Washington Football Team: Why Ron Rivera should’ve called his timeouts

Here’s why Ron Rivera should have called his timeouts at the end of the Washington Football Team’s loss to the Cardinals.

Okay, before we move on to Cleveland, can we just talk about the timeouts for a few moments?

I don’t want to belabor this. Though Coach Ron Rivera’s decision to not call time-outs in the waning minutes of Washington’s 30-15 loss to Arizona last week has generated a few cocked eyebrows, no one seems to be lingering on it. I suspect this has to do with the immense respect Coach Rivera currently enjoys from the Washington fan base.

Beyond his personal health battles, which obviously make him a sympathetic figure, a lot of fans are just so grateful to have a genuine football man – an adult – in charge of things, that Rivera will get many benefits of the doubt.

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To be sure, you may know a Carolina Panther fan or two who will swear Rivera couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag. Such is the nature of sports and of fans. A couple of down seasons will turn once enthusiastic fans against you. We probably all know stubborn Philly fans who still swear Andy Reid is a bum. But for now, Rivera is in a honeymoon period.

Imagine, for a moment, that Jay Gruden or Jim Zorn had failed to call timeouts late in a game that Washington still had very remote chance of winning. I don’t think the Monday morning reaction would have been pretty.

As I’m sure you know, Washington was trailing by 12 when Arizona began their final drive with 6:48 left on the clock. Kyler Murray moved briskly down the field and within three minutes had taken the ball to the Washington 28. Washington’s defense looked gassed.

Even so, if Washington could hold Arizona to a field goal, they would be down 15 – two scores. This is where virtually every football coach I have ever watched would begin calling his time-outs. WFT had all three.

Now, the odds were very long on WFT winning the game at this point. They would have needed several big plays or several breaks. But usually, football coaches will do everything they can to leave open the possibility of such a break. A bad snap on a shotgun or a fumble. A blocked field goal attempt. Not likely. But we have all seen these things happen.

In hindsight – which I realize is not totally fair – had Rivera optimized his timeouts, he would have called his first after the Cardinals’ first-and-10 run with 2:28 left. He then would have taken his second and third after the following two running plays which resulted in a fourth down on the Washington 11.

Zane Gonzalez would have kicked his 28-yard FG right around the two-minute warning, and Washington would have been left trailing by 15, and getting the ball back with no time-outs and around two minutes on the clock.

Rivera did none of that. Instead, Washington got the ball back with 26 seconds and all three time-outs still in reserve. They ran a final play and the game was over.

Again, WFT was almost certainly not going to win this game. But should they have called their time-outs and preserved the outside possibility?

The other three NFC East teams all did just that. Of course, each situation is unique and you can make the case that two of those teams had better situations.

The Giants were only down three points to Chicago when they called their time-outs with about three minutes remaining. Chicago was in field goal range, and if the Giants could prevent a TD, they would still be just one score back. They had to call their timeouts.

And, of course, it was Chicago, so the Bears missed the field goal. No matter. The Giants and the Jets are partnering up to give new meaning to the term “egregious offense.”

Dallas’ situation against Atlanta was also slightly different. But not in one important way. Dallas was trailing by 9 and called its timeouts when Atlanta had the ball in its own territory with about four and a half minutes to go.

The differences are there was a little more time left, and Atlanta was not in scoring position. But the crucial similarity is that Dallas was down two scores. They would need to get the ball back, score, recover an onside kick, and score again – all with no time-outs. If you don’t know how that game turned out – SPOILER ALERT – they did all that. And that’s why Washington is no longer all alone at the top of the NFC East.

Philadelphia was in the situation closest to Washington’s. They were down 12 to the Rams. The Rams were in field goal range. Philly called their first two timeouts inside of four minutes. The only reason they didn’t call the third was that they gave up a TD to fall behind by 19. But before that, they called the timeouts

Ron Rivera was asked about this. His answer was enlightening. He said he did not want to risk injury to his players. Judging by the blood bath that occurred throughout the league in Week 2, that argument has some merit.

It is also extremely protective and suggests that as much as everyone wants to win right now, Rivera knows that this team is not built to win. Not right now, at least.

The fact that he is sticking with talented-but-very shaky youngsters like Geron Christian, Wes Martin, and Troy Apke over more seasoned players like Cornelius Lucas, Wes Schweitzer, and Sean Davis (now back in Pittsburgh) may be further evidence that he is taking the long view on this team.

Of course, the unknown part of this is that if you fail to scratch and claw in those seemingly hopeless situations like the one in Arizona on Sunday, how will your team respond next time they fall behind by a couple of scores and the clock begins winding down? Eventually, we’ll find out.