Optimus Moo
09-23-2007, 08:02 PM
I was watching the Giants at Redskins game today and I was beside myself on how stupid the Redskins were in the clutch.
First and goal at the Giants 1 with a chance to tie, and the clock has about a minute left. Washington has no timeouts, but there's PLENTY of time to calmly set up a pass play, walk to the line, and throw. If it goes out of bounds, no problem. Clock stops. But there was no need to rush.
Instead, Washington spikes the ball on first down. They threw a down away. They didn't even call a no-huddle type play. They just spiked the ball and it was second down.
The Giants take a timeout at this point (since the clock is already stopped) and this should work to Washington's advantage. Fine and dandy, they can recover from the lost down on the dumb spike play by discussing what to do in the next three plays.
Play resumes. They have an incomplete pass, and while that sucks for the Redskins, the clock still stops. That helps.
On third down, they run the ball. Some may say this is a time waster, but overall they had plenty of time. But they rushed to the line to run another bad run play and it was game over. Personally I'd have thrown on third down and then on fourth down, it doesn't matter what you do so you go with your best play idea. But still, they could have taken much more time between third and fourth down to decide what better play to run. I think the fact they hurried to get to the line on fourth down was a hindrance to the offense.
Here's the play by play from NFL.com on this goal-to-go situation:
1-1-NYG 1 (:58) 17-J.Campbell spiked the ball to stop the clock.
Timeout #2 by NYG at 00:51.
2-1-NYG 1 (:51) 17-J.Campbell pass incomplete short right to 45-M.Sellers (55-K.Mitchell).
3-1-NYG 1 (:47) 46-L.Betts left tackle to NYG 1 for no gain (55-K.Mitchell).
4-1-NYG 1 (:25) 46-L.Betts left end to NYG 3 for -2 yards (37-J.Butler).
I didn't watch the game until this final minute (I was watching Bengals-Seahawks.) Maybe I saw a different game than someone who saw it in full. But all I know is I saw a game where the Redskins blew a chance at going to overtime. One yard, and a bunch of bad decisions resulted in a loss of minus-2 yards. That was pretty pathetic.
First and goal at the Giants 1 with a chance to tie, and the clock has about a minute left. Washington has no timeouts, but there's PLENTY of time to calmly set up a pass play, walk to the line, and throw. If it goes out of bounds, no problem. Clock stops. But there was no need to rush.
Instead, Washington spikes the ball on first down. They threw a down away. They didn't even call a no-huddle type play. They just spiked the ball and it was second down.
The Giants take a timeout at this point (since the clock is already stopped) and this should work to Washington's advantage. Fine and dandy, they can recover from the lost down on the dumb spike play by discussing what to do in the next three plays.
Play resumes. They have an incomplete pass, and while that sucks for the Redskins, the clock still stops. That helps.
On third down, they run the ball. Some may say this is a time waster, but overall they had plenty of time. But they rushed to the line to run another bad run play and it was game over. Personally I'd have thrown on third down and then on fourth down, it doesn't matter what you do so you go with your best play idea. But still, they could have taken much more time between third and fourth down to decide what better play to run. I think the fact they hurried to get to the line on fourth down was a hindrance to the offense.
Here's the play by play from NFL.com on this goal-to-go situation:
1-1-NYG 1 (:58) 17-J.Campbell spiked the ball to stop the clock.
Timeout #2 by NYG at 00:51.
2-1-NYG 1 (:51) 17-J.Campbell pass incomplete short right to 45-M.Sellers (55-K.Mitchell).
3-1-NYG 1 (:47) 46-L.Betts left tackle to NYG 1 for no gain (55-K.Mitchell).
4-1-NYG 1 (:25) 46-L.Betts left end to NYG 3 for -2 yards (37-J.Butler).
I didn't watch the game until this final minute (I was watching Bengals-Seahawks.) Maybe I saw a different game than someone who saw it in full. But all I know is I saw a game where the Redskins blew a chance at going to overtime. One yard, and a bunch of bad decisions resulted in a loss of minus-2 yards. That was pretty pathetic.