Zac Taylor's Clock Management Malpractice Should Be Studied By All Aspiring Head Coaches Who No Longer Wish To Be Employed

[Arkansas Bengal]

hubbs12/29/2024 11:10 AM

 

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Dylan Buell. Getty Images.

 

 

While the idea may seem cruel, a fired head coach is one of the best gigs in the whole world. Now former Kings coach Mike Brown is experiencing this feeling for the fourth time in his pro career, this most recent departure following an extension in the summer. The man is living the dream, getting paid handsomely to do absolutely nothing. Even Mintzy is required to do more than Mike Brown presently. 

 

I bring this up because if you're a head football coach out there who just received a sizable payday and no longer wish to do your job while still collecting said money, please follow the lead of one Zac Taylor. You will soon be handed zero responsibility while still getting a paycheck. 

 

Yesterday the Bengals played a must-win game against the Denver Broncos. A loss would eliminate them from playoff contention, while a win would keep their hopes alive going into Week 18. Now let's bring in some added context as to why you should listen to Taylor's ways. This may get confusing, but just know I'm right. 

 

The Bengals saw themselves tied with the Broncos at 17 all with under two minutes to go in the game. Joe Burrow found Ja'Marr Chase for a clutch 3rd down conversion that setup Cincy with 1st and goal on the 6 yard line with 1:39 to go. Denver called their second timeout to stop the clock, although if you ran the numbers there wasn't really much they could do if the Bengals handled the next few plays properly. 

Now children gather around, let's do a quick math lesson for everybody. One minute and 39 seconds equals a total of 99 seconds. The play clock is 40 seconds long. If you line up to take a delayed knee that wastes about three seconds to run. 

 

1st and goal at the 6: Kneel down. 3 seconds elapses. Denver's final timeout. 1:36 left. 

 

2nd and goal at the 8: Kneel down. 3 seconds elapses. Full play clock runs. 53 seconds left. 

 

3rd and goal at the 10: Kneel down. 3 seconds elapses. Full play clock runs. 10 seconds left. 

 

4th and goal at the 12: kick the field goal with 7 seconds left. 

 

Two 40 second play clocks= 80 seconds

 

Three delayed kneel downs= 9 seconds. 

 

Field goal attempt= 3 seconds. 

 

80+9+3=92

 

What does that all mean? If you knee it out three times as the play clock expires you're finished kicking the game winning field goal with around seven seconds left on the clock. Wanna add a few more ticks for plays that didn't get snapped exactly with 0 left then sure let's make it 10 seconds. With no timeouts, if you fuck that situation up then didn't deserve to win anyways. 

 

Again, absolutely no need to run any sort of actual play here given the situation. So what did Taylor do? He ran it with Chase Brown. 

 

Yes Brown was instructed to not score on this play, but do you know what happened while he slid before the end zone? He hurt himself. That forced the Bengals to burn a timeout with under two minutes to go and stop the clock to escort him off the field. Why run it at all? Not only did you cause your running back to get hurt, but now you left yourself in a situation where the Broncos were going to get the ball back with time to spare. Now unable to run the clock down to its very end, Burrow proceeded to sneak in a touchdown on the next play, leaving Denver with 1:29 and a timeout to try and make something happen. 

 

Bo Nix made something happen. 

 

"But Hubbs, Cade York sucks and he missed a 33 yard chip shot in OT. Why are you begging for them to kick?" 

 

First of all that's bullshit hindsight 20/20. Going into that attempt, York was 4/4 from inside 40 this season and 15/16 with XPs. At the time there's zero hesitation sending him out there for a short attempt like that. Keep in mind, they were clearly playing for the field goal by having Brown fall down at the one. Why they ran it all instead of kneeing it out escapes me. It's clock management malpractice from a veteran head coach. With your season on the line, it's fireable, especially when you consider all that's happened with the Bengals this year. 

 

Sure, the Bengals did go onto win the game in overtime and keep their hopes alive, but that was entirely unnecessary. It's one of the least deserving wins I've seen an NFL head coach receive in a while. Now Chase Brown has a high ankle sprain as your reward for stupidity. Congrats!

 

I'm aware the MVP will go to either Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, but Joe Burrow pushing this team to 8-8 despite the historically bad defense and these kind of coaching moves by Taylor is nothing short of remarkable. I use to think the success Rodgers had with McCarthy was as impressive as it gets considering the faults of the head coach, but Burrow getting to a Super Bowl with this moron might take the cake. No way you can bring Taylor back next year if you're serious about maximizing Burrow's talent. Unfortunately the Bengals ownership is as cheap as it gets and would puke at the idea of paying two coaches at once. Sorry Joe. 

 

And yes, I had Broncos +3.5 so this is me just venting really, but holy fuck does Zac Taylor suck at his job. 

 

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3534899/zac-taylors-clock-management-malpractice-should-be-studied-by-all-aspiring-head-coaches-who-no-longer-wish-to-be-employed

[MichaelWeston]

Barstool sports is the worst

This guy also wrote this https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3533976/sydney-sweeney-properly-responds-to-the-losers-of-the-internet-who-have-banded-together-to-declare-her-mid-and-not-good-looking

I do agree that it was an error not to just kneel but in reality you should just run it up the middle 2-3 times and score on the 3rd play

[MichaelWeston]

BTW-The BRoncos should have been playing for the tie. Their error was far more egregious

[A Rock]

Running Chase Brown also unnecessarily risks a fumble. When you have a game locked up, you keep it locked up or else crazy sh!t tends to happen. 

[KA14_HOF]

I have no idea what this guy's written about before, but he's 100% correct on this.

 

I called this in real time, with almost the exact same second-by-second breakdown, in the game thread.

 

The only detail he didn't fully explain was Brown's run, which he correctly identifies as unnecessary and stupid. There IS a time where a RB should have orders to NOT score...and that's when there is a 1st down to be gained prior to scoring. Get the 1st down, go to ground, refresh the downs, then let the offense burn clock.

 

We had 1st-and-goal, so there is absolutely no point whatsoever to hand off to a RB and have him stop short of the goal line. If you're intention is to keep the clock going without scoring, there's a really, really, reeeeeeeeeeallly safe way to do that....TAKE A KNEE!

 

Zac already screwed this up earlier this year. Can't remember which game, but I do remember posting a pretty venomous diatribe about how any idiot can make a 3" x 5" card with a chart of Time Remaining/Opponents' TO's to show at what point, at a quick glance, you can start taking a knee. And as a bona fide idiot myself, I made one in less than 5 minutes. If that card is too heavy for Zac to carry in his pocket, or if there's not enough space on his play sheet to write it in, then have Pitcher carry it. Heck, give it to the water boy.

 

But did Zac learn anything from that? Nope. He went and screwed it up again vs Denver. That tells me he will NEVER learn and he will keep right on screwing it up going forward.

 

And Zac didn't eschew the FG at the end of regulation because he lacked confidence in York's ability to hit a game-winning chip shot. If that was the case, he wouldn't have later sent York out there on 3rd down in OT instead of taking 1 more shot with Burrow/Tee/Ja'Marr.

 

This ain't brain surgery. How do you get paid more than $12/game and you don't have some easy-to-consult, already-calculated formula at your fingertips for end-of-game clock management? And after getting burned once for not having anything like this in place, how do you not fix it and put something in place? You have to be terminally stupid to keep screwing this up again and again.

 

This is Coaching 101, and it appears to be way over Zac's head.

[saphead]

I just do not trust a crucial Bengals special teams transaction. Apart from the EM magic of 2021 I've had the yips since the 2006 season. 

A bad snap, a botch, laces out, a bobble, a hook, a shank, a slice, a block, a pulled muscle for fucks sake. And then the camera pans to the highly tenured visor with a beat red face. 

I wanted the TD Saturday night and was fully prepared for the aftermath. 

 

 

[Cricket]

Should Sam Wyche had been fired after they blew that game in Riverfront Stadium against the 49ers with horrible clock management?

 

 

[dex]

2 hours ago, saphead said:

I just do not trust a crucial Bengals special teams transaction. Apart from the EM magic of 2021 I've had the yips since the 2006 season. 

A bad snap, a botch, laces out, a bobble, a hook, a shank, a slice, a block, a pulled muscle for fucks sake. And then the camera pans to the highly tenured visor with a beat red face. 

I wanted the TD Saturday night and was fully prepared for the aftermath. 

 

 

Yeah, pretty obvious that Taylor has had little faith in Cade York during the last few games. Just felt like what he wanted yesterday was to both run down the clock before scoring a TD. Seemed highly unlikely that the Broncos could score a TD with 30-35 seconds left - which I believe was his thought process.

[alleycat]

I agree about distrusting the kicking game right now. 

 

But that doesn't wipe away what on many teams, especially given this season, would be seen as a fireable offense. 

 

My comments in real time went something like this:

 

1) The truly egregious mistake, and obvious coaching error, was not to have every player in the huddle repeating the mantra STAY IN BOUNDS, BEFORE we even got to the goal line. Chase Brown ran out of bounds after the two minute warning. Terrible, terrible play. We wouldn't even be talking about all of this goal line stuff if he'd stayed in. Denver would have used their second time out there, rather than two plays later (the Jamarr Chase 1st down reception (where he STAYED IN BOUNDS) in 3rd and 6). Bengals have the ball, a timeout, and 4 plays. Clock starts ticking on 1st down with 1:40 on the clock. Bengals could run the clock out with the next three plays, not even needing the 4th down. 

 

2) Chase Brown's slide at the goal line did nothing other than take 6 seconds off the clock. I guess we didn't foresee the injury, but I'd rather he score with authority there than take a knee. Why does it matter to get closer to the goal line if we aren't intending to get it in at some point? Oh, so you are thinking of scoring a TD? In any case, why not drain the clock more? The strategy doesn't show anything but lack of strategy, confusion, running scared, being reactive, etc. You can sense Taylor's timidity and fear through the TV, which makes me thinks his players definitely sense it in person. 

[LostInDaJungle]

35 minutes ago, Cricket said:

Should Sam Wyche had been fired after they blew that game in Riverfront Stadium against the 49ers with horrible clock management?

 

 

Of course... This is the first time we've ever complained about Taylor not knowing how to manage the clock. 🙄

[Jamie_B]

I was watching someone's breakdown of that missed kicked, and it looked like an issue with the snap.

 

Also I think McPherson can come back this week. No idea if he's healthy enough to or not yet, but his IR time is up.

[TigerJ@w]

29 minutes ago, dex said:

Yeah, pretty obvious that Taylor has had little faith in Cade York during the last few games. Just felt like what he wanted yesterday was to both run down the clock before scoring a TD. Seemed highly unlikely that the Broncos could score a TD with 30-35 seconds left - which I believe was his thought process.

call me a conspiracy theorist all you want but, he over hooked a short kick to me and to me, did he do it on purpose.  i know everyone will say no way but, he knows he is a goner anyways and played for the Clowns.  it is probably just me because I was ticked when i saw the replay and how he overextended his foot.  lol

[TigerJ@w]

during the Post Game interview with Zac I do not believe there was even one questioned asked about game time management.  I could not believe it.  What a bunch of cowards. 

[Jamie_B]

Just now, TigerJ@w said:

during the Post Game interview with Zac I do not believe there was even one questioned asked about game time management.  I could not believe it.  What a bunch of cowards. 

 

Zack did talk about the decision to go for it instead of taking the points after Chase Brown went down. He said they had planned on downing and forcing them to use their time out, but when Brown got hurt and they got their time out back it changed the math.

 

Of course as it was pointed out here, taking the knee and letting time run down could have been an option as well.

[Jamie_B]

4 minutes ago, TigerJ@w said:

call me a conspiracy theorist all you want but, he over hooked a short kick to me and to me, did he do it on purpose.  i know everyone will say no way but, he knows he is a goner anyways and played for the Clowns.  it is probably just me because I was ticked when i saw the replay and how he overextended his foot.  lol

 

Here is where that falls apart. 

 

York knowing he's going to be gone once Evan comes back is going to want to make all the kicks as he would be auditioning for other teams.

[TigerJ@w]

Just now, Jamie_B said:

 

Here is where that falls apart. 

 

York knowing he's going to be gone once Evan comes back is going to want to make all the kicks as he would be auditioning for other teams.

true but i don't think anyone will want him. 

[Jamie_B]

Just now, TigerJ@w said:

true but i don't think anyone will want him. 

 

maybe a team with a guy already hurt, but yeah

 

Also did anyone else catch this? It sounds like Kaaras.

 

 

 

[LostInDaJungle]

9 minutes ago, TigerJ@w said:

it is probably just me because I was ticked when i saw the replay and how he overextended his foot.

Which is generally what kickers do when they know they've pulled it.

He missed the kick on purpose because... "reasons" is one of the stranger conspiracy theories I've heard in my 40 years as a Bengals fan.

[Jamie_B]

Or maybe it was a fan

 

[TigerJ@w]

2 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

 

Zack did talk about the decision to go for it instead of taking the points after Chase Brown went down. He said they had planned on downing and forcing them to use their time out, but when Brown got hurt and they got their time out back it changed the math.

 

Of course as it was pointed out here, taking the knee and letting time run down could have been an option as well.

I am talking about before OT where they gave them 1 minute to play instead and could've given them zip and kicked a super short FG to win instead. 

[TigerJ@w]

2 minutes ago, LostInDaJungle said:

Which is generally what kickers do when they know they've pulled it.

He missed the kick on purpose because... "reasons" is one of the stranger conspiracy theories I've heard in my 40 years as a Bengals fan.

hey, like i said, you and whomever would say that. i am glad i gave you something to think about in your 40 years.  lol

[LostInDaJungle]

2 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

 

maybe a team with a guy already hurt, but yeah

 

Also did anyone else catch this? It sounds like Kaaras.

 

 

 

Jesus christ. 6 minutes breaking down a 22 second clip.

And the reality is that it was probably a fan in the stands next to whomever was filming it.

[LostInDaJungle]

1 hour ago, TigerJ@w said:

hey, like i said, you and whomever would say that. i am glad i gave you something to think about in your 40 years.  lol

Yeah, some of you may not believe this, but I was locked in a threesome all night long last night with Scarlett Johansson and Amy Adams.

See, I told you you wouldn't believe it. I win!
 

[Jamie_B]

yeah Taylor isnt going anywhere

 

I dont think Lou is either but I think if you let Russel Wilson put up 400 against you again on Saturday a conversation needs to be had

 

I also think they need to take a real look at who is helping to scout and find these players on defense, especially in the draft, because we are not doing well there at all

[TigerJ@w]

3 minutes ago, LostInDaJungle said:

My oldest is severely autistic. Thanks for your concern.

then that is even worse to do that, don't you think.