Playoff Play Calling Dooms Teams

What were these coaches thinking?

As the Flu Bozo settled in on the couch with a bottle of Nyquil in one hand and a Coors Light in the other, I was quickly reminded of the legend of Michael Jordan. Years ago against Cleveland, a timeout was called to set up the final play of the game and coach Phil Jackson began drawing up a play in which MJ and Pippen would be decoys and Toni Kukoc, the European wonder would take the final shot. After 2 minutes of chalkboard drawings, Michael leaned in, erased the board with his hand and screamed “GIVE ME THE F-ING BALL”!!!… Jackson nodded; MJ took the ball and dropped the game winner over Craig Ehlo. Apparently this lesson was lost on all the coaches on Saturday and Sunday and instead of the stars making the plays to secure legacies, we were left with mid level exemption players getting the lion’s share of touches.

Seattle played Dallas on Saturday and at times it appeared Brian Schottenheimer the offensive coordinator for Seattle, was trying his hardest to get Chris Carson a 100 yard rushing game and make sure Russell Wilson was relegated to passing on 3rd and long every time. Wilson is an MVP candidate, is a Houdini with the football, a Super Bowl winner and has pulled off historic comebacks for 6 years but instead of letting him lead the team, they ran the great Chris Carson directly into the arms of Cowboy lineman. Thirteen rushes for 20 yards (longest-5 yards) for this stud running back who barely rushed for 1000 yards this year. Wilson tried in vain to mount a comeback late in the game but ran out of clock. Seattle basically did the Cowboys defense a favor and instead of containing Wilson, they sat back and watched 24 total runs for 74 yards. What a waste of an iconic QB and his talents.

The Chargers had a chance to put the game away early in Baltimore but they too suffered from an aversion to put the ball in the superstar QBs hand. At one point inside the 5 yard line they ran the ball 3 straight times before settling for a field goal. I guess I didn’t realize Mark Sanchez was playing QB for the Chargers, not a future hall of famer, current pro bowler and top 3 MVP candidate? Some scrub named Ekelar was given 11 rushing attempts for a whopping 29 yards? At some point don’t you have to put the ball in the hands of your stars instead of the scrubs? In the same game, we watched the shine come off Lamar Jackson as he faced a defense for the 2nd time and it was clear he could not throw. Despite being sacked 7 times the Ravens insisted on having him drop back time and again only to get stuffed again and again. At some point you would think the play callers would have decided to only have him roll out so he could run if nobody was open, but Harbaugh and company remained steadfast that Jackson take the traditional 3-5 step drop so he can get laid out on his back time and again or fumble (three times) or throw interceptions. It was amazing to see superstar QBs like Wilson and Rivers treated like they were rookies in their first playoff game and a rookie QB treated like he was an experienced veteran. Perhaps these coaches out think and out scheme themselves in the heat of the game. However, at some point Russell Wilson needs to walk to the sideline and confront the coaches and say “GIVE ME THE F-ING BALL!!!”

-BSB