It is the holiday season, which means that rule about being nicer to your fellow man is in the books for the next four weeks.
But I just can't help myself. Not when it comes to Kansas City Chiefs coach Herm Edwards.
One bad decision might cause the Chiefs to miss out on the playoffs. (US Presswire) Did the Thanksgiving Day turkey he ate mess with his mind? Wasn't it cooked enough? How else can we explain his boneheaded decision to pass on a potential game-tying field goal to go for a first down on fourth-and-1 late in the game?
It was a decision that will probably keep his team out of the playoffs -- and bring a ton of heat deservedly onto his head. Facing a fourth-and-1 from the Oakland 23 and trailing by 3 with a little under five minutes left, Edwards passed on a field goal.
That had a lot to do with his struggling kicker Dave Rayner, who had missed from 33 yards out earlier in the quarter. The hesitation was justified. The decision was not.
If a kicker is on your NFL roster, he needs to kick in those situations, no matter how bad he has been on the day or the year. Tie the game up and go from there.
Kirk Morrison stoned Kolby Smith on the fourth-down play and the Raiders took over and ran out the clock.
For that, Herm Edwards gets an individual F in my grades this week. Since I worked on Thanksgiving Day, I spent Sunday in front of the satellite dish, which meant I watched the whole thing play out in front of me.
I found myself yelling at Edwards. "What the heck are you doing?" I screamed to nobody.
Here's what he was doing: Getting his team into a position of having to run the table to even get a sniff of the postseason. Horrible coaching decisions drive me nuts.