Is anyone else just in awe sometimes as to how horrible NFL coaches can be in clock management? Clock management is as "fundamental" to coaching as tackling is to playing. It's something that any guy at home with a brain can do, yet these guys who pour their lives into coaching these teams can somehow not do it.
Some pointers for these coaches:
- 45 to 60 seconds is PLENTY of time for an opposing team to drive into FG range, or sometimes, even score a TD. If you are planning on going up at the end of the game, it's in your best interests to leave as little as possible.
- On the same token: If the other team is inside your 10, losing, but they just need to score to go up with the clock winding down, it is very foolish to leave timeouts in your pocket and let them drain the clock. This is called the "Ray Rhodes rule".
- PLEASE stress to your players that if you are trying to run down the clock late, you absolutely, under no circumstances, can afford a penalty. If you have 1 minute left, up by 1, and the other team has no timeouts left, and you hand the ball off on 3rd and 5 and get called for holding, guess what, that's going to stop the clock and save 40 seconds for the other team. You'll be punting to them with 55 seconds left instead of 15. Enormous difference. It made all the difference in the Atlanta/Detroit game. You are better off taking a big loss than holding under any circumstances in this case.
- Some of you like to wait until AFTER the 2 minute warning to use your timeouts on defense. WHY? This is needlessly burning time off your own chances. Mike Zimmer did it against us on Sunday. Let me explain:
Coach A is down 28-21, with 2:20 left and 1 timeout, and opposing team has it 2nd and 5 on their own 40. The other team runs for a gain of 1 on 2nd down to set up 3rd and 4. Coach A waits until the 2 minute warning. The opposing team runs for another gain of 1 on 3rd down, and sets up a punt on 4th and 3. Coach A calls his last timeout with 1:52 left, and the punt goes into the endzone for a touchback at 1:43.
Coach B has the exact same situation and the exact same sequence of plays happen. He calls timeout after 2nd down at 2:14. Then after the 3rd down run, the clock stops automatically at 2:00. The punt happens at 2:000 and the coach gets the ball back at 1:51 at a chance for the game-tying drive.
Coach B has left himself 8 more seconds for a chance than Coach A. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to wait. Yes, 8 seconds could make a difference.
Some pointers for these coaches:
- 45 to 60 seconds is PLENTY of time for an opposing team to drive into FG range, or sometimes, even score a TD. If you are planning on going up at the end of the game, it's in your best interests to leave as little as possible.
- On the same token: If the other team is inside your 10, losing, but they just need to score to go up with the clock winding down, it is very foolish to leave timeouts in your pocket and let them drain the clock. This is called the "Ray Rhodes rule".
- PLEASE stress to your players that if you are trying to run down the clock late, you absolutely, under no circumstances, can afford a penalty. If you have 1 minute left, up by 1, and the other team has no timeouts left, and you hand the ball off on 3rd and 5 and get called for holding, guess what, that's going to stop the clock and save 40 seconds for the other team. You'll be punting to them with 55 seconds left instead of 15. Enormous difference. It made all the difference in the Atlanta/Detroit game. You are better off taking a big loss than holding under any circumstances in this case.
- Some of you like to wait until AFTER the 2 minute warning to use your timeouts on defense. WHY? This is needlessly burning time off your own chances. Mike Zimmer did it against us on Sunday. Let me explain:
Coach A is down 28-21, with 2:20 left and 1 timeout, and opposing team has it 2nd and 5 on their own 40. The other team runs for a gain of 1 on 2nd down to set up 3rd and 4. Coach A waits until the 2 minute warning. The opposing team runs for another gain of 1 on 3rd down, and sets up a punt on 4th and 3. Coach A calls his last timeout with 1:52 left, and the punt goes into the endzone for a touchback at 1:43.
Coach B has the exact same situation and the exact same sequence of plays happen. He calls timeout after 2nd down at 2:14. Then after the 3rd down run, the clock stops automatically at 2:00. The punt happens at 2:000 and the coach gets the ball back at 1:51 at a chance for the game-tying drive.
Coach B has left himself 8 more seconds for a chance than Coach A. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to wait. Yes, 8 seconds could make a difference.