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After Hunter sacked Cousins late in the game to force a very long field goal attempt, the Vikings called a time out and stopped the clock. At the time, we were leading by 2 scores (38-27). The game was not over yet, as a FG and a successful on-sides kick would give Cousins one last try at a TD.
Now I can see calling a time out in this situation to make sure you have the right personnel in place and to alert everyone to a fake FG. But any T.O. should not be called early in the play clock unless the other team is lining up. I believe the sack happened at about the 1:40 mark and the T.O. stopped the clock at 1:20. (I could be off by a few seconds.) That's too soon. The Redskins were not lined up yet. The T.O. did not prevent a quick snap to run a play or a fake FG.
Is this poor clock management or is there some other explanation? I have the game recorded so I will go back and watch this again to confirm. But I cannot see how this was not a boneheaded move. Giving a team an extra 15 or 20 seconds can come back to bite us. Fortunately, the Washington kicker screwed the pooch on the on-sides attempt and this never became an issue. But it could have been.
There is a lot to like about Zimmer, but this is not the first time he has struggled with clock management. He is not a rookie HC anymore. And he is not only in charge of the defense. He needs to realize that end-of-half and end-of-game clock management is one of his responsibilities.
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