By Ryan “The Goose” Gosiker
It feels more common now than ever before that fans find themselves complaining about coaching decisions. A ton of it is “Monday Morning Quarterbacking” which means they wait until the decision has been made and the results play themselves out to offer their insight. Do not befriend these individuals.
The art of coaching is making difficult decisions when they are needed. That is quite literally what they get paid to do. I understand, their decisions can affect wins and losses, but most of the complainers come from the “it killed my fantasy team or lost me my parlay” tree. Again, do not befriend these people, turn away, and enjoy the rest of your day. These are split-second decisions that need to be made by intelligent people. Some make more incorrect decisions than others. Others hide behind analytics which is most frequent in baseball. As fans, we have to live with decisions. If it goes right, we go crazy, and if it goes wrong, we want the coach’s head on a stick the next day. Some coaches have an ultra-aggressive decision-making process while some are more risk averse. Many people have questioned Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll and his lack of aggressiveness from his first year to this one. Sure, has he been less aggressive? Without question, yes. However, he has a totally different team from last season. One that, despite their current two game win streak, is one that has struggled and seen everything work against them. If Daboll woke up tomorrow and said the grass was green, it would turn purple. It has just been one of those seasons that no matter his decision, the wrong result would be chosen every time. If he went for it on most 4th and shorts and they got stopped, people would run him out of town. Robert Saleh for the Jets has made some bone-scratching decisions.
We get taught as kids that nobody is perfect and that our mistakes do not define us, and it is all about how we respond to adversity. Yet, for a sports team, which serves the singular purpose of someone to root for unless you’re a degenerate gambler who relies on them for income, we give the coaches 0 room to make mistakes. We expect perfection and nothing less. Despite what you’ll hear from some fans, they know a lot more about football than 98% of us, so their decisions are not empty ones, they come with thought, knowledge, and feel for the game. There are some that constantly make poor decisions and they deserve to be criticized. A vast majority need some room from their fans to make the best and most educated decision they can.
Check out my sports show: “Game Time with The Goose” every Saturday from 8:00 to 9:00 AM on WTBQ AM 1110 FM 93.5 and on WGHT Radio with co-host Zach Kruk, Sports Director of WTBQ and WGHT!
