Which DB messed up? Good question
Dallas Cowboys' Dez Bryant scores a touchdown against the Giants during the second half of an NFL football game. (Dec. 11, 2011) Credit: AP
Dez Bryant was as wide-open as the Texas prairie when he caught a 50-yard touchdown pass against the Giants on Sunday night and high-stepped into the end zone. Clearly there was a breakdown -- another breakdown -- in the Giants' secondary on the play. But figuring out the answer to where things went wrong has turned into a regular whodunit.
In his Tuesday radio appearance, safety Antrel Rolle insisted he was in the right spot on the play. He came down and covered an in route, abandoning the deep part of the field.
If Rolle was right, cornerback Corey Webster must have been wrong for also taking the underneath route and allowing Bryant to run past him. But Thursday, Webster said he was in the right spot, too.
Two guys covering one and leaving the dangerous Bryant all by his lonesome for a critical touchdown that could have ended the Giants' playoff chances? How can that be? Can two rights make a wrong?
"Now you have another question," Webster said. "He said it. I said it. I don't know. I don't have all the answers, man. I try. I try to answer the questions as best as possible."
The answer is communication. Clearly Webster and Rolle both thought the defense was playing a scheme other than the one it actually was playing. Where those signals got crossed -- from the sideline, in the huddle, between the two players -- is impossible to deduce. So is trying to figure out who was playing the look that was called and who wasn't.
Of course, in Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians," there is no single culprit. Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell gave a similar explanation. He said the Giants tried to give Dallas a "special look" that backfired.
"They got confused on the look," Fewell said. "All 11 players were responsible for this call and all 11 players did not execute the call. That's why the play was a big play for Dallas . . . We didn't execute the call, so nobody was in the right spot. All 11 defenders were responsible for being in certain spots and we were not in the right spots."
That doesn't really solve the case. And it does little to explain how Webster and Rolle can both be right . . . and both be wrong. Neither would point the finger at the other, but neither was willing to claim responsibility.
Some mysteries are eternal.
