It was Oct. 30, 2002. Then-head coach of the New York Jets Herm Edwards was at the podium for his customary mid-week news conference when he uttered his now famous phrase, “You play to win the game.”
Sixteen years later, Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ head coach June Jones should review Edwards’ epic rant after what happened Saturday night at B.C. Place Stadium.
If you watched it, scroll down past the next paragraph to avoid a sudden spike in your blood pressure.
If you missed it, here’s what happened. With just under a minute to play in the game, and the Ticats leading the Lions 28-21, Jones opted to have kicker Lirim Hajrullahu punt the ball through the endzone for a single point instead of having him attempt what would have been a 44-yard field goal that would have put the game on ice. Hajrullahu had missed a 42-yard field goal early in the second quarter but booted field goals of 50 and 47 yards in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. His punt single put the Cats up 29-21. But B.C. quarterback Jonathon Jennings drove his team down the field in the final minute and hooked up with receiver Bryan Burnham on a 20-yard TD and again on the game-tying two point convert.
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Lions kicker Ty Long drilled the game-winning field goal in the second overtime period and B.C. came away with an extraordinary 35-32 victory.
After the game, Jones admitted that he didn’t think the Lions would score a touchdown and add a two point conversion to send the game to overtime. Forget hindsight being 20/20, it was the wrong decision, period. Jones should have sent out the field goal unit.
Even if Hajrullahu would have missed the 44-yard attempt, B.C. still would have been forced to drive down the field and score a touchdown. Make the field goal and we’re all focusing on the positives of a 7-6 team. Instead, Hamilton is 6-7 and we can only guess what the players are thinking after seeing the look of bewilderment and dejection on their faces after the loss.
Jones’ decision was, and still is, mystifying. Ticats fans can only hope and pray that Jones will learn from his costly mistake.
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