ESPND: Troy Aikman's theory: Garrett lost track of timeouts

[WoodysGirl]

Dec 9
8:00
AM CT

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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.

Read what Aikman says: http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowbo...ck-of-timeouts

[Chocolate Lab]

When I re-watched the thing, that made sense to me, too. That's the only explanation for clocking it.

And then when they did call a time out before the kick, it was almost like, "Hey, we do have an extra time out, we can use it here."

It's mind-boggling that you could lose track of not just one, but two time outs, though.

[BraveHeartFan]

Well if that's the case it's certainly bad that he lost track, and it would bug the hell out of me to think he really did, but if that's the case then Romo is to blame as well cause he should have known they had 2.

I'm not trying to put any blame anywhere here but if Aikman is going with that thought process then he needs to say that Romo forgot as well cause your QB should always know how many Timeouts you've got.

[Idgit]

I could see that. It'd be pretty embarrassing, though, if that's what happened.

I still think that Garrett's so organized that miscounting a timeout is unlikely. It makes more sense to me that he was just flustered there and blew the opportunity to get the ball in closer.

[Idgit]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Lab

When I re-watched the thing, that made sense to me, too. That's the only explanation for clocking it.

And then when they did call a time out before the kick, it was almost like, "Hey, we do have an extra time out, we can use it here."

It's mind-boggling that you could lose track of not just one, but two time outs, though.

It would only be one miscounted TO. You'd want to keep the other one in your pocket in case anything happened to interfere with your ability to get off the kick once you were in range. And the QB is instructed to get the team up to the line to clock it in that situation, regardless. But, yeah, it does look like he either forgot or couldn't decide how to use his extra TO properly there at the end.

[Gameover]

Troy is wrong.

Jason got exactly what he wanted.His only mistake was freezing the kicker.

[Stautner]

Originally Posted by Gameover

Troy is wrong.

Jason got exactly what he wanted.His only mistake was freezing the kicker.

Troy may be wrong, but freezing the kicker wasn't the only mistake. If it is true that Garrett knew he had 2 TO's he still should have used one immediately after getting the first down. Then he could have calmly chosen to either run another play and get closer, or even if he was worried about turning the ball over he could have Romo take a knee to wind the clock down to just a couple of seconds. In other words, the timeout would have prevented any rushing whatsover, and he still could have chosen to kick the ball from the same spot.

[Zman5]

I've posted on a thread few days go saying the same thing. If you watch the whole sequence, you can tell JG looks lost out there and somewhat confused and unsure of himself.

[Doomsday]

He has to be a bit overwhelmed with all the hats he is wearing, especially as a first year head coach. I also think that is why he is slow to get plays into Romo at times. Part of the growing pains, I am sure things will slow down for him as he gets more experienced.

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

This is a reasonable explanation not the one Garrett gave.

[punchnjudy]

Makes sense. Sure looked like somebody forgot they had two timeouts. Otherwise, why did Romo and company rush to the line to clock it? Whether you're going to run it down or go for another play, makes no sense to rush down the field and clock it with two timeouts left. You just risk a procedure penalty.

[Hoofbite]

Originally Posted by punchnjudy

Makes sense. Sure looked like somebody forgot they had two timeouts. Otherwise, why did Romo and company rush to the line to clock it? Whether you're going to run it down or go for another play, makes no sense to rush down the field and clock it with two timeouts left. You just risk a procedure penalty.

Didn't even really clock it.

Just ran to the line and got everyone set an then let it tick a bit.

[sonnyboy]

Originally Posted by punchnjudy

Makes sense. Sure looked like somebody forgot they had two timeouts. Otherwise, why did Romo and company rush to the line to clock it? Whether you're going to run it down or go for another play, makes no sense to rush down the field and clock it with two timeouts left. You just risk a procedure penalty.

That's the smoking gun for me. IF you knew you had two TO's remaining AND you did the math in your head and decided running the clock down and taking one shot at a 48 yard FG was the best call........

Then you let Tony hurry up the team to the LOS, but you tell him through his head set TO NOT SNAP THE BALL TO CLOCK IT and risk that procedure penalty......you tell him that you're calling a TO with 5 secs left to make it a one shot deal.

[Sportsbabe]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Lab

When I re-watched the thing, that made sense to me, too. That's the only explanation for clocking it.

And then when they did call a time out before the kick, it was almost like, "Hey, we do have an extra time out, we can use it here."

It's mind-boggling that you could lose track of not just one, but two time outs, though.

... and this crap about, "if we would have ran a play we could have lost yards". I agree with ... who was it ... Bill Cowher ... that's a defeatist attitude and mentality. Again, I'm tired of all the talking. Let's just get to the game.

[BHendri5]

troy don't know what went on, just like we do not know. I''m sure when he made this statement he had not spoken with Garrett.