Giants hung on, the Bears reeled off 10 plays on a final drive that reached the New York 28 before stalling.

By the way, Tynes has converted 32 of 33 career field-goal attempts from less than 30 yards out during the regular season.

While Payton and Gibbs remain mired deep in self-analysis, Coughlin and Billick move on to another Sunday - and a fresh slate of decisions sure to be second-guessed.

Reporter Ira Kaufman can be reached at (813) 259-7833 or ikaufman@tampatrib.com.

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