Post-game Post Mortem

Yet another playoff game with a puzzling call in the final, critical moment. Football fans will recall Pete Carroll's call for a pass instead of a Marshawn Lynch plunge when the Seahawks were on the one-yard line in the Super Bowl, and Dave Dickenson's failure to call rusher Jerome Messam's number at the end of last year's Grey Cup game.

This past weekend, the call that astonished pretty much everyone was Jason Maas's decision to go for a field goal instead of a touchdown, which could have led his Edmonton Eskimos to a tie with the Calgary Stampeders, and pushed the game into overtime.

Eskimo players, and players and coaches of other teams, have diplomatically refrained from commenting on the Maas decision. (Except for Stampeder star defensive back Alex Singleton. Stampeder QB Bo Levi Mitchell gently chided his teammate, saying, "You should have asked me that question first, so he'd know what not to say.")

Sports commentators, of course, have no interest in diplomacy, and were quick to leap on the Maas call. The most sympathetic comment came from Jock Climie, who spoke of curious calls made at the conclusion of games, saying, "Sometimes coaches go into brain freeze."

Maas has our sympathy, too, knowing the kinds of dreams he's going to be having for a very long time.

                                                          Slap Maxwell, for PD Sports.