Clock management at the end (2 Viewers)

[saintsfan342000]

(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.)

This infuriated me. Admittedly, I don't know the rules here: maybe the officials got it right? But it seems wrong.

 

[St. Geezy]

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.

This I agree with. Yes, it worked out, but that was the moment I stepped away to go deal with something else for a few minutes, and I'm a guy that NEVER misses a play.

I come back from my task 10 minutes later and suddenly we have the ball in the red zone and I'm like whoa!

Fortunately, it all worked out. But yeah, I found it weird that we'd punt in that spot.

 

[St. Geezy]

This infuriated me. Admittedly, I don't know the rules here: maybe the officials got it right? But it seems wrong.

Clock definitely should have been running and I too was angry. The clock isn't supposed to stop for a trailing team due to a declined penalty.

 

[daybreaker]

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.

I've never seen a team given a win for scoring less points than their opponent, but having better clock management.

 

[Domeination]

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.

I'm well aware of what he was trying to do, but it backfired, and it did give SD more time to score.

 

[UFCSaint]

The thing that has killed me is the lack of urgency this season when they know they need scores. Down by 2 scores yesterday they seemed to just be content taking their sweet time getting in and out of the huddle.

 

[insidejob]

The thing that has killed me is the lack of urgency this season when they know they need scores. Down by 2 scores yesterday they seemed to just be content taking their sweet time getting in and out of the huddle.

I think that when you run a rhythm based offense, you don't mess with the rhythm of coming in and out of the huddle.

There have been games where the offense came sprinting out of the huddle from the first snap to the last and others where they just walk up to the line like they did yesterday for the whole game.

Just an observation on my part, not saying it's the gospel truth as to why they came out of the huddle like that yesterday.

 

[Hopeless]

its a remarkably silly rule IMO, but:

Section 3.

AR 4.3 (F)

(f) If the game clock is stopped after a down in which there was a foul by either team, following enforcement or declination of a penalty, the game clock will start as if the foul had not occurred,except that the clock will start on the snap if:
(1) the foul occurs after the two-minute warning of the first half;
(2) the foul occurs inside the last five minutes of the second half; or
(3) a specific rule prescribes otherwise.

Giants fans were hammering this hard last year after their first meeting with the Cowboys, because the Cowboys basically got a free timeout for jumping offsides.

 

[LombardiGras]

Kind of unusual to see somebody second guessing after the coach's decision worked out. Why not save the second guessing for when his decisions actually don't work out.

 

[insidejob]

its a remarkably silly rule IMO, but:

Section 3.

AR 4.3 (F)

(f) If the game clock is stopped after a down in which there was a foul by either team, following enforcement or declination of a penalty, the game clock will start as if the foul had not occurred,except that the clock will start on the snap if:
(1) the foul occurs after the two-minute warning of the first half;
(2) the foul occurs inside the last five minutes of the second half; or
(3) a specific rule prescribes otherwise.

Giants fans were hammering this hard last year after their first meeting with the Cowboys, because the Cowboys basically got a free timeout for jumping offsides.

That really is the stupidest part of a rule I've seen in a while. Out of timeouts late in the second half? Just commit a penalty on 2nd and 1 and BAM -- clock stopped for you. There should at least be a run off if it benefits the offending team.

 

[jesusfish]

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.

The truth is, there is functionally no difference for our defense between 1:15 and 2 minutes. Both are ample time for the opposing offense to drive 40 yards to get into field goal range. We've seen it time and time again that there is almost no amount of time on the clock that is safe for our defense to protect a 1 score lead. Shockingly, they got the stop this game. And whether the Chargers started the drive with 1:50 or 1:15 had no bearing on that.

 

[Hopeless]

That really is the stupidest part of a rule I've seen in a while. Out of timeouts late in the second half? Just commit a penalty on 2nd and 1 and BAM -- clock stopped for you. There should at least be a run off if it benefits the offending team.

Yep, and per the rules (Rule 4, Section 7 , Article 1), regarding penalties that incur 10-second runoffs:

"If the offensive team has timeouts remaining, it will have the option of using a timeout in lieu of a 10-second runoff, in which case the game clock will start on the snap after the time out. The defense always has the option to decline the 10-second runoff and have the yardage penalty enforced, but if the yardage penalty is declined, the 10-second runoff is also declined."

In theory , any penalty at the end of the game in which the defense has a good play but an offensive penalty happens, including one where there would be a clock runoff, the offense gets a free timeout if the penalty is declined.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

My issues wasn't necessarily the last drive, but final half of the 4th. The team just showed no sign of urgency with getting plays in and running them. I would have thought we would have seen some no-huddle or something.

 

[Wheryat]

With 1st and goal with 2:00 remaining, why not take a knee on 1st down and burn some time?

 

[St. Geezy]

With 1st and goal with 2:00 remaining, why not take a knee on 1st down and burn some time?

That would be utterly dumb to do. There is no guarantee you score a touchdown from 2-3 yards away with the game on the line and only three downs to do it.

One run stuff up the middle and one incomplete pass on a fade route, and suddenly you're staring at 4th and goal, with the game on the line.

You take the points any time you can get them in that scenario.