- Joined
- Apr 3, 2006
- Messages
- 26,109
- Reaction score
- 52,116
The play clock was running down and the Niners avoided a delay of game penalty by calling a timeout. As soon as they called it, I thought immediately that they had just reduced their chances of winning the game.
Had they taken the delay of game penalty, it's 2nd and goal from the 10 yard line. Many players say that there's some advantage to the 10 vs. the 5 because there is more space (especially in this case, since the Niners didn't run the ball.) Just the same, I'm sure statistically it's better to be at the 5 than the 10, but the question is: was that advantage outweighed by the disadvantage of being KO'd if they didn't score? My knee jerk feeling was that it was the wrong call based on the flow of the game.
The TO cost them any chance of getting a realistic chance to win the game in case they didn't score a touchdown. Doing the math, at best they would get the ball back for a hail mary. Had they kept their timeout, they likely would have gotten the ball back with 45-50 seconds. The Ravens wouldn't have taken the safety, so they would have punted in deep territory...good chance the Niners get the ball back in Ravens territory, or at least mid-field, down by 5.
Let me add that I think LOTS of coaches make mistakes by using timeouts in the second half to avoid a delay of game penalty. At the end of these games, 5 yards becomes nothing, while the ability to stop the clock is as important as oxygen.
What do you think?
Had they taken the delay of game penalty, it's 2nd and goal from the 10 yard line. Many players say that there's some advantage to the 10 vs. the 5 because there is more space (especially in this case, since the Niners didn't run the ball.) Just the same, I'm sure statistically it's better to be at the 5 than the 10, but the question is: was that advantage outweighed by the disadvantage of being KO'd if they didn't score? My knee jerk feeling was that it was the wrong call based on the flow of the game.
The TO cost them any chance of getting a realistic chance to win the game in case they didn't score a touchdown. Doing the math, at best they would get the ball back for a hail mary. Had they kept their timeout, they likely would have gotten the ball back with 45-50 seconds. The Ravens wouldn't have taken the safety, so they would have punted in deep territory...good chance the Niners get the ball back in Ravens territory, or at least mid-field, down by 5.
Let me add that I think LOTS of coaches make mistakes by using timeouts in the second half to avoid a delay of game penalty. At the end of these games, 5 yards becomes nothing, while the ability to stop the clock is as important as oxygen.
What do you think?