Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots, made another somewhat controversial decision in the 2012 Super Bowl game against the New York Giants. Behind by a score of 17 to 15, the Giants had the ball only a few yards away from scoring a touchdown with about 58 seconds to go, and the Patriots were out of time-outs. At this point, it looked like the Giants were going to run a couple more plays to wind the clock down to a few seconds, and then score an almost sure field goal as time ran out to win 18 to 17. However, Belichick instructed his defense to let the Giants’ runner go into the end zone untouched for a touchdown. (The Giants then failed on a two-point conversion, so the score remained 21 to 17.) This gave the ball back to New England with almost a minute to go.
They failed to score, and the Giants kept their lead, but should Bellichick be criticized for his decision to “give up” the touchdown? Or should Tom Coughlin, the Giants coach, be criticized for not telling his team not to score a touch down?