With the game last than 24 hours in his rear view mirror, Falcons coach Mike Smith threw himself under the bus on Monday.
He was not pleased with calling a timeout with 55 seconds left and stopping the game clock, which ultimately helped the Cleveland Browns rally to a 26-24 victory over the Falcons on Sunday at the Georgia Dome.
“After reflecting and analyzing on how that played out, I would have done some things differently,” said Smith. “I didn’t do the things that needed to be done to put our guys in the best position to win the game. There are lots of plays in a football game that can affect the outcome and I didn’t do my best to help us win yesterday.”
Let’s recap the situation.
With 55 seconds left and the Falcons thinking they are 1-yard outside of Matt Bryant’s range of 52 yards on third down-and-2 from Cleveland’s 35, Smith called a timeout.
The Falcons wanted to pick the “best play.”
The “best play” ended up being an incomplete bomb to Devin Hester, the team’s fourth wide receiver.
Matt Bryant comes on with 49 seconds left and made the 53-yard field goal to put the Falcons up 24-23.
After the field goal, Cleveland had 44 seconds and all three of their timeouts. If Smith hadn’t called a timeout, they would likely have had one left.
Cleveland quarterback Brian Hoyer, who was having an abysmal day with three ugly interceptions, completed four of five passes for 11, 24, 15 and 11 yards. With those extra timeouts, Hoyer was able to stop the clock after the first three catches and spiked the ball after the fourth catch.
Browns kicker Billy Cundiff came on with :05 left on the clock and made a 37-yard field goal.
“It was a decision that didn’t give us the best opportunity to win,” Smith said. “As a coach, it is your intention to always put your players in the best position to win. There were a lot of plays in that game. It usually comes down to a handful of plays and I didn’t put the guys in the best position.”
Smith’s clock management left Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy, an analyst for NBC, scratching his head.
“They would have been better off letting Cleveland take the time out and then probably running the ball the next play, make them use another time out,” Dungy said. You’ve got a great field goal kicker in Matt Bryant. You’re pretty sure you’re going to make it.”
This was the second game that the Falcons’ mismanaged the clock down the stretch and ended up losing on a last-second field goal.
Against Detroit in London, the Falcons couldn’t run out the clock when the committed a penalty to stop the clock and after Julio Jones dropped a screen pass.
But this time, the Falcons deliberately stopped the clock. If the third-down play works, then this unconventional gamble would have paid off.
Earlier in Smith’s tenure, when the Falcons needed two yards they would lined up in a power formation and sent running back Michael Turner behind fullback Ovie Mughelli in short yardage situation.
After getting thrashed by Green Bay in the playoffs after the 2010 season, the Falcons started moving toward more of a finesse offense and have struggled in short yardage situations.
That might also explain why they opted for a pass in a situation where it called for them to knock the Browns off the line of scrimmage.
Ryan understood the rationale behind the timeout.
“I think, in that situation, we wanted to make sure that we made the right call,” Ryan said. “As a player, I think it comes down to execution. You have to go out there and you have to make the play. We didn’t do that, I didn’t do that.”
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