Fassel fails Giants

A botched "squib" kickoff by kicker Matt Bryant began a domino effect that turned apparent victory into defeat for the New York Giants on Monday night against Dallas.

When the media asked New York Giants head coach Jim Fassel about the kick, he defended Bryant by saying "You can't pin it on one guy."

In this case, however, Fassel is wrong. You can pin it on one guy. That guy is Jim Fassel.

Fassel's bungling of clock management and ill advised play-calling on Monday night should come as no surprise to most loyal Giants' fans. During the 2002 season, Fassel came under severe fire for his ill-fated decisions in mid-season losses to Arizona and Tennessee.

In fact, the organization recognized this weakness this past off-season and hired a former Navy helicopter pilot named Mike Priefer to assist Fassel.

According to a New York Daily News report, Priefer's duties were to include "helping with clock management to helping to decide whether to go for a two-point conversion."

Aren't those things that an NFL head coach, at the highest level of his profession, should be able to handle?

Regardless, the situation has not gotten any better, as evidenced by the debacle on Monday night.

After a Tiki Barber carry moved the ball to the Dallas 12 yard line, Fassel called timeout with 14 seconds remaining on the clock to set up for a field goal.

His reasoning?

"I think we have to be able to make a field goal and save the time out in case we had a bad snap," Fassel said.

Unfortunately, Fassel has still not gotten over the botched snap in the loss to San Francisco in last year's playoffs and his paranoia caused him to make an irrational decision.

In fact, Fassel was so fearful of a botched snap that he was willing to give possession back to Dallas. It also displayed his complete lack of confidence in his players to execute a simple snap and hold.

After the field goal attempt by Bryant went through, there was more confusion to come.

On the ensuing kickoff, Fassel was quoted as saying that he wanted Bryant to kick a "deep middle squib." Try finding that call in any NFL playbook.

Bryant, on the other hand, says he was told to "shoot the ball towards the left corner."

Why the confusion? Isn't there a plan for this late game situation, or is Fassel just completely unprepared?

Either way, Fassel put Bryant in a no-win situation. Though conventional wisdom has held that a squib kick is a conservative and safe play, it is quite the opposite. Once the ball is kicked, it is at the mercy of the ground and will bounce whichever way it pleases.

"On a squib," Bryant told the Newark Star-Ledger, "you don't know. You're kicking it end over end like a watermelon, and you don't know which way it is going to bounce."

Wisely, the Dallas special teamers let the ball bounce out of bounds to give them the ball at the 40-yard line with no time taken off the clock.

One 26-yard completion from Quincy Carter to Antonio Bryant later and Dallas was in position for the eventual game-tying field goal.

It was simply a contrast in coaching ability and poise, as Dallas Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells simply out-coached Fassel.

While Fassel's errors were obvious, Parcells' successes were more hidden.

How is it that a young Dallas special teams unit had the smarts to let the kickoff go out of bounds without touching it? Answer: coaching.

How is it that a second year quarterback and a second year receiver were in perfect sync on a long completion along the sideline to keep the game alive? Answer: coaching.

Parcells has won two Super Bowls by leaving nothing to chance and making special teams a priority in his game plan.

On the other side of the field, the woeful decisions and poor execution by Fassel left the Giants painfully exposed.

This Monday night loss rests squarely on Fassel's shoulders.

If he continues to hinder the progress of a talented Giants team due to lack of preparation and poor game management, he will find himself out of a job.

Even then, though, he'll probably need a packing coach to help him with his bags.