The day after Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw gave the Patriots a chance to win the Super Bowl with his unusual late-game touchdown, coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning both said that scoring in that situation was the right thing to do.
"In the back of my mind, always, was the touchdown," Coughlin said at a news conference Monday morning. "I didn't care how much time we had left ... the thought about the touchdown was always there."
Breer: Bradshaw's accidental TD
When is scoring a touchdown in a Super Bowl a bad thing? Albert Breer says Ahmad Bradshaw almost found out. **More ...**
After the game, offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbridetold NFL Network's Albert Breer that the team had intended to run the clock down and kick a field goal. Coughlin apparently feels that getting into the end zone was ultimately the better choice, however, though he did add that the timing could have been better.
"Would I orchestrate it differently? Perhaps," Coughlin said. "You certainly don't want to leave that much time on the clock.
"But anything that would come as a result of that was my fault, because I didn't really instruct the runner not to score ... But it turned out the right way -- let's put it that way."
Manning thought the Patriots might be planning something funny prior to the touchdown.
"I just, right as I broke the huddle, I kind of had a feeling that they were going to let us score," he said Monday, adding that he was further tipped off when the Patriots' defensive linemen backed off the rush.
But he agreed with Coughlin's post-victory assessment of the touchdown.
"It's a tough situation as you're thinking about what to do," Manning said. "I think you have to score a touchdown. I have great confidence in (kicker) Lawrence Tynes, but you just don't want to leave anything to chance. We could have kneeled it and run out the clock. But if something flukey happens and we miss that field goal, you feel terrible."
Manning added that he tried to get Bradshaw to go down, to no avail.
"I yelled, 'Don't score, don't score.' I know it's tough for a running back, they see a big hole ... I'm yelling, and he obviously heard me and he thought about going down, but he didn't quite know what to do. I'm glad he did (score)."
