If it appears that the owners proceeded with a vote on changes to the overtime rule for postseason play when the coaches and other football executives weren’t around to argue against it, there’s a good reason for it.
It’s because the owners did.
Patriots president Jonathan Kraft admitted during a Thursday morning appearance on WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan Show that the owners “needed to get the football people out of the room” in order to pass the revision, per Tom Curran of Comcast Sports Net New England.
Kraft also pointed out (as ESPN’s Chris Mortensen noted via Twitter on Tuesday) that the same approach was applied in 1994, when owners voted to adopt the two-point conversion option, a revolutionary change at the time.
So the vote, scheduled for Wednesday, was moved to Tuesday, while the football people were taking full advantage of the write off by playing golf.
“I think [Giants co-owner] John Mara said it best [at the meeting before the vote],” Kraft said. “He basically said, ‘I’m paying my football coach a lot of money. We all are. And they should go suck it up. This is what the fans want this is what’s right for the game.’”
Mara and Kraft are right. Owners own. Coaches coach. General Managers, um, generally manage. It’s up to the owners to put the rules on the inside of the lid. It’s up to the coaches to read the rules follow them.
As we said Wednesday regarding the ongoing complaints of Saints coach Sean Payton, he’ll have a say in the writing of the rules when he buys a team.