Antrel Rolle says he's not at fault for blown coverage, Giants remain silent on who's to blame

NEW YORK — Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants offense kept the team’s playoff hopes alive with 15 points in the final 5:41 to beat the Cowboys Sunday night. In doing so, they bailed the defense out after the secondary was victimized for a 50-yard touchdown — due to another breakdown in coverage — that gave Dallas a 34-22 lead.

On the play, there was some miscommunication between cornerback Corey Webster and safety Antrel Rolle. Webster released Bryant, assuming Rolle was going to help out over the top, but Rolle jumped on an underneath route, leaving Bryant wide open.

In his weekly interview with WFAN yesterday, Rolle wanted everyone to know it wasn’t his fault and “I was exactly where I was supposed to be.”
“No, Antrel Rolle didn’t get burned,” he said. “Know what ... you’re talking about at the end of the day.”

Rolle was the subject of criticism during NBC’s Sunday night broadcast — NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth said Rolle was “barbecued” on the play — and in the aftermath of the game, and he wasn’t happy about it.

“Commentators always want to point the finger as if they know what they’re doing and they know what they’re talking about,” Rolle said. “But in reality, they don’t half of the time.”

Tuesday, fellow safety Deon Grant confirmed Rolle wasn’t at fault on the play.

“It wasn’t Antrel,” said Grant after a holiday gift giveaway event at an elementary school in the Bronx. “I’m not going to say who was in the wrong, but I can definitely say it wasn’t Antrel in the wrong.”

Blown coverage has become a recurring theme in the Giants secondary in recent weeks. A similar botched play allowed Packers wide receiver Donald Driver to score an easy touchdown the previous week.

“Those are the things we can’t have,” Grant said. “Last week better be the last week that happened. In order for us to get to where we’re tying to go, as a secondary, as a defense, we can’t have them small mental mistakes.”

“It’s time for us to give our offense a little break. Let them continue to put up the points, but in the fourth quarter it should be a time when we don’t have to worry about going with the four-minute defense and the no-huddle offense.”



(nj.com)