In a tight football game, coaches can make just a few simple decisions to improve their team’s chances of winning. These calls seem inconsequential when looked at individually, but when taken in the aggregate a complete picture of how to win one-score games begins to take shape.
At the end of the first half Sunday, Ron Rivera had the opportunity to help his team in the fine margins of a one-score game. However, once again, the Washington Commanders' head coach failed when it came to using his timeouts and managing the clock.
With 1:55 to play in the first half, the Tennessee Titans were set up at the Washington 21 after a roughing the passer penalty kept the drive alive. Rivera, with three timeouts to work with, was in a position to give his offense one more drive before the half.
On paper, getting the ball back with about one minute remaining in the half – enough time to attempt to get into range for a Joey Sley field goal attempt or a Carson Wentz heave for the end zone – is a distinct possibility.
Here is how things should have happened with the timeouts.
"Let me be really clear on the end of the first half," Kevin Sheehan said Monday on The Team 980. "The first timeout should have come after Henry gained a first down on that run to the 9-yard line [at 1:25 left in the half]. The second one should have come after Henry’s two-yard run… at 1:21. And the third one after the throw to Henry down to the one-yard line should have come with 1:15 left.
“Three timeouts before the next play, the touchdown, to give them the lead 14-10. And now you’ve got 1:12 and then after the kickoff, depending on return or no return, you’ve got no timeouts, but you’ve got roughly 1:10, give or take a couple of seconds,” Sheehan said.
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But that’s not what happened. The Commanders' head coach curiously allowed the clock to tick away and used only one of his timeouts and Derrick Henry’s touchdown came with 17 seconds remaining, leaving no time for a rebuttal.
“The indecision – calling the timeout at 54 seconds, then not calling another timeout and taking the two timeouts with him to the locker room – I hated,” Sheehan said. “And the fact that he decided not to remain aggressive after he was late calling the first timeout… I think was the wrong thing.”
The Commanders’ offense was moving the ball well in the air earlier that half, Sheehan said, and Rivera had the opportunity to get a chance to score before the half and get the ball to start the third quarter.
After the game, Rivera said he called one timeout but not another, "because [the Titans] started moving the ball forward and instead of just slowing it down so they could take the opportunity to really think about what they wanted to do."
So with Washington’s season in desperate need of a spark, and presented with an opportunity to be aggressive, ‘Riverboat Ron’ was slow to react and let an opportunity to try to score go by the wayside because he did not want to give the Titans, who had two timeouts of their own, more time to think between plays.
Of course, the Titans scored a touchdown just fine without the extra time between plays. And in the process, they burned the clock all the way down to give Washington no chance before the half and used two timeouts of their own to give themselves time to think.
There was another reason Rivera's timeouts were left unused.
"We also thought we would just go in [to halftime] and reset ourselves because we were getting the ball to begin [the third quarter]," Rivera added about not using his timeouts.
Fine margins, but adding an extra possession in the first half of what would be a four-point loss is something the Commanders have to attempt to exploit. The chance to double dip – scoring right before the end of the half and on the first drive of the third quarter without the other team getting the ball – is one of the great benefits of taking the ball at the start of the third quarter after winning the coin toss.
Instead, it was another opportunity that slipped right through Rivera's fingers, as yet another Commanders season hurtles toward irrelevancy.
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