BB's timeout calling late game.

[Kontradiction]

Have a difficult time complaining about all that much after last night.. BB once again proved he is the smartest football guy in any "room" he plays in. McDaniels and Patricia are not far behind..

While there may be concern about this move.. Ariens burned his timeouts in rapid succession.. sure sports talk radio will have a lot to talk about in Phoenix this morning..

They're already crucifying Arians for not playing the starters enough in the preseason.

 

[PittPatriot]

I agree. I thought he wanted to rush the kicker and then ice him. Get the blood pumping and freeze it. Let me tell you, it works.

Which is exactly why you chose your birthday wish to be a Patriots win and not the "other birthday wish" you cleaned to have at your disposal.
Happy Belated, Nabwong!

 

[convertedpatsfan]

I think that's over managing and over coaching. People can say what they want. Highly doubt the timeout or lack there of against Seattle changed their playcall. You called the timeout. He went out there and there was a bad snap. If he makes the kick you cost your self 20 seconds which can be about 3 plays at least, it varies. To me he's over thinking it

He overthinks EVERYTHING. That's what makes him the greatest of all time.

This sounds a lot like the Madden generation, where everything is about maximizing time, and nobody thinks about the actual steps of executing a play including snapping the ball under pressure situations.

Some coaches have an idea of what they want to do based on situation, but BB has been in these situations so many times, he's clearly watching the opponent and letting that determine what he does.

In many alternate universes, BB is getting skewered because they made the kick. But with a rookie long snapper and a kicker who struggles with long kicks, I thought he played it absolutely perfectly regardless of result.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I think that's over managing and over coaching. People can say what they want. Highly doubt the timeout or lack there of against Seattle changed their playcall. You called the timeout. He went out there and there was a bad snap. If he makes the kick you cost your self 20 seconds which can be about 3 plays at least, it varies. To me he's over thinking it

John Farrell overmanages and overthinks.

Bill does nothing of the sort.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Shouldn't we save second guessing for when we lose?

 

[PatsDeb]

Lotta whining in the GD thread about timeouts late. How can you not see that Belichick didn't call a TO right away in the hopes that the Cards might **** something up. You let them rush out into a pressure situation, maybe they **** up lining up, maybe they snap it faster than they should, you just never know.

I mean, you guys who are still whining or chalking it up to luck that we didn't get screwed by not having more time on the clock, do you honestly think that Belichick, of all coaches in this league, doesn't make choices like that based on detailed time management analysis? This isn't some fly by night local over 30 flag football league, this is the Patriots in the NFL.

Sometimes these things work, sometimes they don't. But there's always going to be some pretty calculated rationale behind what he's doing because that's the man we are lucky enough to have as HC of the NEP.

It was just like the SB. You sit there thinking, "why don't they call a TO?!?!" then the other team screws something up in the pressure of the moment, including their own thinking (of the Pats), "Why don't they call a TO?!?!" It just adds to the pressure against the other team, in a way. Brilliant.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I think that's over managing and over coaching. People can say what they want. Highly doubt the timeout or lack there of against Seattle changed their playcall. You called the timeout. He went out there and there was a bad snap. If he makes the kick you cost your self 20 seconds which can be about 3 plays at least, it varies. To me he's over thinking it

But you have it just right......

 

[sambam94]

he ended up calling the 2 time outs, but after the clock ran down...If the FG was made, 41 seconds was not enough time.

 

[Haley]

When Belichick doesn't immediately call a timeout for your field goal unit:

 

[long distance]

I hope you don't mind me mentioning again another great TO call - by Hightower.
Collins was alone in the box the team should defend - they lined up to defend the 1st down instead of mid-gain for a makable FG - and that could be game-breaking.

It was probably via MP but anyway - I am so impressed with the leadership High is growing into after Mayo's departure. I think thats huge and it solidifies my peace that BB is not letting him go.

 

[Triumph]

Situational football.

Reverse the roles and there is no doubt in my mind that the Pats would have been ready and that the snap would have been good. I dont recall the last bad snap on a NE FG. Gost misses like any other kicker so I cannot guarantee the FG.

Coaching and preparation. Preparation and coaching. Belichick is on a level all his own.

 

[brdmaverick]

Eh..I see the rationale behind thinking they'll get overexcited and screw it up but I thought calling a TO quicker was the better option. If he makes it you still have enough time to get our all world kicker into range.

Instead we put it all down to the FG attempt to decide the game. It worked out though.

I agree 100%. A 47 yard field goals is VERY makable by NFL standards these days. I'd much rather have almost 1:30 and no timeouts instead of 35 seconds and no timeouts.

The guy missed the kick so obviously not taking the time outs will naturally get spun as "Belichick's mind games wins the game" but in reality I think they were lucky the guy missed the field goal.

I'm going to get flamed. Trust me, it was a GREAT WIN and as such hate to introduce anything negative, but I'm just responding to the topic of the thread. While I don't agree with the time out usage at the end of the day I"m elated that the score still worked in our favor.

 

[fair catch fryar]

John Farrell overmanages and overthinks.

Bill does nothing of the sort.

Farrell gets a lot of **** for that, including from me, but the guy has the Sox 2 games in first with 3 weeks left. Like BB, he knows a lot more than the rest of schmucks.

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

I agree 100%. A 47 yard field goals is VERY makable by NFL standards these days. I'd much rather have almost 1:30 and no timeouts instead of 35 seconds and no timeouts.

I agree - but your numbers are off.

It wasn't 1:30. The previous play we called timeoout at 1:10. So after the final non FG play that would be down to 1:00 or slightly less. We called timeout at 0:41. So it was the difference of about 1:00 to 0:41 not 1:30 to 0:35.

 

[brdmaverick]

Shouldn't we save second guessing for when we lose?

It's a forum to discuss our favorite team and I think it's an interesting topic/debate. It shouldn't be removed as a topic of conversation just because we won. In fact, while I disagreed with how it played out I was very interested to come on here and see how the general fanbase felt about it and what the rationale of the other side was. So I do find this to be a fascinating conversation.

Another great example, with less than a minute left hte Raiders went for 2 yesterday (an unconventional move) and they won the game. I'm curious as to how Raiders fans felt at the time they saw their team lining up for two. Were more of them screaming at their TV saying 'what are you doing?' or were most thinking 'nice, I like a coach with guts'. The team won but it's still a fascinating topic.

 

[SalemPats]

Lotta whining in the GD thread about timeouts late. How can you not see that Belichick didn't call a TO right away in the hopes that the Cards might **** something up. You let them rush out into a pressure situation, maybe they **** up lining up, maybe they snap it faster than they should, you just never know.

I mean, you guys who are still whining or chalking it up to luck that we didn't get screwed by not having more time on the clock, do you honestly think that Belichick, of all coaches in this league, doesn't make choices like that based on detailed time management analysis? This isn't some fly by night local over 30 flag football league, this is the Patriots in the NFL.

Sometimes these things work, sometimes they don't. But there's always going to be some pretty calculated rationale behind what he's doing because that's the man we are lucky enough to have as HC of the NEP.

This is not something new, BB believes that we are more prepared in a rush situation than you are so he'll take that gamble.

Pretty much anything that BB does, I agree with.

 

[brdmaverick]

I agree - but your numbers are off.

It wasn't 1:30. The previous play we called timeoout at 1:10. So after the final non FG play that would be down to 1:00 or slightly less. We called timeout at 0:41. So it was the difference of about 1:00 to 0:41 not 1:30 to 0:35.

I should clarify my numbers.

Not only was I screaming at the TV for them to take a timeout before the field goal attempt, but I was also screaming for the timeout after the the 2nd and 19 pass to Ellington. They ultimately did take a time out at 1:10 but that was after letting a lot of time bleed off the clock. The play was snapped at 1:51 and it was a short pass so I would guess they let a good 30 seconds run off before taking the time out. Had they taken the timeouts immediately after both plays it would have been closer to 1:20-1:30.

So yes, the use of the second time out was the worst ever. When I saw the clock running down I thought 'I don't agree but I guess they want to preserve the time out' but then to use the time out AFTER the clock already bled.....that's NOT Patriots clock management.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

4th and a lot in the Super Bowl, when the FG was within Gost's range?

you guessed it

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

It's a forum to discuss our favorite team and I think it's an interesting topic/debate. It shouldn't be removed as a topic of conversation just because we won. In fact, while I disagreed with how it played out I was very interested to come on here and see how the general fanbase felt about it and what the rationale of the other side was. So I do find this to be a fascinating conversation.

Another great example, with less than a minute left hte Raiders went for 2 yesterday (an unconventional move) and they won the game. I'm curious as to how Raiders fans felt at the time they saw their team lining up for two. Were more of them screaming at their TV saying 'what are you doing?' or were most thinking 'nice, I like a coach with guts'. The team won but it's still a fascinating topic.

Didn't say to remove it as a topic of conversation, did I?

Healthy debate is always encouraged to discuss strategy. But, if BB did make a mistake, I'm 100% positive he'll address it for future situations.

Guess I appreciate how he and his coaches make these decisions in real time. And we'll never have the information he has to even come close to second guessing.

I did find the situation odd for the 2nd timeout, though the first TO was Hightower.

 

[bbobbo]

BB specifically addressed the FG timeout question during his post-game press conference, answering two questions about it:

Bill Belichick 9/11 'Really proud of our team'

Q: Bill, what went into your thinking calling the time out with 41 seconds left, when you were kind of trying to rush out there, for that field goal attempt. You know, obviously that worked out really well for you guys, calling that time out.

A: Well, I wasn't going to initially call it, but then it looked like they weren't in a big rush, that they were going to bleed it a little bit, so if they had made it, it would have given us more time on the clock--you know, a field goal would have won going the other way.

Q: Bill, just to go back to the time out, you've been in the league so long, you've been in so many of those situations, is that a feel thing, or are you looking for something specific on the field, or something you see on the other sideline--when do you know?

A: If they would have run right out and lined up to kick it, then I don't think I would have taken the time out. And, you know generally I don't think you want to go out and line up and get it all set and make your field goal kicker wait, you know, 20 seconds to kick it. I mean, you could theoretically, but you know most kickers don't like that. I don't think that's really the way to go, personally. So when they came out there, that's what I thought they were going to do, is run right out and kick because it was fourth down. But then, they, you know, the holder wasn't even down, you know, the kicker was sort of ten yards off to the side, warming up. It looked like they were going to bleed it down, you know, so I thought we could save, I don't know what it was maybe 20 seconds on the 40-second clock, somewhere in there. So I thought we would be able to save that. I mean, obviously, if the kick was no good we're kneeling anyway, so it didn't really make any difference. It would only have helped us if the kick had been good.