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Clearing Up Questions And Week 7 Predictions
Welcome back to yet another delayed version of Touchdowns and Kicks with Jimmy G. Last week the flu, this week food poisoning.
Lesson to everyone out there: no matter how hungry you may be, don’t eat anything that is past the expiry date. Especially if it’s way past the expiry date.
As I wrote last week, this edition of ‘Touchdowns and Kicks with Jimmy’ will focus on NFL rules and regulations, as well as explaining how the clock works. At the end I'll give you my Week 7 selections. Don't forget: I answer all emails, some of which will be featured on my blog. jimmy.garoufalis@team990.com is the address.
Let’s start with an example from a few days ago.
The refs blew it in the Cardinals Cowboys game. Big time.
Here’s the situation. With the clock running Tony Romo completed a pass to Jason Witten to the Cards 40, with Witten staying in bounds. 10 seconds left, 9, 8, 7, 6. 5, until Romo spiked the ball with 4 seconds left. From the 40, the Cowboys would have been looking at a 57 yard field goal attempt to force overtime.
However, while Romo was lining up his team for the spike, a Cardinal player was laying on the ground, injured. The officials got together and charged the Cards with a 5 yard delay of game penalty. This meant that the Cowboys were looking at a 52 yard field goal attempt instead. Much better odds.
Was this the right call? No way!
In this situation, the Cards should have been charged a timeout, as all teams are when a player is injured in the last 2 minutes of a half or a game.
The officials mistake was costly since Nick Folk’s kick barely made it through from 52 yards out, forcing overtime. From 57 yards out, the kick would have been short.
But no bother, because the Cardinals ended up winning the game in overtime.
But still, it was an amateur call by the officiating team. If I can figure the proper call from the comfort of my living room, then I am sure they can too.
(A)if there an injury on the field, the referees will stop the clock until the player is off the field.
(B)the officials will then charge a timeout to the offending team. If that team does not have any timeouts, the referees will then run 10 seconds off the game clock before restarting play. Unless it is on the team that is leading and they are on defense.
Here is an example.
The Cowboys are driving and they have no timeouts left. Tony Romo completes a pass to T.O. but T.O doesn’t get out of bounds. Clock is running with 1:45 left. Left Tackle Flozell Adams however, is on the ground, injured.
What happens in a situation like this?
(1)Since Dallas does not have a timeout to use, the referees will stop the clock with 1:45 to play and inform the clock operator to take 10 seconds off the clock so that it reads 1:35.
(2)When the referee blows the whistle to restart play, the clock will restart. It is not a dead ball situation, whereby the clock begins only when the ball is snapped.
Let’s look at another rule regarding the clock.
“I thought that when someone steps out of bounds the clock is supposed to stop. But I have seen many occasions when the clock restarts before the next snap. Can you explain?”
Jerome, I thank you for the question. Allow me to explain the rule.
Whenever someone goes out of bounds the clock DOES stop.
However, from the time the game or the second half starts until there are five minutes left in the half or game, the game clock will restart when there are 25 seconds left on the play clock.
Confused? I’ll simplify.
So far so good. Out of bounds, the clock stops. Simple concept.
However, then the play clock hits 25 seconds, the game clock restarts.
This means that the game clock will restart 15 seconds later (the difference between the 40 seconds the play clock begins with and the 25 second mark when the game clock begins counting down)
Obvious question: why did the NFL implement this rule change a few years ago? Answer: to make games end faster.
Here is another question regarding the clock. Greg Phendler asks “On the opening kickoff the clock always starts when the ball is in the air, but late in the game it doesn’t start for a few seconds. Can you tell me why this is?”
It seems like a very simple question but it isn’t. So here goes.
On all kickoffs that occur outside the 2 minute warning of either half, the clock starts once the kicker kicks the ball.
However, whenever there is a kickoff inside the 2 minute warning, the clock does not begin until the receiving team MOVES the ball, NOT touches the ball.
Example: the kicker moves the ball (either kicks deep, onside kicks or squib kicks). The clock will not start until the receiving team actually moves the ball in any way shape or form.
So therefore if the ball goes into the end zone and the kick returner kneels down for a touchback, the clock will stay as it was when the ball was kicked.
It seems simple to understand but you’d be surprised how often I hear an announcer give announcers the wrong information.
Alexander Zeebroeck has a very relevant question regarding how coaches use the clock to set up their field goal unit at the end of a game.
Alexander asks “If teams want to make sure that no time is left on the clock, why do they call timeout with 10 seconds to play? Wouldn’t it make more sense to stop the clock with 2 seconds to play? This way they can guarantee that they won’t have to kick the ball.”
A very good point Alex. We see it every week when a team needs a field goal and they let the clock run down to just a few seconds before calling their timeout.
Now why don’t they let the clock go down to 1 second instead of the usual 8 to 10?
Because of the possibility of a bad snap.
Picture this scenario. Five seconds left in the game. Clock stopped. Game winning field goal is about to be attempted.
Then…suddenly…a bad snap…no kick…holder runs around throws incomplete…game over.
With 5 seconds to play, there is no time for the holder to do anything except put the ball up for grabs (assuming he can get free)
However, if a team calls timeout with 10 seconds to play, they have the option (assuming that it isn’t 4th down) of having their holder throw the ball away in case of a bad snap (incomplete pass stops the clock) and then retrying the field goal a second time (assuming that there is still at least one second on the clock)
There you go Alex. Long story short: coaches like to give their field goal units two chances in the worst case scenario in case of a bad snap the first time around.
On to my predictions for Week 7. Last week I was 9-5, much improved over the 7-6 records I posted in Weeks 4 and 5. My overall record as a result moved past 60% once again: 52-34 (60.54%)
Here goes for this week. I hope seven is my lucky number.
Bills over Chargers
Bears over Vikings: Two weeks in a row Gus Frerotte leads his team to a game winning field goal, with most of the yards coming courtesy of pass interference calls. The Bears have blown fourth quarter leads in each of their losses. Something has to give.
Titans over Chiefs: the Chiefs are lousy while the Titans are undefeated. Of course, the Broncos were undefeated at 3-0 a few weeks when the Chiefs were lousy and look what happened (Chiefs won!) History will not repeat itself twice.
49ers over Giants: this will be the game that determines whether JT O’Sullivan can hang with the big boys. Three straight losses after starting 2-1 have dropped the stock of both JT and Mike Martz. A loss here will mean two things for the 49ers (1)they’ll drop 2.5 game back of the idle Cardinals and (b)they may have to bench O’Sullivan if his performance remains similar to his level against the Patriots, 49ers and Saints.
Texans over Detroit: Finally a win for the Texans. After dramatic defeats to the Jags and Colts left them at 0-4, the Texans turned the tables by winning a game in the final seconds against Miami. If the 1-4 Texans are going to turn their season around, it begins here.
Jets over Raiders: this game is similar to what the Jets faced against the Bengals. A weak opponent with a lame duck coach. If the Jets win, they get to 4-2 with a date against the atrocious Chiefs next week. Picture Brett Favre at 5-2 with all the momentum at his side.
Bucs over Seahawks: when Mike Holmgren announced his retirement, effective at the end of the season, this couldn’t have been what he imagined. Five injured wide receivers, a hobbled Pro Bowl quarterback and worst of all, a 1-4 record with road games against the Bucs and 49ers up next. Needless to say, the Seahawks need a split in order to have any hope for a playoff spot.
Patriots over Broncos: I cannot see the Patriots losing consecutive games. I would imagine that Bill Belichick has taken the necessary steps to improve Matt Cassel’s confidence and ability to read defenses.
Browns over Redskins: after starting 0-3 everyone (including me) counted the Browns out. After coming from behind to beat the Bengals (think of how close they were to 0-4 and out of it) they easily handled the defending Super Bowl Giants on Monday night. Suddenly there is no longer a quarterback controversy in Cleveland: Derek Anderson is now entrenched.
Colts over Packers
Panthers over Saints: this is an absolute must win game for the Saints. A loss here coupled with a Bucs win over the Seahawks would put the Saints TWO games back of both, plus ONE AND A HALF games back of the idle Falcons.
Steelers over Bengals: the Bungles are done, put a fork in them. Marvin Lewis will be fired at the end of the season.
Dolphins over Ravens: I wrote about this subject last week. When the Ravens were 2-0 they had a chance to drive down the field against the Steelers with 1:40 remaining and tied in their Monday night game. Instead, they ran out the clock hoping for better field position in overtime. They got the field position but still lost. The Ravens then lost their next two, and now they are 2-3. They will regret their decision to play it safe with rookie QB Joe Flacco.
Cowboys over Rams
That's it for me. I'll be back next week.
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