Monday, February 02, 2015

My two cents worth on the Super Bowl

     I haven't watched a football game in several years now and it's been 5 or 6 since I've seen a Super Bowl game.  Even so I know the score and who won and how the game ended.  The coach was thinking that the opponents were expecting a run so a pass might have a higher than average chance of working.  If it had he would be called gutsy and brilliant.  The play didn't work  and the play is being heralded as one of the worst decisions in history of professional football.  That is a little harsh but some decision has to be the worst one and this decision certainly has some qualifications.  At first I thought it might have been just sour grapes over a favored team losing but then I remembered a game I played in as a youngster.
    The team I was playing for was a few points behind and the ball was about a foot or less from the goal line and we had a first down.  The game was almost over.  I was playing a position I don't believe exists anymore.  It was called right half back then.  I was supposed to take the handoff.  The right end was supposed to drive his man to the right and the tackle was supposed to drive his man to the left and I was supposed to drive my way through the hole.  The only problem with the plan was the tackle on defense was a monster,  He was not only big but he was tall and he moved really quick.   I got back to the line of scrimmage and that was it.
   We called the same plan and had the same results.  We tried it the third time and I ended up in the same spot.  The quarterback was frustrated.  No one knew what to do.  It was a fact that if I couldn't get the ball across the goal line no one on our time could.  The decision was made to call a different plan but I said "no".  All three times we ran the play we had the exact same results.  I had memorized everyone's reactions.  "Let's run it again," I begged, "I saw something and I know I can score."  My plea prevailed.  I took the snap and the linemen made contact with their men just as before.  The hole opened up just as it had in the previous three plays.  As played I cut to my right to drive through the hole and just as it has previously the hole began to close.  Their big man was about to do to me what he had done three times before. 
  Immediately after I had cut to my right I made a quick turn to my left, jumped over my   lineman into the space vacated by their big man.  We won.
   The point of this story is not that I was the team hero that day but that when the game is on the line the best play is to do what you do best and use your weakness to your advantage. 
      

    

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