Stupid Play?
November 11th, 2009
When Tanard Jackson picked off Aaron Rodgers to end the game with his pick-six Sunday, Joe thought right away he should have taken a knee. The game was over.
Joe even saw roughly half of Jackson’s teammates waving frantically and pointing to the ground just after he caught the interception for him to hit the dirt.
It wasn’t a wise play, but Joe would hardly call that the stupidest play of the week like Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports did.
There were many candidates this week, including Giants coach Tom Coughlin for his decision to run on third-and-goal late in the fourth quarter instead of passing (subsequently settling for a field goal) in New York’s eventual 21-20 loss to San Diego. Then there was Philadelphia coach Andy Reid’s decision to kick a field goal late in his team’s 20-16 loss to Dallas. New England escaped consideration by one second when Tom Brady’s last-second pass in the first half against Miami fell incomplete with the narrowest amount of time left to get a field goal. Perhaps one of those should win based on the fact that all of them involved people who are paid to break down situational football. However, Tampa Bay safety Tanard Jackson wins the dubious honor because he is the latest player to screw up an end-of-game interception situation. With the Bucs up by 3 points with 52 seconds remaining and Green Bay out of timeouts, Jackson intercepted Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and returned the ball 35 yards for a touchdown. Fun play, no doubt. However, if Jackson had simply fallen to the ground, the Bucs could have run one play, taken a knee and walked away from the game. Because Jackson scored, the Bucs had to go back out on the field for six more plays by the Packers. While some people will defend the move by saying Tampa Bay could have messed up the exchange as it was trying to take a knee, that’s less likely as Green Bay scoring twice. Further, Jackson exposed his teammates to unnecessary injury.
It was an exciting play to Joe and of course the crowd went crazy. Should Jackson had gone down to end the game? Sure. But hell, the Bucs were 0-7. What was the big harm?
November 11th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I’m surprised by all the attention that has been given to Jackson’s return. It happens all the time — the nail in the coffin runback. I guess it’s because the Bucs were 0-7 and everybody was expecting a disaster to occur. If it was one of the “good” teams, nobody would be saying a word.
I have no problem with Jackson’s runback. He wasn’t in traffic so the chances of a fumble on the Bucs end of the field was remote. Now if he had intercepted in the end zone or tried to lateral, that another story.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I think Jackson was just playing with his instincts. Who cares if the guy ran it back. What matters is that they won the game.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
With all the no effort talk from fans, I think it was great for T Jack to take it to the house. He had to put an exclamation point on the first victory. It kind of released all of the built up frustration at once. Kudos to T Jack.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
What an over-thinker. I was yelling for T-Jack to go down but who had the best view of the field? T-Jack did. And he obviously saw a pretty clear lane to the endzone. Its not like he broke a lot of tackles to get there… How can it be a “stupid play” if he scored a TD on it?
November 11th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Was it exciting? Sure. But the smart play was to kneel down. If GB had 2 minutes left and one or two Time Outs, then sure, its the “nail in the coffin.” But since there was about 50 seconds left and GB didn’t have time outs, then all we needed was a kneel from TJackson and a kneel from Freeman. With two guys watching to make sure he doesn’t fumble the snap, I’m pretty certain that was the safest route to a victory.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter because we won. However, it was a stupid and selfish decision to run it back.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
He should have gone to the ground, but the way the Bucs have been playing, these guys need to show a little killer instint. No harm, no foul.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
man why is everyone hatin’ on T Jack. If we were 7-0 now this wouldnt even be a topic of conversation now would it. The point is we won our first game and our D finally showed some signs of life. Get over it H8ter all’s well that ends well.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Hey even if a fat-ass nose guard comes up with the ball and stumbles 7 yards with it it’s a great play. Screw all the over-thinking here guys….they were 0-7, what is wrong with a knife in the Packer’s heart?
Add to that the positive feeling it added to the team-the fans-that kind of stuff is priceless.
Yeah I’m forever hearing the guys in the booth whine when somebody picks one off in the endzone and charges upfield, or picks it off on 4th down “He should have just batted it to the ground!!” but you know what-if I were-if you were-hell if my Grandma -was in that same position you’d do the same exact thing!
Oh yeah someone tell Jason Cole he’s a tool for me will ya?
November 11th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Funny Gino, but that is why you and your grandmother don’t play the game professionally.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed the nail in the coffin TD, T.Jack If givin the chance again, “DO IT” !!
November 11th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I loved it ! Back off Buc fans, we won ! Some of you will never be happy!
November 11th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
They should look to score anytime they get the ball, unless they pick it off in the endzone or something. They weren’t even across the 50.
Jason Cole is obviously a Packers homer and he would want the same thing if it was his team…hypocrite.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Funny how there was no mention of Seattle’s Josh Wilson’s 61-yard interception run back with 22 sec. left when Seattle was leading by 5 over Detroit. It allowed Seattle to cover the spread, which was a very, very good thing. Thanks Josh.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Don’t worry about it oar Grandma’s long gone–she was only about 5 feet tall-certainly not an NFL candidate but I’m quite sure she’d drive your sorry ass back seven yards at the snap!
November 11th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Of course he should have run it in. This team needs to develop a “go for the jugular mentality” This is a good step in the right direction.
I hope it continues
November 11th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
If he scored because of an incentive in his contract for TDs then the Glazers may call it a dumb play and cut him for getting in their bank account.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
I was surrounded by FudgePacker fans at the game who, in true Green Bay fashion were obnoxious, so the touchdown allowed me the opportunity to shove it in their faces. There is nothing more exciting than a Pick Six – especially one that puts the nail in the coffin. Tanard – don’t listen to these losers!
November 12th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Gino, “my sorry ass”, who pissed in your cheerio’s?
November 12th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I too believe it’s an instinctive play ,where, if you see the open field in front of you you go for it. Lot’s of the folks make a good case for the Bucs needing excitement and positive plays and I agree. An interception and consequent “going down” would not have given the Bucs as much positive motivation and hope as a “pic six” did. And who knows as the defining play at the end of the game maybe there’s some psychological carryover…we’ll see.