Monday Night Head Shaker

Excuse me there Coach Harbaugh, have you met Andy Reid, Art Shell and Herm Edwards? The National Association of Terrible Clock Managers would like to welcome you to the club.

This weeks embarrassing moment in clock management came Monday night about ten seconds before the two minute warning at the end of the Packers-Ravens game. Baltimore was down by 14 or so and needed to conserve as much time as possible. Due to some clock snafu by the officials the play clock was reset without about 2:10 on the clock. This allowed Green Bay to run the clock all the way down to the break. Baltimore, who had one timeout left, should have used that timeout to force a play before the two minute break, saving some time on the other side. The Coaching staff was clearly upset at the resetting of the play clock, they were under the impression GB would have to run a play before the break and didn't notice the clock reset.

Fine.

Now pardon me for being critical but I've seen guys on the sidelines whose job seems to be nothing more than screaming "get it up!" or "you da man!" randomly. A valuable position indeed but it seems that if you've got that base covered it seems like somebody should be paid to keep track of the clock management issues. After all, play clocks get reset all the time, do you want to lose 20 seconds because everybody was staring off into space? Don't think so.

What's that you say? You say that's the job of the Head Coach?

OF COURSE IT IS!!!!!!

That's why it is so frustrating to watch. 15 year olds who have been playing Madden for a few years have far superior clock awareness than these head coaches. Andy Reid is the dean of this group of deficients as he manages to blow clock details without the burden of play calling to distract him. Harbaugh is fast on his heels though. What exactly did he think was going on when he saw the entire Packer team just standing around shootin the shit? Maybe they were just going to take the delay of game penalty rather than run out the clock? Even if you buy the idiotic rationale that the play clock reset caught them completely off guard, is everybody on that team, all the coaches, the active squad, the inactives, the fans, trainers, etc., did nobody panic when they saw the clock hit 2:02, 2:01 and just call the TO out of instinct? What the hell is going on on that sideline that is so fascinating that nobody can bother to alter their gaze six inches vertical to give the clock, your true enemy at this point, a quick looky-loo?

Even more ironic is that these inexcusable lapses in focus/intelligence/judgment come from some of the biggest control freaks on the planet. Except for Art Shell, he hasn't controlled anything related to football in about a decade.

So congratulations Coach Harbaugh, your ability to tun a seemingly simple calculation into Sophi's Choice is truly astounding. The Association welcomes you to their hallowed halls. As the newest member you are charged with bringing the Costco sized crate of ring dings and Mountain Dew, Meeting starts promptly at 7:30. Hah! Who are we kidding, if these guys show up on the right day we'll call it a victory. Just try not to smash your own face on the door on the way in.