Tomlin's clock management strikes again

[Six Rings]

Exhibit A ) Tomlin fails to call a time soon enough near the end of the half. Seconds tick off the clock...the result is was we had one less play to throw it in the end zone.


Exhibit B ) Tomlin ices his owner kicker with a time out. I have no idea why.


Exhibit C ) Due to calling a time out to kick a field goal, Tomlin opts to knee the ball with 10 seconds left in the game going into overtime. With the time out, Hodges could have thrown the ball down the field just before the game expired. It could have been a complete or pass interference, giving Boswell a chance to win the game.

Forget about not opting to receive the ball first, that was crazy.

[teegre]

Exhibit A ) Tomlin fails to call a time soon enough near the end of the half. Seconds tick off the clock...the result is was we had one less play to throw it in the end zone.


Exhibit B ) Tomlin ices his owner kicker with a time out. I have no idea why.


Exhibit C ) Due to calling a time out to kick a field goal, Tomlin opts to knee the ball with 10 seconds left in the game going into overtime. With the time out, Hodges could have thrown the ball down the field just before the game expired. It could have been a complete or pass interference, giving Boswell a chance to win the game.

Forget about not opting to receive the ball first, that was crazy.

A) I agree that I personally would have used the time out as soon as Samuels failed to get out of bounds. 15 seconds elapsed, which is 4 passing plays. That said, keeping the timeout allowed them to still kill the clock/attempt a FG (in the event of a sack).

B) He ran the clock down to 1, in order to run as much time off of the clock as possible/leave as little time as possible for Jackson to move down the field (something Jackson hadn’t done all half).

C) So, you wanted Tomlin to keep a time out (just in case)... whereas, when Tomlin earlier did just that, you thought it was a bad idea. Okay.

[Six Rings]

A) I agree that I personally would have used the time out as soon as Samuels failed to get out of bounds. 15 seconds elapsed, which is 4 passing plays. That said, keeping the timeout allowed them to still kill the clock/attempt a FG (in the event of a sack).

B) He ran the clock down to 1, in order to run as much time off of the clock as possible/leave as little time as possible for Jackson to move down the field (something Jackson hadn’t done all half).

C) So, you wanted Tomlin to keep a time out (just in case)... whereas, when Tomlin earlier did just that, you thought it was a bad idea. Okay.

We agree on point one. A Tomlin gaffe. It cost us a chance to score a touchdown. If convert we win this game.

On point B why not just snap it with 4 seconds left on the clock and save a time out if needed? Your explanation? We could have had one or two passes before the clock expired in the 4th quarter.

Clock management has been an issue for Tomlin’s tenure. Usually Ben covers these mistakes up and we forget about them. Now that he’s out for the season, such mistakes are magnified.

[Mojouw]

They had no intention of scoring a TD there. This has been a repeated pattern with Rudolph at the helm. When they get a "sure" FG, the play calling goes ultra-conservative. Ignore the clock and the time-outs and recall the sequence of play calls towards the endzone. Those are not the plays you dial up if you have a great deal of confidence in your QB passing into a compact area against the teeth of the defense. They were all throws that were designed to get receivers one on one towards the sideline or backline. Allows Rudolph to put the ball "where only is guy can get it". Ravens recognized that and took the windows away.

It would have been poor clock management if they were going to make an honest effort to score a touchdown. They were not. They were in "preserve the field goal mode" more than score a TD mode. In that case, hanging on to the timeout in case your young QB takes a sack or a check-down in a situation he shouldn't makes a decent amount of sense.

Do I like it? Not at all. At some point, you gotta get the young QBs throwing into the contested areas of the field. Then again, coaching to specifically avoid red zone turnovers isn't the worst idea. Can you imagine the hue and cry on here if Rudolph tried to thread it to Juju into the teeth of the defense and it got picked?

[Six Rings]

You throw a side line fade, putting the ball where you WR can get it if you have enough time, or hit the TE over the middle sheilding his body to those behind him. We blew that time, and it could have cost us the win,

[teegre]

On point B why not just snap it with 4 seconds left on the clock and save a time out if needed? Your explanation? We could have had one or two passes before the clock expired in the 4th quarter.

Clock management has been an issue for Tomlin’s tenure. Usually Ben covers these mistakes up and we forget about them. Now that he’s out for the season, such mistakes are magnified.

B) So that your kicker/kicking team doesn’t have to run into the field.

BEN) Honestly, I see Tomlin letting Ben be in control of the time outs during the final two minutes (when on offense). Numerous times, I’ve seen Ben rush to the line in order to keep that extra down, only to throw a hurried pass that falls incomplete. Similarly, Ben rarely spikes the ball.

SUMMATION: Ben loves having that extra down... and since Ben is generally very good in the two-minute drill, I’m fine with it.