Giants legend blames 'math' for decisions made by Lions' Dan Campbell

New York Giants legend and CBS Sports NFL analyst Tiki Barber doesn't blame just Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell for twice going for first downs instead of field goals in the second half of this past Sunday's NFC Championship Game that Detroit lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31.

"Take the points when you can get the points," Barber said during a segment on the WFAN "Evan and Tiki" program, per Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "Dan turned into a math guy. The analytics tell you to go for it in those situations, and it cost them…It’s easy to criticize him, but math has taken over our sport. Not just football, but all of them." 

Interestingly, Barber shared his take after NBC Sports' Peter King wrote for his latest "Football Morning in America" column that "most teams over the past decade have built staffs of football analytics people, with pipelines to the coaching staff and urging from management for coaches to use the work of these brainiacs." 

King also mentioned that being "lukewarm, at best, to analytics" could be a big reason Bill Belichick, thought by many to be the greatest coach in NFL history, seemingly won't receive his next coaching gig before 2025 at the earliest. 

"I think someone is telling him to do it," Barber continued while speaking about Campbell. "They all have these guys. They all have someone sitting up there with a protractor and a calculator telling them, 'The percentage says this.' That’s what this league has turned into." 

Barber isn't alone. Retired quarterback Tom Brady directly said during the latest edition of his "Let's Go!" SiriusXM show and podcast that he "would've taken the points" had he been coaching the Lions at Levi's Stadium "to keep the pressure on the 49ers to make great plays." 

Brady also pointed out that Campbell featured "an aggressive mentality" throughout the season, and Barber echoed that take from the seven-time Super Bowl champion. 

"Here’s why I forgive him though," Barber added about Campbell. "He’s been doing this all year long. You can’t just all of a sudden say, 'It worked in the divisional round, it worked in the wild-card round'…they did it all season long. It’s just philosophy. It’s what he believes in." 

Campbell undeniably deserves praise for guiding the Lions to a 12-5 regular-season record and to within a touchdown of playing in Super Bowl LVIII. 

However, how he responds to his club squandering a 24-7 halftime lead over the Niners could ultimately define his Detroit tenure and leave him wishing he would've, as both Barber and Brady put it, taken the points on the final Sunday of January 2024.