Bernstein: What Lovie Can't See
It's a strange feeling, knowing that I am more powerful than an NFL coach during the game.
He is grimly pacing the sidelines, squinting at the controlled mayhem, feeling the weight of every decision he makes.
I, however, am on my couch, perhaps without pants, nibbling almonds and peeling curls of string cheese. Or, I am on the recumbent bike in the basement, letting football excitement pull me through the dull rigors of cardio.
And, amazingly, I'm in a better position to make important decisions for the team than he is.
Buried deep within the Trib's story today about Lovie Smith's failure to challenge on Jay Cutler's apparent scoring sneak is this: "NFL rules mandate that only a monitor with the live game feed can be used by coaches in the box. That means they're seeing the same thing fans are seeing in their living room."
I have believed for some time that watching football on TV is superior to actually attending the game. I understand the human psychological need to lose oneself in collective emotion and all that, but it's just not worth the cost, the time, the cold, the bathroom lines, the profane drunks and the inability to get a good look at what's actually happening.
What does it say about the game that teams are in an arms-race of sorts to construct larger and larger screens for you to watch while at the stadium? The jumbotrons in Dallas are massive to the point of absurdity -- their very presence screaming at you, "Go home, idiot!"
No less crazy is the fact that coaches can't ever seem to answer a postgame question without admitting that they, themselves, need to go home and watch the game again on TV to figure out what happened. "I have to look at the film," blah blah.
We will never know which voice among the assistants in the booth is responsible for telling Smith whether or not to challenge a call. Smith shocked us all yesterday with his admission of error, as he protected those advising him, even as stern words were exchanged in the office, you can bet.
What this also means is that good teams playing higher-national-profile games have better information than those playing a fourth-tier regional affair on Fox. Bigger games have more cameras and better directors, meaning a higher liklihood that a good look exists and is shown quickly. Games should not be decided by a man at a console in a truck having fast fingers, as it seems they can be.
Smith and other head coaches gaze at the stadium screens, too, hoping the in-house production team can be a resource. Eighty thousand or so fans see a borderline play at the same time, their response often compelling a coach to act.
As we saw with the Cutler play, these calls affect games, seasons and careers. Rather than rely on helpers watching TV in a box at the game to radio down advice on what to do, the best remedy for uncertainty is simple: coaches should have what you and I have -- a nice, clear, dedicated HDTV right there for him on the sidelines.
Or Lovie can come over and join me on the couch. I hope he likes string cheese.
