Clock Management & The 2-Min Drill

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@pattersaur said:

@"Geoff Nichols" said:
Clock management being the issue in the 2 minute offense at the end of the first half is just a myth. They only ran it out 3 times in 16 games and in two of the instances they only had 30 or less seconds left and no timeouts. 

The issue is that they botched a lot of the chances they had albeit they were being aggressive. It broke out this way: 

Drives ending in points: 7 of 16 (44%)
Drives ending in turnover or missed FG: 4 of 16 (25%)
Ran clock out 3 of 16 (19%)
Clock ran out or punted away: 2 of 16 (13%)

But really getting points on almost 1/2 of your 2 minutes warning chances is very good. The ugly is that they had too many turnover and missed FGs. If they made the kicks their 2-min offense actually would have been graded as the best in the NFL. So unlike past teams that did throw in the towel, this team was aggressive at the end of the 1st half. 

I was also referring to end of game 2 min-drill situations also, but this is interesting stuff. So it wasn’t a lack of aggressiveness, just a lack of execution. Hmm...

Mind if I ask where you got these stats? I’d love to see the same numbers but include end of game 2-min drill scenarios as well. Also curious what past year’s looked like. Happy to do some digging, just not sure where you found these stats. Thanks!

If you don't mind putting in a little leg work you can use profootballreference.com if you search by team and box scores you can look at the individual drive charts. 

[Guest]

@"Geoff Nichols" said:
Clock management being the issue in the 2 minute offense at the end of the first half is just a myth. They only ran it out 3 times in 16 games and in two of the instances they only had 30 or less seconds left and no timeouts. 

The issue is that they botched a lot of the chances they had albeit they were being aggressive. It broke out this way: 

Drives ending in points: 7 of 16 (44%)
Drives ending in turnover or missed FG: 4 of 16 (25%)
Ran clock out 3 of 16 (19%)
Clock ran out or punted away: 2 of 16 (13%)

But really getting points on almost 1/2 of your 2 minutes warning chances is very good. The ugly is that they had too many turnover and missed FGs. If they made the kicks their 2-min offense actually would have been graded as the best in the NFL. So unlike past teams that did throw in the towel, this team was aggressive at the end of the 1st half.

Okay I did these numbers for End of Game also. I counted all drives where we had the ball under 2 minutes, even if our drive started a bit before that.
I'm excluding punts and kneel-downs because in both cases that means the game is over and we weren't going all-out to score.
Drives ending in points: 4 of 11 (36%) (3 TDs, 1 FG)
Drives ending in turnover or turnover on downs: 7 of 11 (64%) (3 TOs, 4 fourth-down failures)


So before half we were 44%, and at end of game we were 36%.

41% overall at scoring points in the 2-minute offense in 2020.
I have to agree, this really isn't that bad. 36% at end of game is kinda bad, but the stuff before halftime brings it up a bit to a decent mark. When you factor in our FG troubles in the second half of the year, that also played a role.

[Guest]

Interesting thread, clickbait headlines get us again!!!!
I'd be curious if the reason the number is lower on end of game drives vs end of half drives is that "we" needed to score TDs not FGs for it to matter?  And in all likelihood faster, so taking more risk was warranted? 

Great thread guys!!!

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I know this thread was comparing Cousins to Rodgers and Mahomes but I wonder how the Vikes compare to the rest of the league...you know, the other human QB's.

[Guest]

@FLVike said:
Zimmer has the fear of losing that haunts him through the entire game and that fear permeates down so when once in a season they try something different the fear causes failure. In my 50 years I can count on one hand when I saw conservatism win a game but it also took some strange luck.

Very interesting way to put it. My impression is that Zimmer wants every game to be over the moment it starts (or as soon as he can get a 3-0 lead). When we are near halftime, he wants to run out the clock and "safely" get it over with, even if the team is behind or has a good opportunity to extend a lead. He rarely extends a lead in any situation, which is why we are always in danger of getting caught and beaten at the end of games. I also think many teams try to score at the end of the first half because it's essentially practice for two-minute drills at the end of a game.

[Guest]

Zimmer = Schotnhiemer