NFL Coaches - Please Teach QBs not to Burn Time Outs! (1 Viewer)

[The Duff Man]

I see it every Sunday. A team is facing 3rd and long in the first or 3rd quarter and something is messed up, or they took too long to get to the line of scrimmage so they take a time out.

Why do coaches not tell QBs to take the 5 yard penalty and save the time out? Time outs in a close game can be the difference between a win and a loss, and they are burned all the time to avoid a 5 yard penalty!

Who do I need to petition to get this into the skull of NFL coaches. I know...I know...they are no better, they waste them too. I really don't understand how they can have such enormous playbooks, spend so much time pouring over film and game planning for their opponent, then continually screw up the simple basics of game and clock management. It really is baffling when you consider how important it is at the end of a close game to have your time outs.

For instance, in today's game Dallas had a 3rd and 20...and burned a time out, then failed to convert anyway. That time out in the end could have come in handy.

 

[Phurfur]

I see it every Sunday. A team is facing 3rd and long in the first or 3rd quarter and something is messed up, or they took too long to get to the line of scrimmage so they take a time out.Why do coaches not tell QBs to take the 5 yard penalty and save the time out? Time outs in a close game can be the difference between a win and a loss, and they are burned all the time to avoid a 5 yard penalty!Who do I need to petition to get this into the skull of NFL coaches. I know...I know...they are no better, they waste them too. I really don't understand how they can have such enormous playbooks, spend so much time pouring over film and game planning for their opponent, then continually screw up the simple basics of game and clock management. It really is baffling when you consider how important it is at the end of a close game to have your time outs.For instance, in today's game Dallas had a 3rd and 20...and burned a time out, then failed to convert anyway. That time out in the end could have come in handy.

I agree with you in these situations but on 3rd and short I take the timeout.

 

[kwantam]

I agree with the general assessment that QBs are bad with timeouts, but honestly I don't think it's that they waste them as much as that they just use them stupidly---in a lot of cases the QBs and coaches don't call them when they should.

The shabby ersatz two minute drills we saw at the ends of both games today were prime examples of this problem. Calling running plays and passes over the middle with less than a minute left and then taking a quarter of the remaining time off the clock getting up to the LOS to try and spike the ball is shameful and inexcusable. Romo's terrible clock management at the end of the game cost the Cowboys the playcalling latitude they needed to get another first down and have a legitimate chance of scoring. Uncharacteristically, Payton's two minute drill wasn't much better in terms of wasting time and not calling time outs when necessary.

Honestly, both Romo and Payton are smart enough that they should be able to get this right. The same is doubly true of their coaches.

-=kwantam

 

[MarktheVike]

I totally agree. Save the timeouts in the first and third quarters for delay of game. So you have 3rd and 12 instead of 3rd and 7....Big Deal !

Only exception might be inside the 5...Being moved back from the one or two yard line can be the difference between 3 and 7 points. But in your own territory just take the Delay.