Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
At least once a week I almost spit my beer out while I am watching these games. Be it a ridiculous onside kick when you are ahead with less than 5:00 to go(that's not a misprint), be it the 5th grade math level skills of some of these head coaches, be it time management or when to go for two, they really make some questionable calls constantly. Fake FGs when they could just take the 3 points and add to their lead, this league is getting worse and worse.
My measuring stick is Dan Marino, Don Shula, and the 1980s-mid 1990s Miami Dolphins. When you're a kid you don't follow all 28 teams(at my time) as often as you do once you start playing FF. Marino and Shula were great at managing the clock. Marino inparticular could milk and bleed the clock better than almost anyone I ever saw. Dan could get down the field easily with 1:00 left on the clock. The Miami Dolphins were one of the best 2:00 offenses I ever got to see. They knew when to burn the timeouts, they didn't waste time on plays that would not maximize yds for time. That is a major gripe of mine is watching an NFL starting QB, with a bevy of offesive coaches around them and they think a 5 yd dump off with :50 left that ends up burning 23 seconds off the clock, that play should never happen. If the pass isn't there(down the field), throw it away and save the time. Time management is about the worst in the NFL, and the QBs/teams that actually do manage the time well tend to win a lot more games. Peyton is by far the best at working game clock right now in the NFL, he's so far ahead of everyone else it's just a shame he is heading into the twilight of his career. Manning's brain works even better now than when he entered the NFL, always had the skills, rocket arm, but he is so fluid at reading defenses and working the clock, just fun to watch as a fan.
There are lots of other factors in clock mamnagement besides just the 2:00 warning. How about Jeff Fisher not wanting to burn 3 timeouts when he had the Phins pinned back inside their 5 yd line yesterday late in the 1st half? Miami just wanted to get to the locker room and Tennessee was all too willing to help them. Lots of bad things can happen to an offense and good things to a defense when the offense is trapped inside the 5 with essentially a rookie QB under center. Terrible use of timeouts, clock, and just overall bad thinking IMO by Fisher and I love him as a coach.
Let's discuss the 2 point conversion which was like deregulating the mortgage business for the NFL. They allowed these guys to be like college and have the 2 point conversion finally. It was put in probably over a decade ago, not sure if it is 15-20 years old at this point but essentially when it was put in, the hope was when teams were down 8 that fans would continue to watch. When I was a kid, if your team was down 28-20 they were in pretty bad shape late in a football game because it meant there was no going for 2. They were going to have to score a TD, onside kick, then get in FG range...rarely happened back then sort of like now.
What has happened is they have opened up pandora's box for head football coaches to look about as dumb as a box of rocks. I have one coach to highight that actually did the right thing yesterday when his team was down 24-6 and that was Miami Dolphins' Head Coach, Tony Sporano, a pretty conservative Head Coach I might add. It was 4th and 3, Miami was on about the 28 yd line of Tennessee and they were driving, it was getting into the final 1/3rd of the 3rd quarter roughly. Down 18, instead of going for it which many coaches would have and media would never question, but instead Sporano kicked the FG and I am sure Miami fans in the bars throughout South Florida were booing the guy. But what he did was extend the game and allow Miami to make it a 2 score game down 15 now. He understood they would get more chances to score, whether they cut it to a 1 score game early in the 4th, the midway point of the 4th, towards the end, whenever it might happen he had extended the game for Miami. They did in fact march up and down the field in the 4th quarter and finally tied the game up, made the important 2 point conversion and got to OT. Sure, they lost the game but they would have never had a chance to win if they didn't follow a path to get there. and it starts a lot of times by taking points when they are given to you. Miami is a well coached team no matter what their record.
So many coaches blow games by not being able to figure out basic math. I see this scenario a lot and I agree with Phil Simms 100% on this. Team is ahead 24-13, team that is down scores a TD at some point in the 3rd quarter, maybe even early 4th and they go for 2 points...why? If they kick the XP, they are down 24-20 and yes they need another TD, but that is assuming you can shut the other team down completely and most teams that have socred 24 can and will drive again. If you hold them to a FG, you are only down 7 and still have time to tie the football game and get it to overtime. The 2 point conversion IMO has made the game worse in many aspects. The benefits don't seem to be there for me. It does allow for a team down 16 to score 2 TDs and 2 two point conversions but how often does that happen? It was used more for the fans and I think the fans are getting an inferior product because of it. I'm not suggesting taking it away yet but coaches need a class and why its there and how to use it. They all need a clock management specialist that works their sidelines, I for one would like to volunteer.
And finally, how about some of these calls? Mike Tomlin should be shot from a cannon for making that call yesterday, totally dumb call and he deserved to lose. Fortunately for him he has one of the best 4th quarter QBs in the NFL hands down, Big Ben saved his butt yesterday and he should buy him a big steak dinner for it with all the trimmings...500 yds passing??? Are you kidding me and against one of the better defenses in the NFL, please!!!
But it doesn't take away the risky calls I see lately. Sean Payton a couple weeks ago going for it with a fake FG when he could have taken the 3 points in a close game where they needed everything they could get....what was up with that? I could kinda live with BB's decision against the Colts a few weeks back but these coaches are taking a lot of silly risks. How bout JDR asking MJD to fall down at the 1 yd line, just terrible teaching IMO. Take the points anytime you can get them.
That's all for my Archie Bunker impersonation tody. Please chime in with your gripes.
My measuring stick is Dan Marino, Don Shula, and the 1980s-mid 1990s Miami Dolphins. When you're a kid you don't follow all 28 teams(at my time) as often as you do once you start playing FF. Marino and Shula were great at managing the clock. Marino inparticular could milk and bleed the clock better than almost anyone I ever saw. Dan could get down the field easily with 1:00 left on the clock. The Miami Dolphins were one of the best 2:00 offenses I ever got to see. They knew when to burn the timeouts, they didn't waste time on plays that would not maximize yds for time. That is a major gripe of mine is watching an NFL starting QB, with a bevy of offesive coaches around them and they think a 5 yd dump off with :50 left that ends up burning 23 seconds off the clock, that play should never happen. If the pass isn't there(down the field), throw it away and save the time. Time management is about the worst in the NFL, and the QBs/teams that actually do manage the time well tend to win a lot more games. Peyton is by far the best at working game clock right now in the NFL, he's so far ahead of everyone else it's just a shame he is heading into the twilight of his career. Manning's brain works even better now than when he entered the NFL, always had the skills, rocket arm, but he is so fluid at reading defenses and working the clock, just fun to watch as a fan.
There are lots of other factors in clock mamnagement besides just the 2:00 warning. How about Jeff Fisher not wanting to burn 3 timeouts when he had the Phins pinned back inside their 5 yd line yesterday late in the 1st half? Miami just wanted to get to the locker room and Tennessee was all too willing to help them. Lots of bad things can happen to an offense and good things to a defense when the offense is trapped inside the 5 with essentially a rookie QB under center. Terrible use of timeouts, clock, and just overall bad thinking IMO by Fisher and I love him as a coach.
Let's discuss the 2 point conversion which was like deregulating the mortgage business for the NFL. They allowed these guys to be like college and have the 2 point conversion finally. It was put in probably over a decade ago, not sure if it is 15-20 years old at this point but essentially when it was put in, the hope was when teams were down 8 that fans would continue to watch. When I was a kid, if your team was down 28-20 they were in pretty bad shape late in a football game because it meant there was no going for 2. They were going to have to score a TD, onside kick, then get in FG range...rarely happened back then sort of like now.
What has happened is they have opened up pandora's box for head football coaches to look about as dumb as a box of rocks. I have one coach to highight that actually did the right thing yesterday when his team was down 24-6 and that was Miami Dolphins' Head Coach, Tony Sporano, a pretty conservative Head Coach I might add. It was 4th and 3, Miami was on about the 28 yd line of Tennessee and they were driving, it was getting into the final 1/3rd of the 3rd quarter roughly. Down 18, instead of going for it which many coaches would have and media would never question, but instead Sporano kicked the FG and I am sure Miami fans in the bars throughout South Florida were booing the guy. But what he did was extend the game and allow Miami to make it a 2 score game down 15 now. He understood they would get more chances to score, whether they cut it to a 1 score game early in the 4th, the midway point of the 4th, towards the end, whenever it might happen he had extended the game for Miami. They did in fact march up and down the field in the 4th quarter and finally tied the game up, made the important 2 point conversion and got to OT. Sure, they lost the game but they would have never had a chance to win if they didn't follow a path to get there. and it starts a lot of times by taking points when they are given to you. Miami is a well coached team no matter what their record.
So many coaches blow games by not being able to figure out basic math. I see this scenario a lot and I agree with Phil Simms 100% on this. Team is ahead 24-13, team that is down scores a TD at some point in the 3rd quarter, maybe even early 4th and they go for 2 points...why? If they kick the XP, they are down 24-20 and yes they need another TD, but that is assuming you can shut the other team down completely and most teams that have socred 24 can and will drive again. If you hold them to a FG, you are only down 7 and still have time to tie the football game and get it to overtime. The 2 point conversion IMO has made the game worse in many aspects. The benefits don't seem to be there for me. It does allow for a team down 16 to score 2 TDs and 2 two point conversions but how often does that happen? It was used more for the fans and I think the fans are getting an inferior product because of it. I'm not suggesting taking it away yet but coaches need a class and why its there and how to use it. They all need a clock management specialist that works their sidelines, I for one would like to volunteer.
And finally, how about some of these calls? Mike Tomlin should be shot from a cannon for making that call yesterday, totally dumb call and he deserved to lose. Fortunately for him he has one of the best 4th quarter QBs in the NFL hands down, Big Ben saved his butt yesterday and he should buy him a big steak dinner for it with all the trimmings...500 yds passing??? Are you kidding me and against one of the better defenses in the NFL, please!!!
But it doesn't take away the risky calls I see lately. Sean Payton a couple weeks ago going for it with a fake FG when he could have taken the 3 points in a close game where they needed everything they could get....what was up with that? I could kinda live with BB's decision against the Colts a few weeks back but these coaches are taking a lot of silly risks. How bout JDR asking MJD to fall down at the 1 yd line, just terrible teaching IMO. Take the points anytime you can get them.
That's all for my Archie Bunker impersonation tody. Please chime in with your gripes.
I think you are overreacting to the onsides call.
Another way to look at it is if Carolina gets the ball and gets a FG late in the 4th. Kick the extra point and it's two scores they are down by. Miss the 2 point conversion and a TD can tie the game.
That's not far from being true. I guess someone needs to tell him when to punt, that's about it.
