League Forums

Timeouts in the game are certainly not being used effectively. In my last game, my team was trailing by 5 points late in the game and did not use a single timeout when they had the ball with less than 2 minutes left in the game. They ran the ball and still did not call a time out (they had all 3).

I have watched 5 full games and have also yet to see a time call a single timeout during the last 2 minutes of the first half as well. Teams still call the odd timeout at random times during the game, but the 2 minute logic should be looked at again.

This is the final sequence of plays that shows what I was seeing.

1-10-GBY 46 (1:58) 38-Sanford Miles ran to GBY 49 for 3 yards. Tackle by 54-Norman Wilson. PENALTY - Holding (GBY 85-Daniel Black)
Offensive Play: Weak I Normal HB Inside Strong
Defensive Play: 3-4 Normal 2 Deep Man

1-18-GBY 38 (1:53) 4-William Wright pass complete to 16-Garfield Harris to CHI 33 for 30 yards. Pushed out of bounds by 44-Robert Fulmer.
Offensive Play: I Formation 3WR Slot Short WR Deep
Defensive Play: Nickel 3-3-5 3 Deep MLB Blitz

1-10-CHI 33 (1:48) 38-Sanford Miles ran to CHI 34 for -2 yards. Tackle by 92-Brian Watts. PENALTY - Unnecessary Roughness (CHI 92-Brian Watts)
Offensive Play: Weak I Normal HB Inside Strong
Defensive Play: 3-4 Normal 2 Deep Man

1-10-CHI 19 (1:47) 38-Sanford Miles ran to CHI 21 for -2 yards. Tackle by 52-Kenneth Larkins.
Offensive Play: Goal Line Normal HB Toss Strong
Defensive Play: Goal Line 3 Deep Man

2-12-CHI 21 (1:01) 26-Richard Brundage ran to CHI 22 for -1 yards. Tackle by 69-Terrence Weaver.
Offensive Play: Strong I Normal FB Trap Weak
Defensive Play: 46 Normal Inside Blitz

3-12-CHI 22 (0:32) 4-William Wright pass incomplete, intended for 86-Louis Tracy.
Offensive Play: I Formation 3WR Deep Corner/Post
Defensive Play: Nickel Normal Double WR3

4-12-CHI 22 (0:27) 4-William Wright pass incomplete, intended for 85-Daniel Black. Pass knocked down by 51-George Taylor. Turnover on downs.
Offensive Play: Shotgun Normal HB Flare
Defensive Play: Nickel Normal Double LB Blitz - Pass Key

GB let 78 seconds elapse despite having all 3 timeouts between 1st and 3rd down. We are going to have talk with our coaching staff about what a timeout is and why it is a good thing to use them late in the half or game :)

+1

No TO were used at all in my game in 1st half

my team used a TO in the first half but in a silly manner. 20 odd secs to go they ran the clock down to 2 seconds and kicked a field goal. I feel they could have gone a play or two more trying for a TD and still fallen back to the field goal.

I guess I have a question here...I have been in this league since season one. This wasn't the original time out logic that was used for the first several seasons. Why did it change originally and what prompted those changes?

Both the old logic and new logic have worked for and against me. Just seems the previous logic was more....logical.

In this example from today's game, my team gets the ball back with 3:34 in the half after SD just scored, which starts at this play.... http://mfn1.myfootballnow.com/watch/3158#561013 .
We didn't call one time out, even though we drove the ball well and were getting 1st downs. I don't recall any game where a team had the opportunity to score a TD just before the half and didn't use their timeouts to try and get the TD rather than run the clock all the way down intentionally to go for a FG.

It was fixing the issue where a team would score too quickly and the other team would come back and score the winning field goal/touchdown - basically it was discovered that this was one of the biggest culprits to the comeback logic, teams were leaving way too much time on the clock.

I do have a patch that should be pushed here in the week that does a couple of things:

1) Turns up the aggressiveness of the offense at the end of the 2nd quarter. Right now you will slow things down and kick a field goal if the FG will tie or win at the end of the game, and you'll prefer a field goal to a TD at the end of the half. The patch will take out the "play for a field goal" logic at the end of the 2nd quarter.

2) Adds a counter-timeout call by the defense if the offense is slowing things down to score the winning/tying field goal or is in a goal-to-go situation and a TD will put the defense behind. This will give the defense some intelligence to try to preserve the clock to go for the score that the current patch was trying to reduce.

3) Adds the defense calling a timeout if the offense is deep in their own territory near the end of the half and the defense could possibly score if they get them to punt.

I think these three things will help quite a bit. It probably won't get in before early next week, so the first games with it will likely not be before next Thursday's games.

Right there is a MAJOR problem. Why would I want to play for a FG to tie the game when a TD wins? OT is a lottery; if i have time to get 3 plays in for a TD and fall back to a FG if they fail, I will take the chance for a TD. I would much prefer getting intercepted going for a winning TD than play weak going for a tying FG and losing in OT. It also seems that this logic takes FG's for granted. FG's can be missed so there is risk there also.

I guess what I am saying is I would rather go for the win in regular time 100% of the time. Maybe this could be an option in our gameplan.

+1

I just pushed a patch that addresses several of the timeout issues that have been discussed. (Today's games did not have the patch). For details about the patch please see the following comment:

http://mfn20.myfootballnow.com/community/6/589?page=0&x=l852p&y=a1n#3461

In the last CAR - CHI game with CHI down large, CHI starts calling their time outs at the top of the 4th Q. Seems odd.