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I realize this has been discussed in passing in other threads, but it really deserves its own thread. Because it very likely cost us the game, which very likely cost us a decent chance at ending the playoff drought.
We have 3:30 and all of our timeouts. We get a 1st down, and then they have to use a timeout for an injury on 2nd down at our 34. Still three timeouts, and 1:34 left. The world is your oyster. You don't need to work the sidelines. You can run each play clock down as low as you wish. You have plenty of time to try for six. But if you get three, you get it as time expires. BECAUSE YOU HAVE THREE TIMEOUTS! You. Are. In. Control.
We get it to our 45. And we let the clock run. With three timeouts. Okay, we're obviously settling on taking a field goal. We move it to their 42, and use a timeout with :28 remaining. Still two timeouts. You're technically in FG range now. The world is still your oyster. But you need to think about a first down.
We get 9 to the 33 and take one of our two timeouts. It's 3rd and 1. This is when you just have to be kind of careful. The only thing you don't want to do is 1) anything to kill the clock, combined with 2) not getting a 1st down. Run the ball and get the easy first down? Sure. You use your last timeout, and take a couple shots at the end zone. Throw a quick out and pick up the 1st down? Even better. You still have anything to the middle of the field, because you have the timeout. There is literally one thing you can't do.
We do the one thing you cannot do. And, to make it worse, we miss the long (only because we made it long) field goal. And THEN we call our timeout. And THEN, with JUST NINE SECONDS LEFT, we leave them the middle of the field, at altitude, with a timeout. And, might I remind you, we did this AFTER WE USED OUR LAST TIMEOUT! Our defensive savant of a coach gives them the middle of the field. It takes them five seconds to get 19 yards. (Vic probably saw that they were going into halftime with a timeout in their pocket, and like Napoleon Dynamite, said, "Lucky!")
Six-point swing (you could argue ten, since we had plenty of time to try for the TD). We lose by five. No team in the NFL could screw that up that bad. But we can. Because we have Vic in charge of the game clock. And Pat in charge of the play call.
I had to get that off my chest. For therapy. And posterity. It was one of those things where you say, "I bet that will cost us the game." And then, you spend the next ninety minutes, dreading the inevitable.
We have 3:30 and all of our timeouts. We get a 1st down, and then they have to use a timeout for an injury on 2nd down at our 34. Still three timeouts, and 1:34 left. The world is your oyster. You don't need to work the sidelines. You can run each play clock down as low as you wish. You have plenty of time to try for six. But if you get three, you get it as time expires. BECAUSE YOU HAVE THREE TIMEOUTS! You. Are. In. Control.
We get it to our 45. And we let the clock run. With three timeouts. Okay, we're obviously settling on taking a field goal. We move it to their 42, and use a timeout with :28 remaining. Still two timeouts. You're technically in FG range now. The world is still your oyster. But you need to think about a first down.
We get 9 to the 33 and take one of our two timeouts. It's 3rd and 1. This is when you just have to be kind of careful. The only thing you don't want to do is 1) anything to kill the clock, combined with 2) not getting a 1st down. Run the ball and get the easy first down? Sure. You use your last timeout, and take a couple shots at the end zone. Throw a quick out and pick up the 1st down? Even better. You still have anything to the middle of the field, because you have the timeout. There is literally one thing you can't do.
We do the one thing you cannot do. And, to make it worse, we miss the long (only because we made it long) field goal. And THEN we call our timeout. And THEN, with JUST NINE SECONDS LEFT, we leave them the middle of the field, at altitude, with a timeout. And, might I remind you, we did this AFTER WE USED OUR LAST TIMEOUT! Our defensive savant of a coach gives them the middle of the field. It takes them five seconds to get 19 yards. (Vic probably saw that they were going into halftime with a timeout in their pocket, and like Napoleon Dynamite, said, "Lucky!")
Six-point swing (you could argue ten, since we had plenty of time to try for the TD). We lose by five. No team in the NFL could screw that up that bad. But we can. Because we have Vic in charge of the game clock. And Pat in charge of the play call.
I had to get that off my chest. For therapy. And posterity. It was one of those things where you say, "I bet that will cost us the game." And then, you spend the next ninety minutes, dreading the inevitable.
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