It’s not so much Cowboys-related, as it is last-second-field-goal-but-wait-related. Some watercooler discussion just took place about the best part of last night’s game. For me, it was when I awoke (and scared the bejeebus out of) my sleeping wife, yelling at the TV, “THAT one counts. THAT one counts.” Dick Jauron’s surreptitious timeout call should not have been surprising, since it’s happened during every last-second field goal attempt this season. Seems something should be done to prevent it. And it seems like the FrontBurner Nation should be able to come up with a sensible rule change to do so. (Zac and I just discussed the possibility of taking away a coach’s right to call a timeout from the sideline, but that, too, has some problems.) I’ll open comments and let the crowdsourcing begin.
13 comments
I agree that it’s problematic to take away the coach’s right to call a timeout from the sideline. So why not accept the same compromise as with the coach’s replay challenge and simply restrict the coach’s right to call a timeout from the sideline during the last 2 minutes of each half and in OT? Seems like this might eliminate the problem, which is tricky and gimmicky. No wonder Shanahan triumphed it. He’s a genius, you know.
How about with less than a minute in either half, and team sets up to kick a FG, a team can not call a timeout with less than 15 seconds on the play clock?
If the Folk missed the first one and hit the second we would be singing a different song on this rule. Don’t see how you can change it without messing up other parts of the game. The timeout is so vital with seconds on the clock.
What if a time out could only be called by a player on the field when there’s less than 5 seconds left in the game?
Or no time outs when the hike is happening.
Only players on the field can call timeout during a field goal attempt.
Icing the kicker has been part of the game for years and shouldn’t surprise anyone who has seen more than three football games in their lives. I think of it as a coach’s bonus: If your team is judicious enough about its timeouts to have one left in such a scenario, then you’ve earned the ability to screw with the other team. A good coach manages his timeouts well, and he should be rewarded for it. What if we’d tied the game and then the Bills set up a field goal of their own with 2 seconds left? We wouldn’t be having this conversation–not only because of a pro-Dallas bias, but also because Wade BLEW HIS TIMEOUTS. Would’ve loved to ice Buffalo’s kicker at that hypothetical point, though, that’s for sure.
Keep it. It’s just another part of the head games that go on in football. Whether it’s delivering a vicious hit on a receiver going across the middle or pasting a quarterback too stupid to slide, feet first. It’s just another head game.
BTW: Roy Williams sucks. He couldn’t cover a bed with a blanket. And what happened to tackling? (Sorry. Mini-rant.)
I think the simplest solution is this:
Once the kicker has completed his steps set-up and come to a complete stop – the opposing team can no longer call a time out. That eliminates the controversial call, yet it allows a coach or player the opportunity to call a time out to ice the kicker – just not in an unfair manner.
I think it’s silly to call a “last second” timeout. Unlike freezing a kicker, the last second timeout allows the kicker to have a practice kick.
If we were to ask Folk (or any other kicker), “Would you like a practice kick before the real one?” the answer would be a resounding “You bet!”
Its just so chincy. Players should call it on the field so the kicker can be aware of the timeout.
On another note: Does anyone think that ESPN puts together a terrible broadcast for Mon. Nights?
More vitriol, for interested parties: http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/10/09/the-debriefing-this-time-out-right-before-the-field-goal-nons/
John B.: I’m with you. You’d think ESPN – of all networks – could do a good live sports cast. But running those stupid graphics for so long, over the top of the beginning of some plays, and over-using graphics in general killed that broadcast. More even, than Kornheiser, and that’s saying something.
Why can’t we take away the right for the coach to call timeout? Make a player do it. The game happens on the field, between the sidelines. The sidelines are just that — people watching.