Timeouts?

[JediXMan]

Was no one on the coaching staff and the players  aware they had 2 time outs left. That was some awful clock management.

[New Zealands #1 Colts Fan]

My only guess is that if they scored they were going to go for 2 and wanted to leave no time on the clock for the Steelers. Of course you have to score first for this plan to work. 

[Knuckles79]

The time didn't expire on them. I don't understand why everyone is calling poor clock management. Had they have executed and gotten first down they would've still had enough time to score in my opinion. 

[Defjamz26]

That’s what happens when you hire an interim coach with no coaching experience. 
 

They should have called a TO earlier and gotten a better call in. 

[DougDew]

For all of Jeff's fireable problems with first half game planning and play calling during the Steelers game, I don't think the timeouts at the end of the game were the issue.    

[lollygagger8]

Let's be honest here. 

 

Not calling a T.O. at the end of the game is not why this team lost. 

[gspdx]

1 hour ago, Defjamz26 said:

That’s what happens when you hire an interim coach with no coaching experience. 
 

They should have called a TO earlier and gotten a better call in. 

Yeah - no coach with coaching experience has ever bungled the clock management at the end of the game.

[Lancer1]

Utilizing a timeout on the final drive would've given us more options in playcalling.

 

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/11/colts-jeff-saturday-timeout-fail

[csmopar]

Miscalculation by a rookie head coach, but that’s not the only issue, under Matt Ryan. Once again, our offense struggles

[DeepseaColt]

There was no need to call a timeout at that point. Jeff has the mentality of the Peyton days of trying to keep a defense off balance in the 2 minute drill and not letting them get set. Had that run garnered a first we would have been in excellent position with most of the playbook open, including another potential run. That would have kept the defense honest. Unfortunately it didn't workout but clock management wasn't an issue this game.

[Smonroe]

Not an issue.  
 

The issue is that we have a QB that needs time to throw, isn’t very mobile, can’t put the ball downfield, (which allows Ds to stack the box), our receivers don’t create a lot of separation, and even though our D is good, they’re worn out by the end of the games because they’re on the field too long.

 

Other than that, no issue.  

[Flash7]

Not calling a time out on 3rd down and 3 was an absolute misstep by Saturday. No doubt about it.

 

The Colts hurried to the Line of Scrimmage and got a play off just in time before the clock ran down. Because they didn't call a time out, they had to hurry and run a basic play -- their bread and butter -- a handoff to JT. Due to the situation, I knew exactly what was coming and so did the defense. The play netted no yards and continued to waste the clock.

 

Even worse, it led to an unnecessary 4th down. Had they taken a time out they could have made a better play call. They didn't. They wasted an opportunity and wasted more time. Game over.

[Superman]

5 minutes ago, Flash7 said:

Not calling a time out on 3rd down and 3 was an absolute misstep by Saturday. No doubt about it.

 

The Colts hurried to the Line of Scrimmage and got a play off just in time before the clock ran down. Because they didn't call a time out, they had to hurry and run a basic play -- their bread and butter -- a handoff to JT. Due to the situation, I knew exactly what was coming and so did the defense. The play netted no yards and continued to waste the clock.

 

Even worse, it led to an unnecessary 4th down. Had they taken a time out they could have made a better play call. They didn't. They wasted an opportunity and wasted more time. Game over.

 

Absolutely. You need a TD, and you're on the 40 after the sack, with two timeouts and a minute and a half on the clock. Your receivers are down the field, so it's going to take you at least 20 seconds to get lined up and get a play off. Probably should have used a timeout there.

 

Then after Ryan's scramble (and I think the spot was awful, he wasn't touched until he was very close to the first down, but they marked it back where he went down), they let another 30 seconds run off the clock, and called a basic, low percentage play. Even if you get three yards there, you still have 20+ yards to get to the end zone. How is time not of the essence? It's your biggest enemy at that point.

 

If, at the very least, you call the timeout after the scramble, you have time to get your best personnel on the field, huddle up. call your play, and execute. And you still have around 45 seconds on the clock. You can also work the sidelines, or spike it on 1st down to get additional stoppages if you need them. Even if we don't convert on third or fourth down, we at least gave the offense a legitimate chance at two plays, rather than wasting a play on an emergency handoff to JT.

 

And if you do score, and let's say you decide to kick the XP so the game is tied, now the pressure is on the Steelers. Either they kneel on it and go to OT, or you make their offense perform, on the road, against a defense that had a pretty solid second half. 

 

This is bad game management, top to bottom. Jeff Saturday will hopefully just acknowledge that he messed up during his presser tomorrow. I get offering a lame excuse in the post game, but after having time to analyze the situation you have to understand that you mismanaged this situation and undermined your team's shot at winning the game. If he doesn't see it, or won't admit it, I'll be very bothered.

 

One more thing, I didn't expect him to fix all the Colts problems, especially not in three weeks. And I'm not shocked that he's not a master at game management in his third game as HC. But owning up to mistakes is kind of a bottom line requirement for me. 

[Superman]

 

Good guy, Jeff.

[Nesjan3]

We could have called a timeout to come up with the best play possible instead of rushing it. However not sure what people expect with a guy who has never coached above high school. Did people think Saturday was going to be a master of time management 3 games in lol?

[2006Coltsbestever]

Actually running Taylor on 3rd and 2 in a hurry up wasn't a bad play call. He gets the 1st down, we still have 3 timeouts and sitting pretty. Taylor getting stuffed screwed things up.

[Superman]

4 minutes ago, Nesjan3 said:

We could have called a timeout to come up with the best play possible instead of rushing it. However not sure what people expect with a guy who has never coached above high school. Did people think Saturday was going to be a master of time management 3 games in lol?

 

It's not just him. He's the face of the operation, but where are all the assistants, the analytics guys in the booth, etc.?

 

Also, this is not high level stuff. This is super basic.

[Nesjan3]

1 minute ago, Superman said:

 

It's not just him. He's the face of the operation, but where are all the assistants, the analytics guys in the booth, etc.?

 

Also, this is not high level stuff. This is super basic.

Yah your right its not high level stuff but the amount of operations/HC's that struggle with time management in this league is baffling.

[Flash7]

5 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Actually running Taylor on 3rd and 2 in a hurry up wasn't a bad play call. He gets the 1st down, we still have 3 timeouts and sitting pretty. Taylor getting stuffed screwed things up.

It was a bad play call. Everyone knew it was coming and it was easily stopped. It was a waste of a play and it ran time off of the clock.

 

Jeff has now acknowledged that he wished he had taken a time out instead. 

[chad72]

14 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Good guy, Jeff.

 

How can you be so in tune with a game as a HC with no play calling responsibilities and not realize the clock is not your ally? Most head coaches I have seen do this have some kind of play calling responsibilities which can be a distraction when push comes to shove in crunch situations. That is what I did not understand with Jeff.

[chad72]

[2006Coltsbestever]

9 minutes ago, Flash7 said:

It was a bad play call. Everyone knew it was coming and it was easily stopped. It was a waste of a play and it ran time off of the clock.

 

Jeff has now acknowledged that he wished he had taken a time out instead. 

Since when is running Taylor on 3rd and 2 a bad play call. Jeff is just being nice. If you can't get 3rd and 2 with a top 3 RB in the league then why even run in that situation at all. Titans would have ran Henry there.

[John Waylon]

Why was Matt Ryan, the touted veteran QB they wanted to command the offense like Peyton Manning used to, standing there like he had no * clue what should have been going on with under 2 minutes left to go in the game where he’s driving down by a score?

 

2 minute drill. QB hurries the team to the line, calls a play, runs it, repeat until someone calls a timeout. If no one calls it and you know the offense isn’t ready to run another play then the QB should take the initiative and call a timeout. He doesn’t need permission. 

 

Ryan stood there like he was waiting for them to call his * name to come get his happy meal at McDonald’s. 
 

They were no doubt lost on the sidelines, but Ryan was way more lost out there on the field, and for a vet that has been to a SB and won an MVP, him standing out there literally needing to be spoonfed what to do next in a 2 minute drill is inexcusable. 

[gspdx]

A timeout wouldn't have been a bad idea.  But I have seen worse clock management.  Still, getting everyone a short breather and getting settled for the 3rd down play wouldn't hurt.

 

It is interesting how many teams seem to screw this up.  I get that you don't want to leave a bunch of time of the clock, but the 1st priority is to score.

[2006Coltsbestever]

If Taylor does his normal and gets 5 yards on 3rd down, nobody would be talking about this. We then take a timeout and have 30 seconds left with 2 timeouts left and a good chance to tie. I am not letting Taylor off the hook, he also fumbled at the 1 yard line, dude hasn't been right all year and hasn't helped Matt much at all.

 

Even just give me 2 yards

[2006Coltsbestever]

4 minutes ago, gspdx said:

A timeout wouldn't have been a bad idea.  But I have seen worse clock management.  Still, getting everyone a short breather and getting settled for the 3rd down play wouldn't hurt.

 

It is interesting how many teams seem to screw this up.  I get that you don't want to leave a bunch of time of the clock, but the 1st priority is to score.

I really had no problem with the way we handled things. We still had plenty of time and 3 timeouts. Oh well, I guess that is just me.

[2006Coltsbestever]

10 minutes ago, John Waylon said:

Why was Matt Ryan, the touted veteran QB they wanted to command the offense like Peyton Manning used to, standing there like he had no * clue what should have been going on with under 2 minutes left to go in the game where he’s driving down by a score?

 

2 minute drill. QB hurries the team to the line, calls a play, runs it, repeat until someone calls a timeout. If no one calls it and you know the offense isn’t ready to run another play then the QB should take the initiative and call a timeout. He doesn’t need permission. 

 

Ryan stood there like he was waiting for them to call his * name to come get his happy meal at McDonald’s. 
 

They were no doubt lost on the sidelines, but Ryan was way more lost out there on the field, and for a vet that has been to a SB and won an MVP, him standing out there literally needing to be spoonfed what to do next in a 2 minute drill is inexcusable. 

He was probably thinking that Taylor could get 2 yards and get a 1st down and we would still have all of our timeouts. Really IMO, I don't think we played that badly. I have seen much worse. We freakin have Taylor so you would think on 3rd and 2 he would get that and then from there we operate. 

[DougDew]

3 hours ago, DeepseaColt said:

There was no need to call a timeout at that point. Jeff has the mentality of the Peyton days of trying to keep a defense off balance in the 2 minute drill and not letting them get set. Had that run garnered a first we would have been in excellent position with most of the playbook open, including another potential run. That would have kept the defense honest. Unfortunately it didn't workout but clock management wasn't an issue this game.

Yeah, that was my thinking.  He was trying to save them because he knew that we would have to throw short in the middle and move the ball into position by a series of plays, and not just one chunk play.  Then have a first and goal situation with no TOs, but that's okay because Ryan could just throw it into the endzone 4 times or throw it away.  He needed about 20-25 seconds left to throw it 4 times.   

 

He let the clock get down to 30 seconds and we were still at about the 20 yard line.  He should have called one TO with about 50 seconds left. 

[richard pallo]

30 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

It's not just him. He's the face of the operation, but where are all the assistants, the analytics guys in the booth, etc.?

 

Also, this is not high level stuff. This is super basic.

Agree.  And Ryan should have called the time out after his long run too.  No Need to wait for a call from the sidelines.  He should have done it.  

[Superman]

30 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

How can you be so in tune with a game as a HC with no play calling responsibilities and not realize the clock is not your ally? Most head coaches I have seen do this have some kind of play calling responsibilities which can be a distraction when push comes to shove in crunch situations. That is what I did not understand with Jeff.

 

My guess is he just wasn't sure the right way to handle it, and froze.

[Superman]

2 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

Agree.  And Ryan should have called the time out after his long run too.  No Need to wait for a call from the sidelines.  He should have done it.  

 

He probably should have, but if he's getting a different signal from the sideline I wouldn't expect him to overrule the HC. 

[John Waylon]

2 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

He was probably thinking that Taylor could get 2 yards and get a 1st down and we would still have all of our timeouts. Really IMO, I don't think we played that badly. I have seen much worse. We freakin Taylor so you would think on 3rd and 2 he would get that and then from there we operate. 

Then hurry them to the line. Show any sense of urgency. At all. I’ve seen blue haired old ladies on oxygen and walkers go through the free table at the end of a weekend-long yard sale with more urgency than Ryan showed last night on the other side of the 2 minute warning. 
 

He was standing there and taking in the sights and sounds waiting for… I don’t even know, I guess the end of * time or something. 
 

This is a 15 year vet who has been told “go out there and do your best Peyton Manning impression” thousands of times in the last 8 months and he’s out there like a sightseeing tourist while the clock continues to run. Saturday was waiting on Ryan’s * to get back on the * ball and do something. Anything.
 

Not to mention a lot of the best of Matt Ryan this season has come from a hurry up offense, why he just stood there with moop face and didn’t act like a 15 year veteran QB and take advantage of that situation is absolutely beyond me. 
 

I’m sure if Saturday knew his QB was just going to stand there like like a museum piece on display that no one wants to see after second down he would have called the timeout. But Saturday had the same reaction that I did: staring blankly at Ryan while he stood there just looking around. By the time he figured out Ryan was mentally on Jupiter or wherever he was, the egg was already over everyone’s face. 

[ProblChld32]

15 hours ago, JediXMan said:

Was no one on the coaching staff and the players  aware they had 2 time outs left. That was some awful clock management.

My guess is they were driving , they confidently thought they had the Steelers on their heels. But they most certainly should have called a TO there. It would’ve given guys a rest and a chance to really explore options at the best play to dial up to get the first and extend the drive.

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 minute ago, John Waylon said:

Then hurry them to the line. Show any sense of urgency. At all. I’ve seen blue haired old ladies on oxygen and walkers go through the free table at the end of a weekend-long yard sale with more urgency than Ryan showed last night on the other side of the 2 minute warning. 
 

He was standing there and taking in the sights and sounds waiting for… I don’t even know, I guess the end of * time or something. 
 

This is a 15 year vet who has been told “go out there and do your best Peyton Manning impression” thousands of times in the last 8 months and he’s out there like a sightseeing tourist while the clock continues to run. Saturday was waiting on Ryan’s * to get back on the * ball and do something. Anything.
 

Not to mention a lot of the best of Matt Ryan this season has come from a hurry up offense, why he just stood there with moop face and didn’t act like a 15 year veteran QB and take advantage of that situation is absolutely beyond me. 
 

I’m sure if Saturday knew his QB was just going to stand there like like a museum piece on display that no one wants to see after second down he would have called the timeout. But Saturday had the same reaction that I did: staring blankly at Ryan while he stood there just looking around. By the time he figured out Ryan was mentally on Jupiter or wherever he was, the egg was already over everyone’s face. 

- coming to the line, - Matt Ryan

[Superman]

12 minutes ago, John Waylon said:

Then hurry them to the line. Show any sense of urgency. At all. I’ve seen blue haired old ladies on oxygen and walkers go through the free table at the end of a weekend-long yard sale with more urgency than Ryan showed last night on the other side of the 2 minute warning. 
 

He was standing there and taking in the sights and sounds waiting for… I don’t even know, I guess the end of * time or something. 
 

This is a 15 year vet who has been told “go out there and do your best Peyton Manning impression” thousands of times in the last 8 months and he’s out there like a sightseeing tourist while the clock continues to run. Saturday was waiting on Ryan’s * to get back on the * ball and do something. Anything.
 

Not to mention a lot of the best of Matt Ryan this season has come from a hurry up offense, why he just stood there with moop face and didn’t act like a 15 year veteran QB and take advantage of that situation is absolutely beyond me. 
 

I’m sure if Saturday knew his QB was just going to stand there like like a museum piece on display that no one wants to see after second down he would have called the timeout. But Saturday had the same reaction that I did: staring blankly at Ryan while he stood there just looking around. By the time he figured out Ryan was mentally on Jupiter or wherever he was, the egg was already over everyone’s face. 

 

This is a funny post. Good writing. 

 

I disagree, though. Have you rewatched the sequence? To me, Ryan gets up and looks over at Saturday, like 'we're calling timeout, right?' Apparently he got a 'let's go' signal from Saturday, and then Ryan hops to and gets everyone lined up. It's no-huddle so I assume the play call is Ryan's, but his hands are kind of tied in that situation, because you want to get a play off right away, so you go with the simplest call you can make at the time. 

 

Seems obvious to me that Saturday told him to keep going, no timeout. 

 

Edit: By the way, the timeout should have been automatic. Ryan shouldn't have had to wonder what was happening because Jeff should have called the timeout as soon as the play was over. 

[gspdx]

1 hour ago, John Waylon said:

Then hurry them to the line. Show any sense of urgency. At all. I’ve seen blue haired old ladies on oxygen and walkers go through the free table at the end of a weekend-long yard sale with more urgency than Ryan showed last night on the other side of the 2 minute warning. 
 

He was standing there and taking in the sights and sounds waiting for… I don’t even know, I guess the end of * time or something. 
 

This is a 15 year vet who has been told “go out there and do your best Peyton Manning impression” thousands of times in the last 8 months and he’s out there like a sightseeing tourist while the clock continues to run. Saturday was waiting on Ryan’s * to get back on the * ball and do something. Anything.
 

Not to mention a lot of the best of Matt Ryan this season has come from a hurry up offense, why he just stood there with moop face and didn’t act like a 15 year veteran QB and take advantage of that situation is absolutely beyond me. 
 

I’m sure if Saturday knew his QB was just going to stand there like like a museum piece on display that no one wants to see after second down he would have called the timeout. But Saturday had the same reaction that I did: staring blankly at Ryan while he stood there just looking around. By the time he figured out Ryan was mentally on Jupiter or wherever he was, the egg was already over everyone’s face. 

 

Not sure I get it.  Are you saying Ryan didn't do a very good job?

[lilolemoi]

Steelers still saw the play coming a mile away.

 

 

[Happy2BeHere]

That 3rd down was a critical down. I know we had 4 downs do get the 1st but the mere fact that we had 2 timeouts left is in my opinion the BIGGEST reason they should have called a time out in that situation. That was a mistake and of course Saturday even admitted as much. I know myself and several others posted specifically in the game thread that we couldn’t understand why a timeout was not called. The game is on the line…you have multiple time outs still. You best call one and get your team on the same page with the best playcall you can find because you still had an additional timeout left for later. 
 

If they had not had two timeouts then I’d say they should not have called the timeout as they probably would have needed that timeout later and then wouldn’t have had it. 
 

It really was the wrong choice. 

[ShuteAt168]

On 11/29/2022 at 1:49 PM, 2006Coltsbestever said:

If Taylor does his normal and gets 5 yards on 3rd down, nobody would be talking about this. We then take a timeout and have 30 seconds left with 2 timeouts left and a good chance to tie. I am not letting Taylor off the hook, he also fumbled at the 1 yard line, dude hasn't been right all year and hasn't helped Matt much at all.

 

Even just give me 2 yards

Is 5 yards on third/fourth and short really Taylor’s “normal” this year though? 

[ShuteAt168]

On 11/29/2022 at 1:45 PM, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Since when is running Taylor on 3rd and 2 a bad play call. Jeff is just being nice. If you can't get 3rd and 2 with a top 3 RB in the league then why even run in that situation at all. Titans would have ran Henry there.

It’s bad in that situation because the Steelers’ DE said he knew exactly what was coming based on where the RB lined up and the fact that we hurried to the line. Third and 2 in the second quarter with 15 seconds on the play clock is a much different situation than the one we were in. Context matters.