One of the things that infuriates me when watching football is coaches misusing their timeouts and wasting valuable seconds off the clock.
Consider this sequence from TEN@JAX on Sunday.
1st and 10 at TEN 3 | (Shotgun) M.Hasselbeck scrambles up the middle to TEN 12 for 9 yards (D.Landry). | ||
2nd and 1 at TEN 12 | (Shotgun) M.Hasselbeck pass short left to N.Washington to TEN 22 for 10 yards (D.Landry). | ||
1st and 10 at TEN 22 | (No Huddle, Shotgun) M.Hasselbeck pass short left to N.Washington to TEN 28 for 6 yards (D.Coleman). | ||
2nd and 4 at TEN 28 | (No Huddle, Shotgun) M.Hasselbeck pass short right to K.Britt to TEN 46 for 18 yards (D.Lowery). | ||
1st and 10 at TEN 46 | (No Huddle) M.Hasselbeck spiked the ball to stop the clock. | ||
2nd and 10 at TEN 46 | (Shotgun) M.Hasselbeck pass deep left intended for K.Britt INTERCEPTED by D.Lowery at JAX 20. D.Lowery to JAX 16 for -4 yards (K.Britt). |
This sequence, which included 4 pass plays, took an inexcusable 1:38 of clock time. It took the Titans 30 seconds to get back to the line of scrimmage after Hasselbeck’s run. Sure, the series might have ended in an interception anyways, but by that point, Hasselbeck had to throw a Hail Mary.
If only Tennessee had a timeout left! When had they used that valuable TO? Randomly in the 3rd quarter after a successful pass play by the Jaguars, after which point, there was no defensive stop at all. In fact, immediately afterwards, an unnecessary roughness penalty on Tennessee ended up helping to seal the deal for the Jags. Some timeout that was.
Tennessee has a total of 18 assistant coaches, including such mundane things as “offensive assistant/quality control.” Why not have one guy whose job it is just to watch the clock and make sure you’re not blowing your timeouts and wasting time getting to the line — especially in a tight game?
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