John T. Reed’s football coaching blog

On 1/9/16, the Bengals seemingly had their wild card playoff game against Pittsburgh won. Cincinnati was up 16-15 and the Steelers were at the Bengals’ 47 yard line with :22 left in the game. It was 1st & 10, but Pitt QB Rothlisberger had been badly hurt earlier in the game and essentially could not pass effectively. Incomplete pass—good for 30 yards His pass on the next play was incomplete—too high—but was, in effect, turned into a 15-yard completion by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict who injured (concussion) Pitt Receiver Antonio Brown with an unnecessary roughness hit to the head. That moved...

Here is Minnesota’s last series (end of game) against Arizona in Thursday Night Football:1st and 10 at ARI 31(0:23 - 4th) (Shotgun) T.Bridgewater pass incomplete short left to S.Diggs2nd and 10 at ARI 31(0:18 - 4th) (Shotgun) T.Bridgewater pass incomplete short right to J.Wright3rd and 10 at ARI 31(0:13 - 4th) (Shotgun) T.Bridgewater sacked at ARZ 38 for -7 yards (D.Freeney). FUMBLES (D.Freeney), RECOVERED by ARZ-C.Campbell at ARZ 36. C.Campbell to ARZ 36 for no gain (M.Harris)At the time they were trailing 23-20 and had no timeouts left.A field goal ties it. From the 31the distance of the kick would...

There was a basic error in Monday Night Football tonight by the Giants, reminiscent of the four fumbled center-QB exchange in Saturday’s Army-Navy Game. The announcers semeed to blame Eli Manning. It was the running back’s fault, not Manning. . I just looked this up in my football books to point out what page it’s on. I could not find it! I can’t believe that. Every running back I ever coached will surely tell you I taught it to them a million times. . To receive a handoff, the running back focuses his eyes on the hole he is running...

Tomorrow is the Army-Navy Game. West Point grads often end correspondence to other West Point grads with the words “Beat Navy.” I don’t. I’m a writer. We do not use cliches of that nature. Navy grads do the same only “Beat Army.” Some Navy grads end correspondence to me that way. I refused to bet with Ross Perot on the Army-Navy Game In 1977, I had dinner with Ross Perot who was the Bill Gates of the time. He is an Annapolis grad. He tried to get me to bet with him on the Army-Navy game. I declined explaining that...

I did not watch Monday Night Football on 12/7/15—Cowboys-Redskins, but I heard about it.  1:26 left in the game 1st & 10 Dallas ball at the Skins’ 15 because of a fumble turnover. Score tied at 9. Washington has two timeouts left. Is this take a-knee? No. When your opponent has two timeouts, you can’t take a knee until you get a fist down and there is :48 or less left left in the game. It’s not sweep-slide period either. That requires 1:04 left. You need to get one more first down. On first down, the Cowboys ran out of bounds for 9...