08-17-2016, 02:24 AM
(08-16-2016, 11:20 PM)Bilbo Saggins Wrote: The strategy in and of itself makes a lot of sense. Getting the play straight with everyone on the same page is a valuable use of a resource - probably more valuable than saving timeouts for a 2-minute drill that 9 times out of 10 either doesn't happen or isn't affected by timeouts at all. I also like that they trust their QB to make that judgement call. What rubs me the wrong way about it is just what everyone else was talking about. Why aren't the players ready to run the play? Why is there any confusion? Why don't the Patriots or whoever have to burn timeouts in the red zone to get on the same page? It looks bad. It says that someone on the field is not ready to go. It doesn't seem like a thing that an elite team should do because every once in a great while that extra time on the clock translates into points on the board. It also gives the defense more time to rest or think about what they're doing - the exact opposite of what makes the no-huddle good.
I can't really pretend to offer a great opinion on it because I'm not on the field, but I personally think that they ought to take a hard look at why they have called all of the early timeouts in the past and figure out a proactive solution so that they don't have to do it any more. If it's an emergency and someone is lost, then a burned timeout is better than a wasted play. The ideal situation would be to save the TO's for as long as possible every game for those few games that actually are decided by having that little bit of clock left or running out of time. To sum up, they should use them in the same way as needed, but should realize that if they keep doing it they will probably lose a tight game due to not having enough time where a TO might have saved it.
This falls on the asst./position coaches IMO. They need to have their players be alert and ready to go.
