Do's and Don'ts for Tom Coughlin and Dan Quinn

It’s often said that NFL games are typically decided by just a handful of plays. Teams are so evenly matched that a big play on offense or defense -- or in the case of the Giants and Falcons’ week one games, a big snafu by a head coach -- is often the difference in contests.

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin spent the last few days getting eviscerated on television, radio, the Internet, your mom’s Facebook news feed and several other mediums for the Giants’ reprehensible clock management skills and decision-making at the end of last week’s loss to the Cowboys, a game they were leading by 10 points late in the fourth quarter.

To briefly recap: Giants quarterback Eli Manning lost track of how many timeouts the Cowboys had -- thanks, in part to a stupid rule that allowed the Cowboys to not have to burn a timeout to stop the clock after they had committed a penalty -- and so he instructed Giants running back Rashad Jennings to not score from the 1 yard line, but to instead fall short so that the Cowboys would have to burn their remaining timeouts.

Dumb? You betcha, not least because a touchdown would have put the Giants up by 10 points with about 90 seconds left. The game, essentially, would have been over. As we all know by now, the Giants settled for a field goal and then rolled over like dogs looking for a belly rub as Tony Romo led the Cowboys on the game-winning drive, with Dallas winning by 1 point.

Contrast that with what happened in the Philadelphia-Atlanta game. The Falcons had the game well in hand, leading 20-3 at the half -- unlike the Giants, who were damn lucky to ever be ahead -- and almost coughed it away against the Eagles. The coaching play that made a huge difference? It was by the Eagles, not the Falcons.

Eagles coach Chip Kelly was indecisive about running out placekicker Cody Parkey to attempt a go-ahead 44-yard field goal attempt with 2:33 left. If Parkey had the usual time to prepare, the Eagles had a great chance of taking a lead late in the game.

Would the Eagles have held on to win? Hard to say and mostly moot. The point is how the respective postgame narratives developed for Tom Coughlin and Falcons head coach Dan Quinn.

The Giants’ defense was flocking to the ball for most of the game against Dallas, causing turnovers. But the postgame focus was all on Coughlin, Manning and the Giants’ late-game antics. Meanwhile, Jon Gruden couldn’t stop marveling at how the Falcons’ defense flocked to the ball for most of the game against Philadelphia, causing turnovers. Thanks to Chip Kelly’s coaching snafu, that largely remained the narrative for Dan Quinn, the former Seahawks defensive coordinator who was coaching his first game for the Falcons.

Atlanta almost blew a huge lead at home, while the Giants almost held onto a moderate lead on the road. One or two plays made all the difference in how Coughlin and Quinn were portrayed in the media in the ensuing days. And as it turns out, neither of them had much to do with the key, late plays that made the difference in the outcomes of their games.

Coughlin didn’t tell Jennings not to score. And Quinn didn’t tell Chip Kelly to hem and haw about whether to attempt that go-ahead field goal. Regardless, Coughlin came out of the loss to the Cowboys looking to some like an over-the-hill coach, while Quinn came out of the win against the Eagles looking to most like a young upstart who has -- grrr!! -- energized his team.

As coaches, they can only do so much to affect the outcomes of the games. Still, here are some advisable Do’s and Don’ts for Coughlin and Quinn as the Giants hold their home opener against the Falcons. As the coach of the visiting team, we’ll start with Quinn.

Quinn:
Do: expect Giants fans to be loud for the home opener.
Don’t: forget, you're not playing at home, so you can't pipe in fake fan noise.

Do: keep feeding the rock to rookie running back Tevin Coleman
Don't: make me regret my decision to bench Devonta Freeman (and his 1.8 yards per carry) in fantasy football.

Do: blitz rookie defensive end Vic Beasley Jr. as often as possible.
Don't: be surprised if Giants rookie left tackle Ereck Flowers holds his own.

Do: double team Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
Don't: miss Beckham in pregame warmups; he likes to put on a show catching balls with his teeth.

Do: throw the ball to Julio Jones as often as possible.
Don't: take after Jon Gruden and start calling him "Hammering Julio."

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As for Coughlin:
Do: pray your defense has more sacks this week than it did against the Cowboys (zero).
Don’t: blitz and leave Julio Jones covered by less than five people.

Do: run the ball more than you did last week (22 totes).
Don't: worry, running across the goal line will not vaporize your players.

Do: get more touches for Odell Beckham Jr.
Don't: even think about calling Preston Parker's number on third down.

Do: tell your defensive players to continue flying to the ball.
Don't: get distracted if your team gets hosed on another bogus pass interference call.

Do: go for it on fourth down and short on the Falcons' side of the field.
Don't: settle for four field goals again.

Do: know where your red challenge flag is at all times.
Don't: stick it in your white tube sock, Cliff Clavin.

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