Field Goal Tactic Backfires on Shanahan
Hopefully all of the other NFL coaches watched the Denver Broncos' Mike Shanahan out-think himself Monday night and all this foolishness with last-second timeouts before field goal attempts will end.
Shanahan started this nonsense, and he cost his team three points in the final seconds of the first half of the Broncos' victory Monday over the Tennessee Titans.
Titans kicker Rob Bironas was lining up for a 56-yard field goal attempt. Shanahan called a timeout a split-second before the ball was snapped. The play proceeded, and Bironas missed the kick badly. But Bironas got a second chance because the timeout nullified the miss, and made the re-kick.
What, exactly, was the point of pulling such a stunt on a 56-yard field goal attempt? Nerves aren't the issue on a kick like that; "icing" the kicker isn't what's needed. The issue is the distance. Even a kicker as good as Bironas is going to miss more 56-yarders than he makes. Just let him kick the ball and, most likely, miss. If anything, a practice attempt enhances his chances of making the second try.
Shanahan used the tactic successfully early in the season and it was copied by other coaches. Calling a timeout right before a field goal became all the rage. It did work several times, and some observers called for a rule change to keep the maneuver from being used. But others said all that it would take was for the measure to backfire, for a kicker to miss the first kick and then make the second one after being given a reprieve, and that would be the end of that.
Let's hope that's now the case.
By Mark Maske |
November 20, 2007; 8:22 AM ET
| Category:
Broncos
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Posted by: Adam | November 20, 2007 9:26 AM
...and that revised 56-yard field goal knocked me out of contention for my fantasy league's playoffs. Curse you Shanahan!
Posted by: sjf | November 20, 2007 9:35 AM
lets just all agree to dislike shanahan, regardless of the reason
*thumbs up*
Posted by: pack4life | November 20, 2007 10:22 AM
btw, where's the post on the nfl investigating GB db's offering the dl $$$ for holding opposing rb's under certain #s of yards?
love how the media words the headline like the Pack are trying to injure people for maximum shock value, when its really pretty innocent whats goin on. illegal, true, so hopefully there's no suspensions, just fines (as thats the nature of the 'crime' anyway) and the D can keep on, keep-keepin on
Posted by: pack4life | November 20, 2007 10:28 AM
Good. But I hope the NFL still changes this silly rule. Why not ban the coach from calling a timeout once the ball is set for play if his team is on defense? Leave it up to the players at that point.
Posted by: ah | November 20, 2007 11:09 AM
you know when a kicker is proceeding to kick and the whistle blows in mid windup, it is fairly likely this will affect the attempt. so it is pretty disingenuous to say in hindsight that had shanahan not called timeout, bironas still would have missed.
Posted by: jimmyd51 | November 20, 2007 11:43 AM
Thanks goodness this blew up in his face. It's pretty easy to dislike Shanny anyway (not in a Belichek kind of way, but close). Please, let this be an end to this madness.
This is probably a stupid question but would a coach really be criticized for not "icing" a kicker? I imagine in most instances it makes no difference at all.
Posted by: Frank | November 20, 2007 2:30 PM
Its simply a strategy, I see no wrong in this action. We should stop crying over this when there is a team out there spying on their opponent for signs
Posted by: huBelial | December 3, 2007 5:48 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
I agree. It's a practice kick for them. It's a better practice situation than kicking in that net on the sidelines.