Game Management has significantly improved this season

[ghst187]

One thing I've noticed this season which has, in my opinion, significantly improved, is the overall game management.
Starting with the Detroit game....we actually did the exact right thing at the end of the game, i.e. running/passing the ball when we did, given the situation. Had the RB not reversed field on our next to last possession, we would not have gotten the holding call thus stopping the clock. In this event, Detroit still gets the ball back, down 6, but with less than 30 seconds left and we probably win the game.

The NYG game: We had an excellent mix of run/pass on the last drive which did two things: 1) melted the clock in the event the NYGs got the ball back and 2) gave us a chance to keep the drive going. By the time we got into position to win the game, the NYGs had no timeouts left and we were able to get the clock down to time enough for just one play, our GW FG attempt.

The Oakland game: Just before halftime, we needed a boost. Once we got to 1st and goal inside the five with one timeout and 19 seconds left, mathematically we have one run and two passes left before having to attempt a FG. To maximize your advantages and keep the defense guessing the most in that situation you HAVE to pass on first down. Then you really NEED to run on second down which may catch the D off guard (not knowing if a run or pass is coming) as well as give you the opportunity with the lowest risk to pound it in the end zone. Then you still have one more pass attempt left on third down. In this situation we did the exact right sequence, pass on 1st down then run on second. The second-down run worked masterfully for the TD and the entire momentum of the game swung in our favor.

Obviously this isn't at all rocket science and yes JG has been coaching longer than I have. However, I did want to note these interesting, but largely lost in the post-game analysis, points. And the reason I'm bringing them up is that JG has been notably poor in his game management in previous seasons....icing his own kicker immediately comes to mind for one. Say what you want about Bill Parcells but he was one of the best game managers in the biz and he often kept games close even when he had significantly inferior talent merely by masterful game management. Hopefully, the trend of better game management that I'm noticing with JG will continue. I'm also curious as to whether it has something to do with less play-calling responsibilities.
Anyway, my 0.02 that I hadn't seen noted here yet.

 

[AmericasTeam81]

I agree completely

 

[basstapp]

I also liked the decision to call a timeout on the onside kick to see how they were going to kick it.

 

[Nightman]

We completely mis-managed the end of the DET game. We had the ball twice in the last couple minutes and we were unable to run it out or get a first down.

 

[Hoofbite]

We completely mis-managed the end of the DET game. We had the ball twice in the last couple minutes and we were unable to run it out or get a first down.

I agree. The only reason Detroit had that extra possession is because Dallas tried to pass on 3rd down on their second to last possession. This after 2 runs and DET started using timeouts. "Here's a freebie, Detroit".

Wasn't but 2 weeks later that they completely botched the end of half situation against the Saints. At their own 20 they only used 31 seconds of clock and gave the ball back to New Orleans with a full minute to play and all their timeouts. This after successfully getting 8 yards on first down. 2nd and 2 and they failed to convert AND they failed to make New Orleans use a timeout because they couldn't even keep the clock moving. How is that even possible?

 

[Picksix]

Same argument we've been having since Garrett took over. If the team executes, it's not an issue. This team has consistently failed to execute offensively, whether we run, pass, or flat take a knee. This is then typically followed up by absolutely awful defense, that always gets a pass, because you know, it's absurd to think we could actually stop a QB like Brady, or Brees, or even Stafford for crying out loud, from going the length of the field in less than a minute, with no timeouts (or without needing to use one if they have them), and scoring not just FG's, but TD's.

We run against New England. Doesn't work. People screaming we should have passed. We throw it against New Orleans. Doesn't work. People screaming we should have run. We do both against Detroit. Neither works. People screaming we should done something - anything - else. Shoot, should have just taken a knee. No, let's not put it on our Pro Bowl LT for committing a ridiculous holding penalty, and giving Detroit 40 more seconds to work with, against a defense that couldn't keep them from going 80 freaking yards in 50 freaking seconds. Let's take the easy way out and once again put it on the guy we really don't like.

If the offense can't execute plays, regardless of what's called, and the defense can't stop anybody in the last minute or two from going right through them like a high school scout defense, then no matter what decision the HC makes, it destined to fail.

Same thing happened to our golden boy, Sean Payton, against NE this year. Offense failed to execute twice in the final 3 minutes, and New England finally made them pay at the end. Happens to every coach whose team fails to execute.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

We completely mis-managed the end of the DET game. We had the ball twice in the last couple minutes and we were unable to run it out or get a first down.

The game is managed right if we didn't get called for holding. That game was on the players in closing minutes. From the Tyron Smith hold.....to the secondary allowing receivers to run out of bounds to stop the clock. That game was lost due to poor execution by the players.

 

[Beast_from_East]

It's gone from horrible to decent and it only took Opie 4 yrs and half a dozen games blown.

 

[Idgit]

Game management tends to get better when you've got a better team. Funny how that works. And when the 'blown' games included calls like the 'icing your own kicker' complaint, you have to consider the sources and whether or not they're talking about actual game management, or are simply lamenting close losses. In most cases, it's the latter.

I do think it's an interesting question whether or not having Garrett as a walk-around head coach has been a net positive or a negative. Play calling, I think has been similar. Overall, I'd say I liked the play calling better last season, probably, but it's awfully hard to separate the calls from the adjustments from the execution. Our in-game adjustments have been good, but they were decent before. Our clock management seems to have improved. Or at least, I find myself second guessing less often. I do think, overall, it seems like a better fit for Garrett to oversee everything. I'm not a huge fan of his offense, and I think it's good for the coach in Dallas to have the coordinator as a buffer between himself and the criticism. I think it's been useful to have Jason in the defensive meetings and for the defensive players to see him operate more on a daily basis. And I think it helps to have Callahan to siphon off some of the weekly animosity that would normally go directly to the head coach. We're still not a top organization in terms of how we run things on game day, I don't think. But we're better than a lot of teams.

Like most things this season, I think we're doing a pretty good job overall, and we're handicapped more by the DL injuries than we are by anything we're explicitly doing to ourselves right now. As long as that's the case, I'm pretty happy with the direction we've got.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

It's gone from horrible to decent and it only took Opie 4 yrs and half a dozen games blown.

Well you know it sometimes takes guys a while to become head c

Game management tends to get better when you've got a better team. Funny how that works. And when the 'blown' games included calls like the 'icing your own kicker' complaint, you have to consider the sources and whether or not they're talking about actual game management, or are simply lamenting close losses. In most cases, it's the latter.

I do think it's an interesting question whether or not having Garrett as a walk-around head coach has been a net positive or a negative. Play calling, I think has been similar. Overall, I'd say I liked the play calling better last season, probably, but it's awfully hard to separate the calls from the adjustments from the execution. Our in-game adjustments have been good, but they were decent before. Our clock management seems to have improved. Or at least, I find myself second guessing less often. I do think, overall, it seems like a better fit for Garrett to oversee everything. I'm not a huge fan of his offense, and I think it's good for the coach in Dallas to have the coordinator as a buffer between himself and the criticism. I think it's been useful to have Jason in the defensive meetings and for the defensive players to see him operate more on a daily basis. And I think it helps to have Callahan to siphon off some of the weekly animosity that would normally go directly to the head coach. We're still not a top organization in terms of how we run things on game day, I don't think. But we're better than a lot of teams.

Like most things this season, I think we're doing a pretty good job overall, and we're handicapped more by the DL injuries than we are by anything we're explicitly doing to ourselves right now. As long as that's the case, I'm pretty happy with the direction we've got.

Its weird because last season we were a terrible redzone team. But we could get up and down the field. This year its the opposite. We can't go up and down the field like last season but when we do get in the redzone if i'm not mistaken we have the 2nd best redzone offense in the league. Its amazing how you can fix one leak and then another one pops up. I'm very pleased with the redzone offense this year though.

 

[TrailBlazer]

You don't give credit for stuff that should be a given.

 

[Idgit]

You don't give credit for stuff that should be a given.

It's nice we've gotten to a point with the organization again where improvement is considered a given by our fans.

 

[theSHOW]

well....he did go to Princeton.

 

[Ender]

We completely mis-managed the end of the DET game. We had the ball twice in the last couple minutes and we were unable to run it out or get a first down.

Yea i intimidately thought about the Detroit game when i read the threads title

 

[cowboyschmps3]

I also liked the decision to call a timeout on the onside kick to see how they were going to kick it.

Yeah people at the house were like why call a timeout, and I was just wait he's making them think even more of how too hit right too get it back, and cause it is Janikowski.

 

[85Cowboy85]

Game management tends to get better when you've got a better team. Funny how that works. And when the 'blown' games included calls like the 'icing your own kicker' complaint, you have to consider the sources and whether or not they're talking about actual game management, or are simply lamenting close losses. In most cases, it's the latter.

I do think it's an interesting question whether or not having Garrett as a walk-around head coach has been a net positive or a negative. Play calling, I think has been similar. Overall, I'd say I liked the play calling better last season, probably, but it's awfully hard to separate the calls from the adjustments from the execution. Our in-game adjustments have been good, but they were decent before. Our clock management seems to have improved. Or at least, I find myself second guessing less often. I do think, overall, it seems like a better fit for Garrett to oversee everything. I'm not a huge fan of his offense, and I think it's good for the coach in Dallas to have the coordinator as a buffer between himself and the criticism. I think it's been useful to have Jason in the defensive meetings and for the defensive players to see him operate more on a daily basis. And I think it helps to have Callahan to siphon off some of the weekly animosity that would normally go directly to the head coach. We're still not a top organization in terms of how we run things on game day, I don't think. But we're better than a lot of teams.

Like most things this season, I think we're doing a pretty good job overall, and we're handicapped more by the DL injuries than we are by anything we're explicitly doing to ourselves right now. As long as that's the case, I'm pretty happy with the direction we've got.

The icing your own kicker thing was silly. Afterward the Sunday night football pregame went back and looked at the numbers. Your odds of making a kick are actually better after a timeout is called. Icing the kicker doesn't actually work.

If there is any chance that any player does not know his assignment or is not lined up correctly go ahead and call the time out. 100x better to do that then to get some kind of penalty or have it blocked. Nothing wrong with what Garrett did there just an unlucky result.

 

[john van brocklin]

One thing I've noticed this season which has, in my opinion, significantly improved, is the overall game management.
Starting with the Detroit game....we actually did the exact right thing at the end of the game, i.e. running/passing the ball when we did, given the situation. Had the RB not reversed field on our next to last possession, we would not have gotten the holding call thus stopping the clock. In this event, Detroit still gets the ball back, down 6, but with less than 30 seconds left and we probably win the game.

The NYG game: We had an excellent mix of run/pass on the last drive which did two things: 1) melted the clock in the event the NYGs got the ball back and 2) gave us a chance to keep the drive going. By the time we got into position to win the game, the NYGs had no timeouts left and we were able to get the clock down to time enough for just one play, our GW FG attempt.

The Oakland game: Just before halftime, we needed a boost. Once we got to 1st and goal inside the five with one timeout and 19 seconds left, mathematically we have one run and two passes left before having to attempt a FG. To maximize your advantages and keep the defense guessing the most in that situation you HAVE to pass on first down. Then you really NEED to run on second down which may catch the D off guard (not knowing if a run or pass is coming) as well as give you the opportunity with the lowest risk to pound it in the end zone. Then you still have one more pass attempt left on third down. In this situation we did the exact right sequence, pass on 1st down then run on second. The second-down run worked masterfully for the TD and the entire momentum of the game swung in our favor.

Obviously this isn't at all rocket science and yes JG has been coaching longer than I have. However, I did want to note these interesting, but largely lost in the post-game analysis, points. And the reason I'm bringing them up is that JG has been notably poor in his game management in previous seasons....icing his own kicker immediately comes to mind for one. Say what you want about Bill Parcells but he was one of the best game managers in the biz and he often kept games close even when he had significantly inferior talent merely by masterful game management. Hopefully, the trend of better game management that I'm noticing with JG will continue. I'm also curious as to whether it has something to do with less play-calling responsibilities.
Anyway, my 0.02 that I hadn't seen noted here yet.

Credit, where credit is due...

 

[coult44]

The game is managed right if we didn't get called for holding. That game was on the players in closing minutes. From the Tyron Smith hold.....to the secondary allowing receivers to run out of bounds to stop the clock. That game was lost due to poor execution by the players.

For the 1000th time. Tyron should have never been put in a position to hold. We should have taken a knee 3 plays in a row and punted with 20 seconds left. Every excuse in the book will not overcome that coaching blunder!!!

 

[TrailBlazer]

It's nice we've gotten to a point with the organization again where improvement is considered a given by our fans.

Good game management should be a given.

 

[Beast_from_East]

It's nice we've gotten to a point with the organization again where improvement is considered a given by our fans.

I have seen 9 yr old girls playing Madden bleed the clock better than Opie did in Detroit...............that is not something that your head coach should have to improve upon at this level.