Clock Management at end of 1st Half

[Repulsif]

Just imagine what is possible to do with, let's say, 13 seconds left.

[Bob Jones]

16 hours ago, FireChans said:

They don’t want to leave enough time on the clock for the other team.

C’mon man. The defense was playing great and the opposing QB was a chump named Howell. As I said yesterday in the GD thread, they definitely should have called a TO with about 1:01 left, instead they wasted about 35 seconds.

49 minutes ago, Repulsif said:

Just imagine what is possible to do with, let's say, 13 seconds left.

Yes, Howell = Mahomes. 🙄🤦🏻‍♂️

[BullBuchanan]

2 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

It's about trying to use as many plays as possible and getting closer to the end zone so that you have multiple options of scoring a touchdown.

But they did exactly that. They kicked on 4th down. They ran the maximum amount of plays they could before turning the ball over. How are you still confused about this?

[billsfan_34]

18 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

This was the only part of today's game that made me furious.

 

Yes, the 4th & inches passing play was incredibly dumb as well.

 

That being said, this is the second time this season that the Bills have done this right before halftime.

 

After creating a turnover in both the Jets & Commanders territory, and with all time outs for the Bills still available, they allowed the clock to run off a lot of time, and in the end the Bills end up settling for a field goal. BOTH TIMES!

 

Who is alright with this? Why are we not seeing urgency to move the ball and get us as close to the end zone as possible, instead of forcing Josh Allen to have to throw 20 yards plus to the end zone?

 

This is why we lost to the Jets, and I thought it was all a fluke, and we'd never see it again. Apparently, I was wrong.

 

Who is making these decisions? McDermott? Dorsey? This is unacceptable! The Bills need to play as if the game is tied. Instead, they looked like they didn't care.

 

The Bills cannot continue to do this. Does this make sense to anyone?

If we lost this game, more will be discussing the poor clock management. I was in disbelief- this will cost us a game or 2 against tougher opponents.

2 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

Did you notice that the score was still 16-0 in the 4th quarter? That's still a two possession game.

 

When you have a chance to bury your opponent early, you do all you can to make it happen.

Yep! 

[John from Riverside]

3 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

Again, does that mean that we were afraid of what Sam Howell and the Commanders offense could do to us with 1 minute to go in the half?

 

When you have a chance to get a touchdown, you should do all you can to get it. That's what I'm saying.

They could have gone more up-tempo in that sequence and saved more time to get a touchdown.

 

The Bills had the potential to go up 20-0, but they put themselves in a position where it was difficult to do.

It’s an NFL team they should always be a little bit of fear of what can happen
 

16 seconds happened

[JohnNord]

18 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

This was the only part of today's game that made me furious.

 

Yes, the 4th & inches passing play was incredibly dumb as well.

 

That being said, this is the second time this season that the Bills have done this right before halftime.

 

After creating a turnover in both the Jets & Commanders territory, and with all time outs for the Bills still available, they allowed the clock to run off a lot of time, and in the end the Bills end up settling for a field goal. BOTH TIMES!

 

Who is alright with this? Why are we not seeing urgency to move the ball and get us as close to the end zone as possible, instead of forcing Josh Allen to have to throw 20 yards plus to the end zone?

 

This is why we lost to the Jets, and I thought it was all a fluke, and we'd never see it again. Apparently, I was wrong.

 

Who is making these decisions? McDermott? Dorsey? This is unacceptable! The Bills need to play as if the game is tied. Instead, they looked like they didn't care.

 

The Bills cannot continue to do this. Does this make sense to anyone?

I didn’t have a problem with the FG‘S.  The Bills were betting on their defense shutting down a weak offense.  Unfortunately against the Jets, Josh’s turnovers flipped the game.

 

I hated the 4th-and-inches call from the moment they put Josh in shotgun.  Between Josh himself, Harris, and Murray, you have 3 players who have a very good chance at banging out an inch

[Bad Things]

I agree with the OP 100%.

 

It made no sense to me, why we didn't actually try to score a TD.  It would've been a dagger to the heart for Washington.

 

To those so worried about leaving the Commanders time before the end of the half... so what?? Did they show anything on their offense that we should have been scared about?  We got the ball of the Washington 33 yard line, with 1:19 left in the half.  (Plus, don't forget that it was still only 13-0 at this point of the game.)

 

We should have stayed aggressive and plunged the dagger into the heart.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Bad Things

[Mark Vader]

5 hours ago, Yawning Frog said:

the only score that matters is at the end of the 4th quarter the last time I knew. If you don't like it go apply for a coaching position and then it will be for your liking.

Alright, I get it. You prefer settling for field goals.

3 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

But they did exactly that. They kicked on 4th down. They ran the maximum amount of plays they could before turning the ball over. How are you still confused about this?

They did not use their maximum effort.

 

Are you telling me that it was impossible for the Bills to get a touchdown in that situation using higher percentage plays, instead of forcing Josh Allen to throw to the end zone from 20 yards out?

[Mark Vader]

2 hours ago, billsfan_34 said:

If we lost this game, more will be discussing the poor clock management. I was in disbelief- this will cost us a game or 2 against tougher opponents.

Yep! 

We lost to the Jets because of this approach.

2 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

It’s an NFL team they should always be a little bit of fear of what can happen
 

16 seconds happened

Which is why they should have tried harder to score a touchdown.

2 hours ago, JohnNord said:

I didn’t have a problem with the FG‘S.  The Bills were betting on their defense shutting down a weak offense.  Unfortunately against the Jets, Josh’s turnovers flipped the game.

 

I hated the 4th-and-inches call from the moment they put Josh in shotgun.  Between Josh himself, Harris, and Murray, you have 3 players who have a very good chance at banging out an inch

Josh Allen's turnovers were terrible, yet again the Bills put themselves in a position at the end of the first half where they did not try hard enough t o get a touchdown, by wasting so much time off of the clock. They had a real chance to go up 17-3.

 

Imagine how even more demoralized the Jets would've been if that happened.

[ToGoGo]

There are some fans on here that get a hard on from attacking McDermott about clock management. And they’re always very angry about it. 
 

I don’t see it as a problem personally. I always felt that those fans don’t understand what head coaches do besides manage the clock and throw challenge flags. 

[Mark Vader]

4 minutes ago, ToGoGo said:

There are some fans on here that get a hard on from attacking McDermott about clock management. And they’re always very angry about it. 
 

I don’t see it as a problem personally. I always felt that those fans don’t understand what head coaches do besides manage the clock and throw challenge flags. 

If you are referring to me, then you got the wrong guy. I'm a fan of McDermott, and I love what he has done for the Bills.

 

I just find these situations in the game to be very odd.

[Chaos]

12 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

I just find these situations in the game to be very odd.

There are limited number of variables in the last couple of minutes:
 

1. ball location
2. on defence or offense
3. down
4. clock is running, not running
5. yards to first down
6. time remaining
7. timeouts remaining
8. opponent timeouts remaining

Example: Bills have the ball on their own 38 with 1:43 remaining in the first half, it is second and 9, the clock is running, they have 3 time outs remaining , the opponent has 2 time outs remaining.   There is a correct descision to call a time out or not call a time out here.  It can all be worked out ahead of time, not a heat of the moment decision. 
 

Seems like it would worthwhile to higher some MIT math genius to put together the algorithm to identify exactly when to call a time out, signal to spike the ball, or run the play on based on the relevent variables.  Then let the math genius call the time outs.    Rather than have someone with 50 other things on their mind decide by "their gut"

Edited September 26, 2023 by Chaos

[BullBuchanan]

3 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

They did not use their maximum effort.

 

Are you telling me that it was impossible for the Bills to get a touchdown in that situation using higher percentage plays, instead of forcing Josh Allen to throw to the end zone from 20 yards out?

Who cares about effort? You started this whole thread  about how you don't understand NFL clock management. You were educated on the subject by dozens of people who took the time out of their day to explain it to you in basic terms and you still want to argue about it. If you want to argue about playcall selection, that's fine, but it's an entirely separate discussion. The clock management (something that McDermott has struggled mightily with throughout his career) was textbook and flawless.

[LABILLBACKER]

On 9/24/2023 at 9:00 PM, FireChans said:

They don’t want to leave enough time on the clock for the other team.

It also accomplishes not leaving enough time on the clock for your own offense to run multiple plays for hopefully a td.  Sean has done this numerous times over his career.  Time management will never be one of his strengths.  If it was he would've popped up the 13 sec kickoff.

[Mark Vader]

1 hour ago, BullBuchanan said:

Who cares about effort? You started this whole thread  about how you don't understand NFL clock management. You were educated on the subject by dozens of people who took the time out of their day to explain it to you in basic terms and you still want to argue about it. If you want to argue about playcall selection, that's fine, but it's an entirely separate discussion. The clock management (something that McDermott has struggled mightily with throughout his career) was textbook and flawless.

Don't give me that simple minded crap.

 

You know exactly what I'm talking about. Clock management, play calling and effort is all tied in together.

[Donuts and Doritos]

Clock management wasn't great. They've had this issue before. They often take timeouts into halftime. Not sure why, but it's one area of coaching I wish they'd improve. It worked out yesterday. But I do worry about that bitting them against better opponents (KC, Mia, Phil etc...)

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Donuts and Doritos