Troy Aikman's theory: Garrett lost track of timeouts

[Cr122]

December, 9, 2011

DEC 9
8:00
AM CT​

By Tim MacMahon


Troy Aikman has qualified as a trusted friend of Jason Garrett since their days together in the Valley Ranch quarterbacks room.

But Aikman isn’t even buying Garrett’s explanation about the clock-management gaffe in Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals.

Garrett insists that he intentionally did not use a timeout after Dez Bryant’s catch for a first down with 26 seconds remaining in regulation. That doesn’t make sense to Aikman.

“It sure seemed to me that the Cowboys weren’t aware of having two timeouts,” the Hall of Fame quarterback said during this week’s edition “Hot Reads with Troy Aikman,” his YouTube show. “Otherwise, I think you burn that timeout and you save the last timeout for your field goal team. But if you’d used that timeout right away, then you’re capable if you make that decision of running another play.

“Now there are those – and Jason was one that said this – well, if you run the ball and you lose yardage or if you drop back to pass and you take a sack, now you take yourself out of field goal range, which happened earlier in that ballgame. So at the end of the day, if they had called timeout, would they have tried to get more yardage or would they have tried to position the ball? I don’t know, but it sure seemed like an opportunity lost.”

Aikman also mentioned that Garrett’s Cowboys had won several close games this season, including the previous two weeks. However, Aikman acknowledged that it’s difficult for an inexperienced head coach to also call plays, although recent Super Bowl winners Sean Payton and Mike McCarthy have succeeded in the dual roles.

“That’s a lot on your plate,” Aikman said. “When you’ve not been a head coach before and then you’re put in that position, I think for the most part guys handle those situations very, very well, but there’s a lot of things. Clock management, I think, is probably one of the most underrated aspects. It takes a lot of time really studying it and putting yourself in a position to be successful when you get to those moments in the game.”

The hours of studying don’t matter if a coach forgets how many timeouts he has left, which is what Garrett’s good friend figures happened in last week’s loss.

 

[dbair1967]

Not buying that either, unless the scoreboards in the stadium were out and timeouts werent being displayed.

 

[Theebs]

Calvin Watkins is claiminghe was told Garrett told romo not to take a timeout, whichis what I have thought all along.

Steve Dennis was trying to pass this off on romo today..

 

[Mr.Po]

Not buying it either. The timeout situation should be at the forefront of your mindset in a hurry up mode / 2 min drill.

He brain farted and had a momentary lapse of reason.

 

[dbair1967]

Calvin Watkins is claiminghe was told Garrett told romo not to take a timeout, whichis what I have thought all along.

Steve Dennis was trying to pass this off on romo today..

I dont think there's much question Garrett told Romo to let the clock run and then spike the ball. I think Romo even looked to the sidelines after the play.

Romo said something about they didnt know immediately if it was a first down. I guess some logic could be if it were not a first down, you were either 1) going to kick the FG or 2) go for it on 4th and short and unless you have a very weak legged kicker you are definitely kicking in that situation. And if you were going to kick, you'd definitely want to do it with as little time remaining (if any) for Arizona, especially with the way our kick coverage has been this year.

 

[Everlastingxxx]

I dont think there's much question Garrett told Romo to let the clock run and then spike the ball. I think Romo even looked to the sidelines after the play.

Romo said something about they didnt know immediately if it was a first down. I guess some logic could be if it were not a first down, you were either 1) going to kick the FG or 2) go for it on 4th and short and unless you have a very weak legged kicker you are definitely kicking in that situation. And if you were going to kick, you'd definitely want to do it with as little time remaining (if any) for Arizona, especially with the way our kick coverage has been this year.

Garrett said during his pres conference he wanted to call a time out with 4 seconds, not spike it.

I don’t see how a coach could lose track of timeouts. Someone would be able to provide him that info if he forgot or couldn’t locate it. He did know he had at least 1 time out.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Coaches get on QBs all the time for paying attention to the clock and TOs. This is a bunch of crock, or Garrett really is in way over his head.

I can't believe as a former QB, Aikman would even try to pass this off on anyone.

 

[Hoofbite]

I dont think there's much question Garrett told Romo to let the clock run and then spike the ball. I think Romo even looked to the sidelines after the play.

Romo said something about they didnt know immediately if it was a first down. I guess some logic could be if it were not a first down, you were either 1) going to kick the FG or 2) go for it on 4th and short and unless you have a very weak legged kicker you are definitely kicking in that situation. And if you were going to kick, you'd definitely want to do it with as little time remaining (if any) for Arizona, especially with the way our kick coverage has been this year.

None of it makes sense.

If you're unsure of a 1st down why not let the ball get spotted and proceed from there with:

4th down = Run the clock to nil and call a timeout.

1st down = Call a timeout. If you're willing to spike it to stop the clock, why the hell wouldn't you just call a timeout.

Instead of looking like a 3-Ring circus, Romo could have walked calmly over to Jason and watched for the signal from the referee as to what down it was.

Pretty easy shit, really.

4th down = Eat clock + timeout

1st down = Timeout

Or if we want to believe Jason's bullshit story about not wanting to risk negative yards on a play...........like this even makes an ounce of sense to start with. If you're too concerned about a negative play, why the fuck even snap the ball for a spike? Seriously, if your pussy is so inflamed that you consider a run up the middle too big of a risk then snapping the ball is too damn big of a risk as well, just ask Philip Rivers.

But, lets assume it's valid. He's worried about negative plays, snapping the ball isn't a risk at all and he wants to eat all the time off the clock and then stop the clock.

Still, why the fuck do you not call a timeout after eating all the clock you wanted? You have two of them, the game will be over and you'll have a spare. The wife's not gonna give you another helping of poontang pie for bringing home an additional timeout over the one you'll already have. What is the purpose of not stopping the clock in the same manner that 99.9% of the HS coaches in this country would have. If you have multiple timeouts and you need to stop the clock, YOU CALL THE FUCKING TIMEOUT!

I don't know what the reason. Each possibility provided sounds as likely as the next to me. Wouldn't shock me if Garrett didn't know or was just spacing out. Shit, with a brain like his it'd be a disservice to humanity to not have the resolution of all the world's problems on your mind at all times. At least this would explain the need for the rest of the sideline to snap his ass out of his day dream to use the timeout he did after the spike.

Personally, I think they just assumed the other would do it. Garrett probably figured all his accountability and leadership seminars would have instilled into Romo a called timeout in that situation and Romo probably figured the HC would handle the HC duties by managing the game.

Good thing Dallas wasn't ever in a position to need to challenge. Might have had to have Joe D come over and fondle JGs fiery ball bag before handing him the challenge flag and instructing him to throw it.