As I See It: Art Schlichter
As part of a new running feature, each Friday one franchise owner will have the opportunity to write whatever they want in this space. This week’s columnist is the gambling aficionado Art Schlichter. Art, take it away….
As an avid watcher of many games of NFL football each week, I am in a perpetual state of shock at the game management tactics and strategies employed by head coaches. It’s almost as if coaches have no idea of the score at any point in the game.
The very first game of the season provides a great example. Trailing 14.5-14 at home to Minnesota, New Orleans took possession and began to march down the field for the winning field goal. With first-and-10 at the Minnesota 46 and 1:49 remaining, coach Sean Payton ordered Drew Brees to take a knee and kill the clock, dooming the Saints to defeat when they needed only a few more yards to attempt the winning kick. You have to wonder what Payton was doing in that situation.
The following week, Payton was again the goat as he kicked a field goal with 2 seconds left while trailing 26.5-22 in San Francisco. Any kid who plays Madden will tell you that’s the dumbest possible coaching move! The Saints lost 26.5-25 to drop to 0-2. To close observers of the NFL, this is no surprise after New Orleans’s disappointing 8-8 finish last season; Sean Payton needs to win some games if he expects to keep his job.
In Buffalo in Week 1, first-year Bills coach Chan Gailey showed the hometown fans that he is completely clueless by ordering the team to take a safety while leading by a mere half-point in the fourth quarter; the deuce handed Miami a 15-13.5 victory.
This year, I have noticed that even the officials seem to have no concept of the score. In week 1 in Pittsburgh, the officials ordered overtime to be played despite Pittsburgh holding an 11-9 lead over Atlanta! The hometown fans went insane, and I don’t blame them! Fortunately, the Steelers scored a touchdown to win 17-9.
In another controversial Saints game, the Falcons led New Orleans 28-24 at the end of regulation. Nevertheless, the officials ordered the teams to play overtime! Sean Payton confirmed his ineptitude as he launched a field goal that would have cut it to 28-27, Atlanta. Luckily for him, the kick was no good, as the Saints’ only chance to win was by scoring a touchdown since the officials were going to end the game after one more score. It didn’t matter, as Atlanta marched down the field and kicked a field goal to win 31-24.
At this point, I am so confused by the calls of the league’s coaches and the bizarre insistence on overtime by the officials that I am beginning the think the score is not displayed in NFL stadiums. Commissioner Roger Goodell needs to rectify this problem immediately, as it is inexcusable that a multi-billion dollar industry can’t even afford a scoreboard.
Hopefully we won’t see any more of these bizarre situations this weekend. Enjoy the games.
