The idiocy of spiking the ball and killing the clock with a minute left

[upstater1]

In two games today the losing team spiked the ball with a minute left. SF 49ers did it with 1:18 to go, and the Steelers did it against the Ravens.

Why waste a down?

Pitt is on the 1 inch line now on 4th down. If they didn't waste the down, they win the game.

This is sheer stupidity.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Re: The Idiocy of spiking the ball and killing the clock

That's our season in a nutshell.

 

[livinginthe past]

Agreed, but at least the Pittsburgh game went in our favor.

Neither QB showed alot of poise under pressure.

 

[PatriotDynasty_12]

I'm still laughing at how Buffalo lost that one. I mean, everybody on the O is just saying "don't fumble" and what does J.P LOLman do?

 

[aluminum seats]

It's incredibly stupid--spiking the ball is not something that should happen very much at all....when you're driving, downs are king. You spike it rarely, and never when the other team is thinking about using their own timeouts!!

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

It's incredibly stupid--spiking the ball is not something that should happen very much at all....when you're driving, downs are king. You spike it rarely, and never when the other team is thinking about using their own timeouts!!

Only when time is more important than downs.....

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

The Pittsburgh spike was double stupid. Not only did they waste the down, but they stopped the clock.

There's no way you want to stop the clock in that position -- keep it moving or make the Ravens use time outs. You want to be in the position that if you kick a field goal, you do it with no time left on the clock. Well, not really -- you want to kick with about 15 seconds on the clock. You don't want to risk a false start or something and a 10 second run off.

As soon as I saw Pitt get the first down and stay in bounds, I thought "perfect." Take it down to about 30 seconds and run your first down play, leaving Baltimore no time left.

 

[Seymour93]

In two games today the losing team spiked the ball with a minute left. SF 49ers did it with 1:18 to go, and the Steelers did it against the Ravens.

Why waste a down?

Pitt is on the 1 inch line now on 4th down. If they didn't waste the down, they win the game.

This is sheer stupidity.

Shaun Hill spiked the ball at the Dolphins 21 with 1:20 left on the clock.

That's a brain fart of epic proportions.

 

[xmarkd400x]

I always wonder why instead of "spike" teams don't run "5 yard out, throw away if covered".

IDK, I'm not a pro coach.