Clock management at the end (1 Viewer)

[Cincy Saint]

First let me say I am thrilled with the win and by no means am I complaining!!!

But I was baffled by Payton/Brees' decision making related to the clock at the end of the game. I realize you can never take for granted that you are going to score but the Saints had the ball deep, with timeouts and then...

2-7-SD 10 (2:39) (Shotgun) 9-D.Brees pass short left to 16-B.Coleman to SD 4 for 6 yards (26-C.Hayward).
3-1-SD 4 (2:13) 9-D.Brees pass short middle to 29-J.Kuhn to SD 1 for 3 yards (97-J.Attaochu).
Two-Minute Warning
1-1-SD 1 (2:00) 29-J.Kuhn right guard for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.


Why did Brees hurry up to run that play BEFORE the two minute warning? I thought they'd let the clock run to 2:00. Then run a play which either - 1) gets a TD or 2) let's a lot of clock run down or 3) causes SD to use a timeout

(PS - why didn't the clock start after Rivers got sacked and the Saints declined the illegal motion penalty? Since when can an offensive penalty help the offense with the clock.)

 

[BLUE_DOG_MAN]

I thought the same thing about getting that play off before the two minute warning. I guess we wanted to catch them off guard, which we did. BDM

 

[BoNcHiE]

Getting the 1st down is more important then getting cute with the clock there.

I think it's that simple. Brees saw something that basically guranteed the FD and decided to snap the ball. Remember, it was 3rd down. The 2 minute warning would of let the Chargers rest and get their best call in. There's no guarantee that we would of converted had we waited.

 

[The Mongoose]

Getting the 1st down is more important then getting cute with the clock there.

I think it's that simple. Brees saw something that basically guranteed the FD and decided to snap the ball. Remember, it was 3rd down. The 2 minute warning would of let the Chargers rest and get their best call in. There's no guarantee that we would of converted had we waited.

In real life, yes. With our defense, no way. The clock is more important than scoring, because scoring for us is meaningless if you leave time 9.5/10 times.

 

[Mackenzie]

My first reaction was the same as yours but if you look at it again you'll see the defense was not set at all and they thought they had the opportunity to sneak it in. I think they made the right call.

 

[Domeination]

I was more upset with the timeouts Payton took near the end of the first half, giving SD just enough time to score a TD.

 

[bradman1965]

I think with the drip, drip, drip of a bad defense we are going to see a lot of high degree of difficulty clock management expectations. I think some of the calculated timings are way easier to do in video games then the analog world of 300 pound players. That said, I think they are legit questions just much harder to pull off then they seem from the sidelines.

 

[BoNcHiE]

In real life, yes. With our defense, no way. The clock is more important than scoring, because scoring for us is meaningless if you leave time 9.5/10 times.

There was almost no chance we were gonna burn the clock to 0 no matter what we did. The Chargers had a TO left and I think they let Kuhn score anyway. Had we not scored on that 1st down, you can bet they'd of let us score on 2nd down. Do you then take a knee and bring up 3rd down? Taking that risk?

Even if they don't let Kuhn score and we score on 3rd down, they would have time left to drive.

D had to get a stop regardless.

 

[Mikie17]

I thought the same thing about getting that play off before the two minute warning. I guess we wanted to catch them off guard, which we did. BDM

I was thinking the same thing BLUE_DOG_MAN because I wanted the Saints to use as much time as possible. However, I bet San Diego was thinking the same thing. Therefore, the element of surprise caught San Diego as well as myself off-guard. In the end, it turned out well and we scored.

On another note, glad to see the San Diego meltdown by giving us 2 turnovers at the end. This was a rare case of a team giving the game away, and I'm glad to see our defense capitalized on it. The ball hasn't bounced our way lately, so I'm pleased it did this time.

And finally, I'm happy for Drew winning at San Diego yesterday although it probably wasn't the outing he wanted to display there:

Brees: 63.9 COMP%, 207 YDs, 2 TDs, 2 INTs, 74.7 Rating
Rivers: 65.1 COMP%, 321 YDs, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 93.3 Rating

 

[stevend]

(PS - why didn't the clock start after Rivers got sacked and the Saints declined the illegal motion penalty? Since when can an offensive penalty help the offense with the clock.)

The illegal motion penalty was on the bad snap (not the sack). I'll go back and look to see if I can figure out what happened with the clock.

FWIW - It was a 7 yard loss, but not a sack, it was an aborted fumble (bad snap by the center), recovered by Rivers. I think because it's considered a fumble recovered by a different member of the offense the clock stops.

 

[blotch1]

I was more upset with the timeouts Payton took near the end of the first half, giving SD just enough time to score a TD.

SD had 2 timeouts left at that point and would have used them if they needed to. They wanted to leave no time on the clock for us to be able to score. Payton was trying to have enough time left for our offense if SD scored. It didn't work, but it also didn't help the Chargers with time.

 

[St. Geezy]

If anything, you almost wonder if we were to burn clock there, we may have been thinking we would be wasting our own time. In other words, confidence in the defense was low, so try to save yourself some time in case you needed another possession.

 

[Optimistic Ozzy]

My deal was us punting down by 13 with 6:35 left in the game. It was 4th and 6. Lets be honest, that was a miracle win for us.

 

[The Mongoose]

There was almost no chance we were gonna burn the clock to 0 no matter what we did. The Chargers had a TO left and I think they let Kuhn score anyway. Had we not scored on that 1st down, you can bet they'd of let us score on 2nd down. Do you then take a knee and bring up 3rd down? Taking that risk?

Even if they don't let Kuhn score and we score on 3rd down, they would have time left to drive.

D had to get a stop regardless.

As ridiculous as it seems, yes, I would have been taking knees at the 1 still needing a touchdown.

Our offense would have had two chances (3rd and 4th downs). The benefit is that we make them use their timeout and run the clock down to 1:15ish or so.

Of course this isn't the right thing to do generally. But the way our defense responds in most instances makes you consider the extraordinary.

Glad things worked out in this instance. SD has their own issues that helped.

 

[bobad]

I think Payton wanted to give the defense the opportunity to preserve the win.