New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle is in a bad mood despite coming home with a win in Dallas.
The one thing that has been bothering Rolle this week and for most of the season is the criticism that he’s been taking from television analysts. He expressed his frustration during his weekly interview on 660 WFAN in New York.
Rolle believes that TV commentators place the blame on the safeties without knowing for sure who’s to blame for specific mistakes made on the field.
“Whenever there’s a big play and you’re the safeties, you’re always the one who gets blamed and gets finger-pointed,” Rolle said in his weekly, paid spot on WFAN. “At the end of the day, it’s wrong because the commentators don’t know what coverage we’re in. They don’t know how we’re playing our defense. They don’t know that I’m disguising, showing a Cover 2, but I’m really supposed to drop down and play a cover 3. So they don’t know, and it drives me crazy.”
Rolle was really “pissed off” with the fact that most people blame him for the blown coverage that led to Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant easily walking into the end zone for a touchdown during Sunday night’s win.
When looking at the replay NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth said, “You’re going see Rolle come up and when he picks up this crossing route, Webster thinks that he’s just in a zone and Rolle is barbequed. This is professional football and we have seen some very amateurish coverage out here tonight.”
If it wasn’t Rolle’s fault then who’s was it?
“I’m not going to say exactly what happened on that play,” Rolle said. “But I can tell you I was in the right spot and I was exactly where I was supposed to be.”
Rolle isn’t only mad at how he’s portrayed, but how TV analysts judge other players across the league as well.
“When I speak about this I’m not speaking about it just on behalf of Antrel Rolle, I’m speaking out on behalf of people across the league,” Rolle said. “I don’t care what position it is. Commentators always want to point the finger as if they know what they’re doing and they know what they’re talking about, but in reality they don’t half of the time.
“I’m not saying I don’t make mistakes, because I do. I’m saying that if there’s a coverage and I’m supposed to be in a certain area, best believe I’m going to be where I’m supposed to be. Like I was Sunday night. Like I was against San Francisco. Like I was against the Packers. And for them to say ‘Oh, Antrel Rolle got burned.’ No, Antrel Rolle didn’t get burned. Antrel Rolle was exactly where he was supposed to be. So know what the hell you are talking about at the end of the day.”
“It pisses me off. I know what I’m doing. The coaches what I’m doing. But the people watching on TV, the only thing they know is what the commentators are telling them.”
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