Booger McFarland and Joe Tessitore Were Dead Wrong About the Giants’ Flea-Flicker

In Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: Another rough night for Booger McFarland, Eli Manning isn’t dead yet and more.

Are you sure about that, guys?

ESPN

The struggles of ESPN’s new Monday Night Football booth have been well documented this season. Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland have taken their lumps from fans all year long, and last night was no different. 

The clearest example was this third-down play by the Giants in the fourth quarter. They needed 15 yards to pick up the first down and ran a flea-flicker, hoping to catch the Eagles defense napping. The play was blown up by Philly pass rusher Josh Sweat and Eli Manning was forced to throw a two-handed chest pass to Saquon Barkley, who was forced out of bounds for a loss of one. McFarland said the play call made no sense. 

“Well guess what, it’s a long-yardage situation so they’re not going to come up and play the run,” McFarland said.

“Nobody’s buying, as they’re dropping eight,” Tessitore chimed in. 

There’s just one problem: everybody bought it!

The issue there wasn’t that Manning couldn’t find an open receiver, it’s that he didn’t have time to do so. The porous Giants offensive line allowed him to get smothered almost instantly. Nate Solder just couldn’t hold his ground against Sweat. If he had given Eli another fraction of a second to get the pass off, he would have been able to hit Golden Tate streaking down the middle of the field for an easy score that would have given the Giants a two-touchdown lead. 

This animation from the NFL’s “NextGen Stats” shows just how fooled the Philadelphia defense was on the play. The two cornerbacks stayed with their men on the outside but all nine other players jumped up to play the run, including safety Marcus Epps in the middle of the field. That left Tate all alone with nothing but green grass (or turf) in front of him. 

And Tate knew it, too. 

McFarland drew plenty of criticism last week for a pair of verbal gaffes (calling D.K. Metcalf “Decaf” and getting the result of the “Minnesota Miracle” wrong) but at least those slips of the tongue weren’t related to analyzing the game. 

What McFarland said makes total sense—the Eagles defense shouldn’t have bitten so hard on the handoff in that situation. But you don’t have to be the omniscient Tony Romo to see Golden Tate running free down the middle of the field. 

Football is a complicated game and making it accessible to the average fan is incredibly difficult. If ESPN had a booth that made fans feel like they were learning something about the game, Monday Night Football would be must-watch TV every week in the way that CBS’s game of the week is with Romo. At the very least, they should have a crew that watches a replay doesn’t say the opposite of what really happened. 

Eli’s still got it!

I tweeted (very facetiously) after the throw you see below that Eli Manning can play another three or four years in the NFL. 

But you know what? After a few more plays I started to think it a little less ironically. 

He wasn’t great but he looked like Eli Manning, which is to say that he balanced out the moments of brilliance will plays that made you want to tear your hair out.

Yes, it was against a lousy Eagles defense and Eli should probably still retire (he was pretty lousy in the second half) but these last few games he’s going to get while Daniel Jones is out injured should be fun.

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Around the sports world

Le’Veon Bell missed Sunday’s Jets game with the flu but reportedly was out bowling in New Jersey from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday night. ... The Patriots are accused of more videotape malfeasance. ... Pete Frates, who started the Ice Bucket Challenge craze, has died of ALS at age 34. ... Somebody on Reddit revisited Bill Simmons’s 2017 column with 11 steps to fix the Clippers and found the team did the opposite of everything he suggested. ... Former NBA player Guerschon Yabusele was fined by the Chinese Basketball Association for not looking at the Chinese flag during the national anthem. ... Sony is going to make “MLB the Show” available on other consoles. 

From way downtown!

Derrick Rose turns back the clock

He threw it off his butt!

That’s cold

Lane Kiffin everybody!

(If you don’t get the reference.)

I hate the big swoosh on the new MLB jerseys

That’s a hell of a quote

Not sports

Walmart Canada has pulled a sweater showing Santa doing cocaine. ... A woman on a flight from San Francisco to Atlanta was bitten by a scorpion. ... The new prime minister of Finland is 34, making her the youngest PM in world history. ... A Taco Bell employee in Texas is accused of swinging a machete at a customer in the drive-thru. 

At least you know the bacon’s fresh

I didn’t believe this would actually sound like a cat saying “well hi” in a southern accent but by golly it does

New Ghostbusters movie coming soon

A good song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.