Clock Management Coach For Hire

I watched the movie ‘Moneyball’ last night and thought it was a decent flick.  It got me thinking about football and some of the major statistical oversights, namely clock management. 

 

I’ve always said that pro and college teams need to hire an individual that is solely responsible for clock management.  It amazes me how there are special teams assistant coaches, graduate assistant coaches, interns, etc. yet there is no sole individual assigned to maximizing the efficiency of offenses in the two minute drill.  Sure, they practice it during the week and the head coach has the ultimate say on when to call timeouts, but there needs to be a dedicated unit of teaching to ingrain in these young minds what to do when there a precious seconds left in a crucial situation.  Does Bobby Bowden lose Wide Right I if he runs another play to gain a couple of yards?  Does he lose Wide Right III if he doesn’t waste precious seconds prior to Matt Munyon’s field goal attempt?

 

The NFL is not immune, either.  Take a look at the Saints-49ers playoff game from this past weekend.  With a little over 2 minutes remaining, San Francisco QB Alex Smith is facing a 3rd and 8 at New Orleans’ 28 yard line, down by 1.  New Orleans has 1 timeout left.  He runs a bootleg and is in the clear.  Sprinting down the sidelines, Smith heads towards the end zone untouched.  If I were the clock management coach, I would have told him, ‘If you get in the open, go down at the 2.’  Think about it.  Instead of scoring a touchdown – as he did – Smith purposely falls down at the 2, bringing the game to the two minute warning.  San Francisco now has a 1st and Goal at the 2.  They take a knee on 1st down, New Orleans calls their last timeout.  1:55 remaining.  Smith takes another knee and with the Saints out of timeouts, the clock is brought down to 1:10.  On 3rd down, they take another knee, bringing the clock down to approximately 27 seconds.  They bring on John Kasay to kick the go ahead 21 yard field goal with about 20-30 seconds left.  Wouldn’t you rather have a two point lead with 25 seconds left than a 5 point lead with 2:11 left?

 

Sure enough, All Pro QB Drew Brees marched his team down for the go ahead touchdown.  Only problem is, the Saints don’t have a clock management specialist either so they scored too soon, thus allowing the 49ers to retake the lead for good with 9 seconds left.

 

There’s a part in ‘Moneyball’ where someone tells the Billy Beane character that his team paid approximately $200K per win while the New York Yankees paid over $1 million per win.  When you think about it, wins are the only stat that matter.  Personally, I’m tired of the PR campaign for so-and-so getting his 5th straight 100 yard game or this guy’s passer rating being in the top 5 of the nation.  It all doesn’t matter.  Wins are the only numbers that matter.  And perhaps there is no greater impact – in the coaching realm – on a win than managing the clock with a few minutes to go in a close game.  I remember when timeouts in the Randy Shannon era were being doled out like Chinese girls at adoption agencies.  It seems we’d always use them all up prior to halftime or the end of the game (then, on the rare occasions that we did have one left near the end of the game, we failed to use it wisely…remember the 2008 Emerald Bowl versus Cal).

 

I am offering up my services for free.  I have no head coaching experience but have played enough Madden to know what to do.  When time is running out, getting to the sidelines is key.  When you’re down by 10 with under two minutes to go, kick the field goal and attempt an onside kick instead of going for it on 4th down (kudos to Golden for realizing and doing this versus FSU).  The onside kick has the lowest probability, so the closer you get to clearing that obstacle, the closer you will be to winning the game.

 

There are endless possibilities to these teachings, most of which have largely been hidden from student athletes.  Remember when Eagles RB Brian Westbrook fell down at the one on purpose a couple of years ago?  Some Eagles fans were irate.  But not the smart Eagles fans.  They knew that he did the right thing to preserve his team’s victory.  There are times when you’ll have to take a knee at the one in an open field, as opposed to scoring.  Other times, it might make sense for the defense to simply allow the opposing team to score a touchdown (think the Dolphins-Chargers 1995 playoff game).  Either way, college – and pro – teams need to have a clock management specialist assigned to their teams.  Wins are simply too valuable to be left to chance.  Athletic programs need to take a good long look at maximizing the statistical benefits of certain key last minute situations.  Because the last thing you want is Drew Brees with the ball and two minutes to go.  I’d much rather be facing Drew Brees with 20 seconds to go.

 

Quick Hits: Dude, Ireland needs to go.  I don’t know what Stephen Ross’ fascination is with him, but I’ve already seen enough of his Pat White-loving, Dez Bryant-hating persona to know that he’s not the right guy for the job.  Besides, you’re gonna miss out on guys like Cowher if you give final personnel decision control to someone else….So, Paula Deen had Type II Diabetes for three f’n years and continued to cook her butter and sugar-ridden dishes on TV, but is now coming out in public because she is ‘partnering’ with a diabetic drug company?  That is what is wrong with this country.  And Paula Deen is a greedy dipshit….Rented ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’ at the request of my lady friend and gotta admit, it was entertaining.  I’m a closet RomCom fan, though….That Italian cruise ship captain reminds me of that episode of ‘Seinfeld’ where Costanza is at a kid’s birthday party and, thinking there’s a fire, pushes them out of the way to get to out of there.