Eagle's 4th quarter clock management

[Rocco]

Clock management by the Eagle's offense in the fourth quarter was just atrocious.

Not just the last time they got the ball with 55 seconds left, but in the prior drive especially. I think they burned about 3 minutes to get 20 yards on that drive. The Philly press is gonna roast Reid and McNabb for that I'll bet.

I don't care much for TO but he was one of the few guys that looked like a real warrior on that offense in the last quarter. He definitely looked like he believed they could come back and win.

I watched the game with some friends and by the second half, we were able to predict the series of plays when McNabb would throw a pick. All we did was check the look on his face when he was on the sidelines before they got the ball back. If his facial expression looked like he was feeling the pressure, we predicted a pick. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but we called every one of them.

 

[O]

I think Alex Woods was their OC.

 

[Yuma]

One of those plays in the series you are talking about, they didn't start calling the play until Crennel signaled in a play. That was about 10 left on the clock or less. It was way stupid clock management!

 

[Red Dawn]

Their clock management reminded me of McGinnis' Cards.

 

[clif]

At the time I thought the clock management sucked, but it worked out in the end, they just couldn't make a play.

 

[Rocco]

• We also decided that the Pro Bowl game is a waste of time. We thought it would be better if they named the rosters then had a Pro Bowl reality show. Maybe have the players and their wives live together in the same house for a week. Eat bugs together or whatever. Might be more interesting than the game.

 

[40yearfan]

One of those plays in the series you are talking about, they didn't start calling the play until Crennel signaled in a play. That was about 10 left on the clock or less. It was way stupid clock management!

:BIM:Childress:BIM:

 

[arthurracoon]

Terrible clock management at the end.

What was Westbroock thinking catching a one yard pass with :55 left?!?! JUST DROP THE BALL TO STOP THE CLOCK!

While I've never liked TO much, he definately came to play from start to finish, and earned my respect.

 

[Djaughe]

Has mcnabb ever won a game with 2 minutes left? :seriousquestion:

I was pretty surprised how the managed the time in the 4th qtr too.

 

[Scott MS]

It seemed to me like the Patriots just wanted it more yesterday. The Philly offense, and especially McNabb, just seemed to not have it together when they had to drive down the field to tie or win the game.

 

[Russ Smith]

Terrible clock management at the end.

What was Westbroock thinking catching a one yard pass with :55 left?!?! JUST DROP THE BALL TO STOP THE CLOCK!

While I've never liked TO much, he definately came to play from start to finish, and earned my respect.

he was thinking here comes the ball, the better question is why did McNabb throw it to him?

I'm a big McNabb fan but he showed yesterday all the flaws in his game, the throw into the dirt, the inaccurate slants, not using the clock better. What was weird was all the high throws, even Aikman at one point said most of his mistakes come on bad throws, not bad decisions. The thing is he typicall misses low in the dirt so he doesn't throw a lot of picks, yesterday he had numerous balls sail long on him.

He's still a terrific player but he really didn't make any plays with his feet, 1 carry 0 yards. Not the best time to be really inaccurate like that he had guys open the whole game.

 

[JeffGollin]

I agree that Westbrook should have dropped the pass.

I also raised an eyebrow over whether the Eagles should have stopped the clock right before the 2-minute mark the idea being that you stop the clock in order to save time when the other team has the ball and is controlling events; because when you have the ball, you won't need the time outs as badly; since you can better manage the clock through play calling ).

 

[Jersey Girl]

I, too, thought the clock managament was very bad in the fourth. All the Eagles fans at my place were screaming at the TV and dying for the Eagles to do something.

McNabb was definitely off his game. He had a lot of inaccurate throws. I thought TO looked great and was rather surprised that he played as well as he did coming off the injury.

 

[Russ Smith]

I agree that Westbrook should have dropped the pass.

).

That's just a little bit easier said than done, he's been playing football his whole life being told to catch the ball, it's hard to just suddenly click onto I better drop this one. THe fault there is on McNabb he shouldn't have thrown it to him if he had nobody open he should have thrown the ball away to stop the clock.

 

[seesred]

Clock managment was horrid. I know that the score does not reflect the game but with about 5 minutes to go and down by 10 they did nothing to hurry the offense up to the line. I blame the coaching staff for this. This team was not prepared to be close in the fourth quarter with time running down. I would bet anything if the roles were reversed and the Pats had the ball down ten they would have been no huddle sideline apsses to stop clock and not running the ball up the middle to see all your time wasted.. New England was a much better prepared team and it showed up on the scoreboard.

GBR
40

 

[john h]

It seemed to me like the Patriots just wanted it more yesterday. The Philly offense, and especially McNabb, just seemed to not have it together when they had to drive down the field to tie or win the game.

The Patriots are a better TEAM and better coached. I am no fan of either but admire the way the Patriots operate from top to bottom. Compare their head coach to ours. Their QB to ours. Their RB to ours. You then see we have a long road to travel.

 

[john h]

That's just a little bit easier said than done, he's been playing football his whole life being told to catch the ball, it's hard to just suddenly click onto I better drop this one. THe fault there is on McNabb he shouldn't have thrown it to him if he had nobody open he should have thrown the ball away to stop the clock.

You are right on Russ. That play happened in a second and a player acts on instinct. An instinct he has used his entire football life. The only way he does not catch it is if he plans ahead of time not to catch a short pass but he then has to think not to catch it if their is someone around him. McNabb had vision of where he was and who was around him so he should not have thrown it to him.

 

[Russ Smith]

ESPN has an interesting story on this, points out the blown clock management happened end of first half too. They let 30 seconds go off the clock then completed a pass to the 41 yard line and called timeout, but the half ended with them having 2 timeouts and not in FG range. Reid when asked about it confessed he didn't remember it at all.

Sounds like McNabb wasn't the only nervous Eagle sounds like Reid got pretty nervous too and forgot about the clock.

 

[Rocco]

ESPN has an interesting story on this, points out the blown clock management happened end of first half too. They let 30 seconds go off the clock then completed a pass to the 41 yard line and called timeout, but the half ended with them having 2 timeouts and not in FG range. Reid when asked about it confessed he didn't remember it at all.

Sounds like McNabb wasn't the only nervous Eagle sounds like Reid got pretty nervous too and forgot about the clock.

I can remember some posts on this board during the season questioning some of Green's game management decisions - and rightly so IIRC. But Green, on his worst day, could beat Andy Reid 9 out of 10 times with equal roster talent IMO.

The knock on Reid before the Eagles made the Super Bowl this year has been that he stinks at making game adjustments. After speaking to some pals in Philly, it seems that albatross is back around his neck.

 

[Rocco]

The Patriots are a better TEAM and better coached.

Compare their head coach to ours.

I believe Denny has a wnning career record against Belichick.

 

[WisconsinCard]

I agree that Westbrook should have dropped the pass.

QUOTE]

I disagree with that he doesn't know whose behind him. As far as he could tell he could have had 40 yards of open field. McNabb should have seen the fact that he was covered and thrown it at his feet to stop the clock.

 

[john h]

I can remember some posts on this board during the season questioning some of Green's game management decisions - and rightly so IIRC. But Green, on his worst day, could beat Andy Reid 9 out of 10 times with equal roster talent IMO.

The knock on Reid before the Eagles made the Super Bowl this year has been that he stinks at making game adjustments. After speaking to some pals in Philly, it seems that albatross is back around his neck.

Hard to knock Andy Reid's record this past five years. How many division championships has he won? Until Green puts some current numbers on the board all we have is this past years record and talk. Reid is walking the walk. Time will tell but the Eagles will go into next year once again the favorite to win the Division and go deep into the playoffs.

 

[john h]

I believe Denny has a wnning career record against Belichick.

I suspect Belicheck will go into the Hall of Fame. At this point in time Green is not even in the same ball park as Belicheck. Most football writers and former players think he is one of the best of all time and he has the record to prove it. Green has a long way to go to walk in his shoes. Belicheck is working with the same salary cap as we do and he has players who sign to play for him for less money than they can get elsewhere. I personally think he is the best coach out there today.

 

[Rocco]

Hard to knock Andy Reid's record this past five years. How many division championships has he won? Until Green puts some current numbers on the board all we have is this past years record and talk. Reid is walking the walk. Time will tell but the Eagles will go into next year once again the favorite to win the Division and go deep into the playoffs.

Your posts are implying Green is not in the same league as a coach as Reid or Belichick. I disagree, especially about Reid. You're basing your argument strictly on record (Green has over 100 NFL wins and multiple division championships too - that ain't too shabby - he's walked the walk before himself). I'm basing mine on what I see during games.

Organization and talent can make or break a coach. None of these guys are solely responsible for their success. Belichick didn't exactly set the world on fire when he worked for Modell's organization in Cleveland. Given equal talent, I think Green could flat out-coach Reid. In fact, I think he could beat Belichick some too but not nearly as easily or often as Reid, who I now consider overrated as a coach regardless of his record.

From what I'm hearing from some big-time Eagle fans, the meltdown we saw in the Super Bowl has happened before. It's a recurring problem for this team.

 

[Lex]

Poor Andy Reid.

Amid reports of Eagle players closing the bars in J-ville all Super Bowl week, and the effects showing up during the game in numerous players afflicted with cramps due to alcohol dehydration, he takes the blame for poor clock management, when his team probably couldn't have "hurried up" if they wanted to.