SMART PLAY OR BAD SPORTSMANSHIP?

Kansas City Running Back Tackles Himself to Win

I am going to use the 57th Super Bowel as an excuse to take a wide detour away from my usual topics to address the question of sportsmanship. Is it possible that the smart play may be the wrong play?

With about three minutes left on the clock, Kansas City running back Jerick McKinnon was on the Eagles’ five yard line heading at full speed for the wide open end zone. Had he continued he would have scored what might have been the winning touchdown. However, that would have left maybe two minutes remaining on the clock during which the Philadelphia Eagles might have been able to score a tying touchdown that would have pushed the game into overtime.

To anyone familiar with modern football, it quickly became obvious that even as he was running for the goal line, the amount of remaining time and the possibility that Philadelphia might still score was running through McKinnon’s mind. Suddenly, it all clicked in his brain and he immediately threw himself on the ground, effectively tackling himself.

By doing so, he gave Kansas City the ability to control the timing of the scoring of what would be the winning points. Quarterback Mahomes ran a couple of plays obviously aimed at eating up time and surely NOT at scoring. Finally, the field goal kicker came in to score the winning points with about eight seconds left on the clock.

Of course, it was a great victory for Kansas City and particularly for Mahomes who had overcome the pain of injuries to notch the win.

But was it fair? Did the clever strategic maneuver that assured the victory perhaps cheapen it in a way?

I played football in high school and college in the 1950s and ‘60s. Noooo, I don’t for a moment mean to suggest that the game I played was even on the same planet as the NFL of today. Nor, were I and my teammates in it for the money since there was no money.

Maybe that is why we played straight football rather than tackling ourselves and maneuvering to manipulate the clock. Perhaps we lost some games we might have won, but when we did win we did so fair and square without insulting or cheating our worthy opponents.

For Andy Reid, the Kansas City coach, a win is a win as long as you get it legally. His team won under the prevailing rules and that will produce a lot of good results for him and his team. But what of Mahomes? He is a magnificent player, one of the best of all time. He has known triumph and disaster. Does he feel entirely good about the way his team won? I doubt it.

More importantly, what of the American public, especially the younger members of the public. Wouldn’t it have been better for them to see a win based fully on strength and skill and good sportsmanship rather than on tackling oneself and manipulating the clock even though to do so is legal?