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Marino's outburst understandable
Posted: Thursday December 09, 1999 06:48 PM
From a coach's standpoint, Dan Marino's little outburst at the media after the Miami Dolphins' late-game loss to the Indianapolis Colts was understandable. It was just Marino showing his competitive fire. Marino has since apologized for walking out of the postgame press conference after he said this: "These questions are ridiculous. I'll tell you how tough it is. You work your butt off all week and then you lose a game like that by three points. ... That's how tough it is. But you wouldn't know, would you?" Trust me, press conferences for losing coaches and players are no picnic. I know it's the duty of the press to report what happened and ask questions, but many of the repetitive inquiries of the "how do you feel" variety seem stupid to the players and coaches. Marino's remarks came after he had been asked by a reporter how tough it had been to watch the winning field goal, a 53-yarder by Mike Vanderjagt as time expired, giving the Colts a dramatic 37-34 win over the Dolphins. Marino had just engineered a 66-yard drive to put the Dolphins in position to kick the tying field goal, a 32-yarder by Olindo Mare. But Peyton Manning was able to use the remaining 32 seconds to get Vanderjagt in position for the long game-winner, which was no gimme. Imagine that you've played your guts out, laying it on the line for 60 minutes. You've played well and helped your team come back, you lose in the final seconds on something you can't control, and then you're asked how you feel. Marino's outburst was just symptomatic of his frustration. If the Dolphins had won, they would be tied with the Colts at 9-3 for the AFC East lead. But the loss puts the Dolphins at 8-4 and the Colts at 10-2, with a two-game lead in the division. Marino also knows how important the home-field advantage is for the playoffs as well as the first-round bye. All of a sudden, a few seconds and a field goal dagger to the heart puts them well behind the Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars for the best record in the AFC and the home-field advantage. For the losing team, a press conference is like a funeral. You want to say the right things, but invariably they sometimes come out the wrong way. From the reporter's perspective, it's just another game-winning field goal to be reported without emotion. On the other side, it's the livelihood of the coaches and players, their lives. Buccaneers should take NFC Central leadI like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the big matchup between the Bucs and the Detroit Lions, who are tied for the NFC Central lead at 7-4. To consistently win games, an NFL team needs four things: A solid defense; a sound running game; a mistake-free kicking game; and a passing game that doesn't kill the team's chances to win by turning the ball over. With rookie quarterback Shaun King in place and Eric Zeier set to return from injury, Tampa Bay has all those ingredients, and they are surging. With Tampa Bay at home, they definitely have the advantage. Ron Meyer, a former NFL head coach, is a pro football analyst with CNN/SI and appears weekly on CNN's NFL Preview. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
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