October 22, 2007
Griese clarifies his role in calling plays on TD drive
By Larry Mayer
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The headset in Brian Griese’s helmet that he uses to communicate with coaches wasn’t working, but he did not call all or even most of the plays on the Bears’ game-winning 97-yard touchdown drive Sunday in Philadelphia.
Though players were not scheduled to be available to the media Monday, the veteran quarterback spoke with reporters at Halas Hall to clarify the situation.
Brian Griese completed 27 of 41 passes for 322 yards with two TDs and a 97.8 passer rating Sunday.
“I think that there’s been some miscommunication and I wanted to clear it up with you guys,” said Griese, whose 15-yard TD pass to Muhsin Muhammad with :09 remaining gave the Bears a thrilling 19-16 win over the Eagles.
“The headset wasn’t working, but it was a normal course of a two-minute drill, and what I mean by that is when the two-minute drill is occurring, in the moving clock situations, the quarterback is responsible for calling the plays at the line of scrimmage to make sure he’s taking advantage of every second of the drive, and then normally at a clock stoppage you get the play from the sideline and call the play in the huddle.”
Of the 10 passes that Griese threw on the drive—including one that was nullified by offsetting penalties—four came on plays that the quarterback called and six occurred on plays sent in by offensive coordinator Ron Turner.
Turner called the first two plays, an 11-yard completion to Desmond Clark and an incomplete pass intended for Adrian Peterson over the middle.
Griese then called four straight plays. Though the clock was stopped, he couldn’t hear the play-call from coaches and chose his own play from a short list of options, hitting Peterson with a 9-yard pass. With the clock running, Griese called the next play at the line, connecting with Devin Hester for a 9-yard gain to the Chicago 32.
Griese called the next two plays, overshooting Muhammad deep down the left sideline and throwing an incomplete pass intended for Peterson on a play that was wiped out by offsetting holding penalties.
Turner then called the final four pass plays, all of which Griese completed for 7 yards to Clark, 25 yards to Bernard Berrian, 21 yards to Hester and 15 yards for a TD to Muhammad. The plays were relayed to Griese from quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton on the Bears sideline.
“It was a complete effort, obviously from our coaching staff calling those big plays, and those guys deserve the credit,” Griese said. “The call to Bernard on third-and-three with the max protection and getting Bernard down the middle of the field was a great call, as was the play to Devin Hester and obviously the last play for the touchdown.”
After Griese’s post-game comments Sunday, media outlets reported that the Bears quarterback had called all of the plays on the game-winning drive except the touchdown pass.
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Griese clarifies his role in calling plays on TD drive - Chicago Bears
Griese clarifies his role in calling plays on TD drive
Griese clarifies his role in calling plays on TD drive
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