‘I Don’t Know What They’re Doing!’ Tom Brady Rips Detroit Lions Coach Dan Campbell For NFC Championship Game ‘Aggressiveness’
FRISCO – The Dallas Cowboys are well-aware of how Dan Campbell’s devotion to “go-for-it” aggressiveness can backfire; the coach’s insistence on such a thing led to his late-season decision to foolishly try three straight 2-point conversions in a Detroit Lions loss at AT&T Stadium.
In the NFC Championship Game, Campbell was at it again. And he’s drawing the ire of none other than Tom Brady as a result of his gaffes.
“I don’t know what they’re doing,” Brady said to himself at one point in what would be a 34-31 Detroit loss at San Francisco, allowing the Niners to advance to the Super Bowl.
Up 14 in the third quarter, the Lions missed a 4th-and-2 “go-for-it” at the 28 when Josh Reynolds dropped a pass. Later in the fourth quarter, Campbell passed on a chance for Michael Badgley to break a 24-24 tie with a 47-yard field goal. Instead, he kept his offense on the field needing three yards.
And there was more …
With 65 seconds remaining, the Lions ran the ball at the 1. After falling short of the end zone, they burned a timeout before scoring a touchdown on fourth down. Doing that left them with no chance to force a 49ers punt after failing to recover the onside kick.
“The handoff there late in the game, that was the one I didn’t understand,” Brady said. “Unless you saw some incredible look to walk the ball in, you just can’t take the chance that you’re gonna be stopped short and keep the clock running. You just can’t get the ball back.
“So that was the one I just said, ‘I don’t know what they’re doing.’ I thought it was just a flat-out error.”
