Tom Coughlin flagged for 'foolish' penalty

Tom Coughlin channeled his inner Earl Weaver at halftime when he came onto the field as the players headed to the locker room and confronted referee Ed Hochuli about a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that was called against him on the Giants bench. The two had a brief but (for Coughlin, at least) heated exchange.

Later, though, Coughlin was mostly apologetic about the incident that could have been the difference between a touchdown and a field goal at the end of the second quarter. Instead of third-and-10 from the 12, the Giants had third-and-25 from the 27 with three seconds left and Josh Brown kicked a 45-yard field goal.

“Too many penalties tonight, starting with mine, which was foolish,” Coughlin said. “I’m taking full responsibility for that. I was wrong.”

Coughlin’s crime was coming too far onto the field. He’s one of the head coaches in the NFL who is often beyond the coaching box on the sideline and regularly encroaches onto the playing surface. He’s hardly ever flagged for it, but apparently that will be a point of emphasis for the officials this season so he got the yellow hankie against the Colts.

“I was out on the field too many times, they warned me about that,” Coughlin said. “But in that situation you’re told by the officials to go ahead and come down if you need to take a timeout when the clock is running out. But that didn’t happen. I guess they threw the flag as far as me leaving the bench area, so I take responsibility for that.”

Coughlin wouldn’t have been trying to call a timeout because the previous play as an incomplete pass that David Carr threw away out of bounds.

“I was wrong,” Coughlin said. “It wasn’t a very smart move.”