By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Bill Belichick’s thinly disguised admission that Peyton Manning was too much for New England’s patched-up defense was a gutsy decision shy of a full-fledged confession.
If New England’s head coach had come clean, he would have ordered his defense to take a dive. That’s what Lee Hardman did in 1994 when his Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions were in a bind vs. Western Montana in the semifinals of the NAIA playoffs.
At the time, somebody wrote that Hardman’s decision was “brilliant and outrageous.” The late sportscaster Jim Elder shared the details with former Arkansas coach Lou Holtz who raved about Hardman’s ingenuity and the courage it took to fly in the face of conventional wisdom.
Even though Hardman gave the “Don’t tackle them. Let them score” order to his defensive coach, it was third-string quarterback Bruce Swinton Jr. who put the bug in Hardman’s ear. At the time, Western Montana led UAPB 46-45 and had the ball at the Golden Lions’ 19 with less than 90 seconds to play.
Hardman said it only took him “one-half of a tenth of a second” to embrace Swinton’s suggestion and pass the word to coach La’Traia Jones.
Trying to run out the clock with the fullback straight ahead, Western Montana handed the ball to Paul Snow. His uncontested TD run and the extra point made it 53-45.
“As soon as the ball came up I knew exactly what was happening because nobody moved,” said Western Montana coach Bob Beers. “I wanted him to fall down, but it was too late and I couldn’t tell him.”
In the pressbox, a reporter said Snow’s TD looked fishy. Impossible, somebody argued, no coach would employ such strategy. After the game, Hardman confirmed the details.
The Golden Lions took the ensuing kickoff, drove the length of the field for a touchdown, added a two-point conversion and won 60-53 in overtime. In today’s world of instant messaging and camera phones, imagine the flak if Hardman’s “hands-off” order had backfired.
Belichick is being second-guessed for telling Tom Brady to dump a pass to Kevin Faulk on fourth-and-two with barely two minutes to play and the Patriots leading 34-28. Faulk came up a yard short at the New England 29 and Manning made the Patriots pay a few plays later with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne.
Belichick said, “We thought we could win on that play.”
He did not say what he must have been thinking, “If we punt, we can’t stop Manning even if he has 70 yards to go.”
Trailing by 17 in the fourth quarter, the Colts twice put together 79-yard scoring drives that lasted 2:04 and 1:49. On the first, Manning was 3-of-3 for 59 yards; on the second, he was 4-of-5 for 44 yards and the Colts added 31 yards on a pass interference.
As football-wise as Belichick is supposed to be, I wonder if it crossed his mind to blow the collective minds of every expert in the country and allow the Colts to score from the 29. Hindsight is 20-20, but the coach then could have turned to one of the best in the NFL and asked Brady to negotiate 30 or 40 yards so that Stephen Gostkowski could try to win the game with a field goal.
Brady said his coach was aggressive when he went for fourth down. Some critics said it was arrogance on the part of the hooded one.
Agree or disagree with the decision, he did it because Manning was too good for the Patriots’ defense.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
