Don't you just hate it when people take your words out of context to paint you in a bad light?
That’s the card Brian Burns played after his postgame tirade went viral in the tunnel following the New York Giants’ historic meltdown in Denver. And if you listen to him, that outburst — the one not-so-clearly aimed directly at defensive coordinator Shane Bowen — wasn’t what it sounded like.
It came after the kind of loss that makes you question if anyone on the sideline knows what they’re doing. An 18-point lead with under six minutes left... 33 points surrendered in one quarter. And a final drive under 40 seconds where eight defenders dropped into coverage and Bo Nix still found a wide-open target to get the Broncos into field goal range for the win.
Consider that the moment Burns lost his cool. He ended the game with two sacks and three tackles for loss, with nothing to show for it. A camera caught him screaming about “that stupid a** s**t, dropping eight” before he even got to the locker room. That was all anyone needed to see to know exactly what he thought of the call. Or so we thought.
Brian Burns says postgame rant was misinterpreted and somehow makes it worse
Turns out, it wasn’t Bowen who Burns was referring to. It was actually the eight teammates who dropped into coverage that were on the receiving end of his postgame tirade.
At least that's the new story... according to his social media post:
"People took that tunnel video all outta context.. I wasn’t mad at Shane nor the call.."Brian Burns
Thank goodness he cleared that up, right?
When a fan account replied, “I took it as we dropped 8 and they still completed that sh—,” Burns followed up with, “Smart man," and a crying face emoji.
It’s not exactly walking it back. It’s more like redirecting the fire somewhere else.
The problem is, it might be worse. Because if the scheme wasn’t the issue, then what Burns is saying — whether he realizes it or not — is that the guys around him blew it. That the coaching staff put them in the right spot, and they just couldn't get it done. And that won't sit right in a locker room that could fall apart.
Maybe he's just walking his comments back to save face and avoid conflict with Bowen. But in the meantime, it inadvertently points the finger at the eight who couldn't close it out. That's worse.
Burns has been incredible this season. So when the most productive player on the field starts airing out the frustrations — whether they're aimed at the play-caller or the teammates — it usually means nothing good. So if this was all just one big misunderstanding, that doesn't exactly make it better.
With Philadelphia coming up on Sunday, whatever the disconnect was, there’s no time to dwell.