The Pro Game - Dilemma: scoring fast or scoring last ? Dec. 09, 2009 by Tom Danyluk PITTSBURGH ? A team rushes in for a late lead but leaves pocket change on the clock, and that's all the time the enemy needs to race back the other way and win it. And out on the stadium exit ramps a faction of the losing crowd is second-guessing and summing things up this way ? we scored too soon ? should have taken a knee ? killed more clock, etc.But that's pie-in-the-sky thinking, because the assumption is an offense can hold the ball and take its points at will, and that there won't be any cheap flags or foul-ups or, heaven forbid, turnovers to spoil the hypothetical bleed-off process. Theory for a perfect world. Or is it? Last weekend at Heinz Field you heard such grumblings again ? twice, actually ? after Saturday's Pitt-Cincinnati game, then Steelers-Raiders on Sunday.Both home offenses got late fourth-quarter leads (Pitt with 1:36 left, the Steelers with 1:56 remaining); both home defenses proceeded to take the pipe and hand it back over in white feather fashion.The losses meant heavy implications for Pittsburgh. The Panthers are now flipping through their Things-To-Do-Around-Charlotte brochures (Meineke Car Care Bowl) instead of prepping for a classy Sugar Bowl scrum with Florida. (Payout ? more than $18 million per team.)For the Steelers, the ruling champs, their collapse has them at 6-6 and crammed into the caboose of the AFC playoff chase. They've kicked off a million of these games over the decades, and the only known instance of intentional clock burning ? by a team that's trailing ? occurred just a few weeks back at the Meadowlands, Jaguars at :wink: Jets :wink: , when RB' Maurice Jones-Drew parked himself a yard short of the goal to keep the hourglass draining. New York was ahead 22-21 at the time. The scoreboard said 1:48 to go."It was a tough decision," Jones-Drew said afterward,"but our coaches said,'Just take a knee?whatever it takes to get the victory." "I said when you pop though, stop at the one," said Jack Del Rio,the Jacksonville coach."I didn't want to give them the ball back.Idon't want to even give them a chance to return a kick or hit a fluke play." Then Jaguars QB David Garrard took three knees and the kick was straight and that was that. The New York defenders could only watch the countdown. A historic moment for the strategy buffs.Had the Jets swatted the FG, or something goofy happened with the snap, they'd have stuffed Del Rio into a clown suit and marched him down the streets of Jacksonville for his queer thinking, and it would be another 100 years before a coach tried a stunt like that again. But for now, Del Rio's job is safe."It was an opportunity to do the smart thing ? to kick what amounted to an extra point," was his quote. One of the museum pieces for premature scoring debate came from a 1974 playoff between Oakland and Miami. Don Shula was gearing up his Dolphins for a fourth consecutive Super Bowl date. Meanwhile, the Raiders insisted there'd be none of that.Phil Villapiano patrolled Oakland's strong-side defense that day, a speed man, a shark-in-water type with leanings toward overpursuit. That aggressive streak helped him destroy a lot of things directed at his opposite side; at other times it was Villapiano, out-of-position linebacker."We were up 21-19 when they ran wide to my end," Villapiano says. "I'd been cheating inside because I figured Miami wouldn't sweep us down that close. Well, they swept us. I got hooked by the tight end, an old pro who knew what he was doing, and [RB Benny] Malone went by me and 23 yards later he was in the endzone."Oakland QB Kenny Stabler checked his timer. Available balance ? two minutes, three seconds. "I was so mad at myself," Villapiano says. "Our whole defense was pissed we'd let it happen. Now it was up to Stabler to bring us back. Which he did. Snake was the best in the business, a real pressure guy. All he needed was a minute or so and some sideline patterns and maybe a timeout."But I've always said had we made that tackle and stopped Malone we lose the game. Miami was a power running team, heavy ball control. Knowing Shula and those boys, they would've milked the clock dry and marched (PK Garo) Yepremian out there and kicked the field goal, a chip shot."Then again, with today's rules and these wide-open offenses, teams can move up and down the field so quickly. They can do it in a couple of seconds. Scoring too soon? I don't know. If you don't take your opportunities then you're tempting fate. And isn't it the defense's job to hold it down at the end?" Last weekend, that was Pitt's final assignment. And the Steelers'. They both played it loose late and went belly up. Meanwhile, the cuckoo Jaguars took an unmarked road and came up a winner.Maybe Del Rio's way is best, the direct sneer at game-clock fatalism. Instead of staring at the watch ? all that hand-wringing, the late-moment edginess ? you just stick it right in your pocket. > http://www.profootballweekly.com/2009/12/09/dilemma-scoring-fast-or-scoring-last
for the Jets, scoring fast is the best bet. the more teams have to throw the ball the better for this defense. They thrive off of attacking the other teams QB, so the more pressure the more turnovers the more you see TJ and Greene running the clock out.
I think it really depends on the clock and the opponent. If you're going to leave a really good offensive team with 90 seconds to come back on you then you really should think about taking your time scoring, especially if it's a FG you are looking for. With 4 minutes to go it's a completely different situation, then you just score whenever you can do it and hope if the other team scores afterwards you get the ball back with 90 seconds to go.
Yeah I agree with that but at the same time in games the jets have lost they have been outscored by their opponents in the 4th quarter 44-29. I think they need to score fast and score last.
