Clock Management & The 2-Min Drill

Zimmer ball: no urgency, no aggression, run the ball as much you can, stick to the script.

Zimmer plays a big part. Another issue is when the defense knows its 2 minute drill time they destroy our OL. I believe it was the dallas game where we had the ball and Kirk was pressured by 2-3 guys every drop back

That is all on the QB, there are some QBs that you can't leave any time on the clock otherwise they are going to be a threat to put points on the board.

The bigger question is why if you were the Rams would you call your last timeout after getting a first down at the 7 with 48 seconds left knowing Rogers is on the other sideline?  I was just stunned with the call and then after a 1st down run in which they could have drained the clock some they hurried up and ran the next play, there was more than an enough time left, have no idea what they were thinking.  

The Vikings offensive philosophy is not about that. They want to chew the clock but they don't always score and then run out of time. It's frustrating and annoying.

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.

@"JR44" said: The bigger question is why if you were the Rams would you call your last timeout after getting a first down at the 7 with 48 seconds left knowing Rogers is on the other sideline?  I was just stunned with the call and then after a 1st down run in which they could have drained the clock some they hurried up and ran the next play, there was more than an enough time left, have no idea what they were thinking.  

The above scenario also sounds like Zimmer ball.  

@"JR44" said: That is all on the QB, there are some QBs that you can't leave any time on the clock otherwise they are going to be a threat to put points on the board.

The bigger question is why if you were the Rams would you call your last timeout after getting a first down at the 7 with 48 seconds left knowing Rogers is on the other sideline?  I was just stunned with the call and then after a 1st down run in which they could have drained the clock some they hurried up and ran the next play, there was more than an enough time left, have no idea what they were thinking.  

At the bold

I agree with you. However here is something I observed that may have led to that...

1. For some weird reason the Rams are very efficient when playing at "Nascar" speed. This i think explained the quick play which did not work. They actually had some success doing that.
2. You'd think they would have known GB was doing a good job taking away the short throws which was their bread and butter especially with Kupp out
3. Their defensive scheme was nit working. They were not getting to Rodgers. You'd think because of this they would runout the click and keep Rodgers on the bench
4. A. Donald was not himself. It was pretty obvious and they kept trying to play him. I thought he was more a liability. Watching the game I did not see how the Rams could stop the GB running game/offense. Another reason you don't leave any time on the clock

Despite the loss, I have huge respect for McVay. He loses coaches every year and somehow stays competitive. He is losing hi DC again.
Just stop for a moment and imagine how talented the offensive coaching staff was under Mike Shanahan in Washington.

1. Sean. McVay (Rams head coach)
2. Matt LaFleur (GB head coach. Was Rams OC under McVay then OC at Tenessee)
3. Mike LeFleur (will be OC for Jets)
4. Kyle Shanahan (49ers head coach)
5. Mike Daniel (49ers predicted new OC)
6. Scott Forrester (49ers game plan assistant)

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. 

@"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!

@"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!

@"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.

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!!!

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.

@"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.

Zimmer = Schotnhiemer