Time Out or Delay of Game?

[BALLz]

With seemingly every week coming down to the wire and seemingly every week we have no time outs when we need them I was wondering if any of you thought maybe we would be better off taking a 5yd delay rather than wasting a valuable time out. Obviously this would depend on down and distance and some other factors but wasting a time out at the begining of the 3rd just doesn't make sense to me. Personally, I don't think we should call time out on 1st down. 1st and 15 just doesn't seem all that bad to me. Just wondering what everybody thought about this.

[S.T.real,lights,out]

I agree. I hate getting to the 4th Q and not having any TO. Especially b/c every game we play is a close one.

[Ball Coach]

Take the delay of game, especially right before we are about to punt.

[Larry Gude]

With seemingly every week coming down to the wire and seemingly every week we have no time outs when we need them I was wondering if any of you thought maybe we would be better off taking a 5yd delay rather than wasting a valuable time out. Obviously this would depend on down and distance and some other factors but wasting a time out at the begining of the 3rd just doesn't make sense to me. Personally, I don't think we should call time out on 1st down. 1st and 15 just doesn't seem all that bad to me. Just wondering what everybody thought about this.

Never understood this one at all. What's more important, 5 yards or being able to stop the clock? I mean, 4th and one is no gimme, certainly not for us, fourth and 6 means you might run or pass.

I would always take the penalty.

I would like to see the NFL go to the college clock stop; if you make first down, the clock stops until the ball is set. Then, sure, call a timeout instead of taking 5.

As it is, time outs are just too precious.

[DGreenistheBest]

In before "all that would happen is we would use them twice in a row on a kick and screw it up."

[BALLz]

I don't think the Offense should use a time out till the 4th. D is a little different cuz if you don't have the right personel you risking a big play or score. On offense though, which I feel is when most our time outs are used, I say just eat the 5 yards and regroup.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

this is how bad weve become. our clock management is so horrible were discussing alternatives to using our timeouts due to the fact that we waste so many. dark days.

[Rufus T Firefly]

As you say, it depends on the situation. As someone wrote a couple of weeks ago, it's pretty dumb to do it before a short field goal attempt. Basically, would you burn a TO so we have a 28 yard attempt, rather than a 33 yarder? Seems like a no-brainer. I wouldn't use them unless it was a pretty crucial situation, personally.

Also depends on the half, obviously. In the first half, burn all the TOs you have and I don't get upset. Second half obviously becomes a much bigger deal.

[darrell1106]

Never understood this one at all. What's more important, 5 yards or being able to stop the clock? I mean, 4th and one is no gimme, certainly not for us, fourth and 6 means you might run or pass.

I would always take the penalty.

I would like to see the NFL go to the college clock stop; if you make first down, the clock stops until the ball is set. Then, sure, call a timeout instead of taking 5.

As it is, time outs are just too precious.

I agree w/ not calling TOs on 1st down but stopping the clock, ala NCAA, is not an option, imo. Not a fan of that one but I understand why people bring it up.

[Mooka]

Disagree.

TOs are there to be used. You save them and you end the game trying to ice kickers.

[Larry Gude]

I agree w/ not calling TOs on 1st down but stopping the clock, ala NCAA, is not an option, imo. Not a fan of that one but I understand why people bring it up.

Well,

Another reason I like the idea is number of plays per game. I'm trying to find stats on this but I think there is now something like 60 offensive plays per team on average and it used to be around 70-75. Not sure on this, but I'm reasonably confident that's in the ballpark, so to speak.

As it is, I've read that there is as little as 6% of a one hour football game with actual action happening. There is plenty of down time, maybe too much. More plays is more better!

Further, if there was more action in the games, more plays, the premium on stamina and conditioning would go up which should mean less emphasis on shear size which might mean less excess bulking up and less injuries for the players.

Just some thoughts.

[RedskinzOwnU]

Sometimes it might be. It's frustrating how often Gibbs squanders our time outs too early, because you just know we will need them later. I think if the clock is running down and you don't like the formation you should just run the play anyway and see what happens rather than wasting a timeout. Of course, there are factors to consider. If you are in the redzone, for example, getting 7 instead of 3 is more important than saving a time out.