The Challenge Of Challenges
December 27th, 2018
Joe cannot imagine the chaos.
It’s an important part of a close game, a play doesn’t go your way. Players are screaming for you to challenge the call on the field. You can’t see anything on the JumboTron (if anything is shown). And you are waiting on a designated assistant to get a decent replay on TV in the coaches’ box, a guy who is likely cussing up a storm that the producers of the FOX broadcast are dragging arse in showing it.
The clock is ticking and you have seconds to make a decision that may determine whether you win or lose.
That’s the fun of being an NFL coach.
Last week Joe asked Bucs coach Dirk Koetter to give fans an idea of the craziness on the sidelines when trying to determine if he should toss the red challenge flag.
“It’s not just challenging penalties, but it’s challenging spots or catches, no catches – stuff like that,” Koetter said. “The biggest issue with any challenge is will somebody get a clean look at [the replay].”
Koetter mentioned the biggest key is to see a replay that is obvious either way. Sometimes that’s on the scoreboard. But on the road, there is gamesmanship involved. Koetter hinted in a visiting stadium the powers that be are not as likely to show a replay that may go against the home team. Then, the Bucs are reliant upon the TV feed.
“It’s a lot different when you’re home or whether you’re away,” Koetter said. “These teams are smart, and they know when to show [a replay] and when not to show it on the screen. We have somebody in the box that I’m listening to and even though you have other people saying stuff – I’m listening to the guy in the box.
“Sometimes it just works out where we don’t get a look. You might’ve challenged it, but if you don’t get a look” it’s difficult to challenge on a hunch.
Koetter admitted it was a lot easier when he was in college because replay officials monitor each play and it is not up to a coach to throw a challenge flag.
Joe is guilty of sitting on the coach and thinking a challenge decision looks easy. On the sidelines, Koetter has all sorts of people screaming at him. Then you have to hope stadium operations or FOX or whoever is broadcasting the game can air a replay quickly for Koetter and his staff upstairs to make a call.
That’s a high-pressured decision with seconds of a window to decide to throw the red flag or not.
December 27th, 2018 at 8:18 am
Game and clock management is one of Koetter’s biggest weaknesses. So much promise wasted.
December 27th, 2018 at 8:25 am
Coach is a clown. Put a coach in a room with a phone and the game feed. He calls Dirk when sees something worth challenging. We can all see it at home. This is not that hard. Unless your dumb. And this coach ain’t that bright. 2D thinking.
December 27th, 2018 at 8:25 am
To add a little more perspective, the Bucs game management coach has studied literally thousands of situations faced by every team in the league over the last few seasons – not just challenges, but also 4th down, go-no-go, down-and-distance, how much time is left, etc. He’s made a science of it to the extent that these things can be quantified. He can quote percentages for just about every situation imaginable, and yet it often still comes down to a gut decision. In those cases it’s Dirk’s gut that makes the call. Dirk generally goes with the ballsier option, but that’s been to his detriment more often than not.
December 27th, 2018 at 8:27 am
Jeff Says:
December 27th, 2018 at 8:25 am
Coach is a clown. Put a coach in a room with a phone and the game feed. He calls Dirk when sees something worth challenging. We can all see it at home. This is not that hard. Unless your dumb. And this coach ain’t that bright. 2D thinking.
BucTown replies:
Jeff has just quantified ignorance of fact and 2D thinking without even looking a mirror.
December 27th, 2018 at 9:00 am
BucTown Says:
“…the Bucs game management coach has studied literally thousands of situations faced by every team in the league over the last few seasons – not just challenges, but also 4th down, go-no-go, down-and-distance, how much time is left, etc. He’s made a science of it to the extent that these things can be quantified. He can quote percentages for just about every situation imaginable…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Very well written BucTown, and great points. — This is what makes it so frustrating to see Dirk struggle with this element of the game over and over again. — He brought that coach in when he realized that he needed some help in this area, and I thought that was a great move. Yet, as you point out, Dirk has never seemed to properly utilize the tool that was given to him.
December 27th, 2018 at 9:00 am
He’s an amateur coach. Every coach deals with the exact same scenario
December 27th, 2018 at 9:03 am
I should have come to this conclusion earlier but when Koetter threw a challenge flag when he was out of timeouts and then in the presser admitted he knew he was out of timeouts….I concluded it was time to get rid of him.
That challenge was purely out of frustration and was the action of a completely incompetent HC.
December 27th, 2018 at 9:05 am
I appreciate the post, Joe. It’s a high-pressure situation that probably many people would wither under. I thought it was an interesting topic.
December 27th, 2018 at 9:06 am
^^ Good points, TBBF. Almost akin to a child throwing a mini tantrum.
December 27th, 2018 at 9:09 am
I have grown to love Koetter’s thousand yard stare after ridiculous losses. It will certainly be missed. No one is going to forget the propaganda campaign last year to keep him or the stick carrier flip flops. Just straight comedy.
December 27th, 2018 at 9:13 am
^^ @Season — “the thousand yard stare”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lol, awesome description man. Perfect.
December 27th, 2018 at 10:37 am
…..Bucsfanman tosses challenge flag………Challenging “Delay of Firing” on Tampa Bay.
December 27th, 2018 at 11:20 am
His failure has been not delegating to his Co-ordinators to allow them to call the plays and allowing him to focus on game management.
The delay of game penalties against Dallas were ultimately down to him.
December 27th, 2018 at 12:31 pm
Hey Captain Grumpy, so if the play has already been sent in and the QB calls it and gets to the line and does not hike the ball. Then what is the coach supposed to do? The mic is off after the play is relayed in they cannot keep talking. How does the coach know how long the QB is going to take to get the ball hiked? He doesn’t know. He has to trust the QB to make that call. Of which our “Franchise QB” did not 3 times in a row. But again the PRO ready QB out of college has not looked very PRO ready to me. PRO QB’S know that they must get the ball hiked as the timer clicks toward zero.
December 27th, 2018 at 12:43 pm
Rustyrhinos
Yep a good QB should be able to manage the play clock…BUT when you’re 4th and 1 from the 2, at a critical point in the game, the head coach CAN and SHOULD call a timeout if the play clock is running down.
Jason Garrett ran all the way to the goal line to make sure delay got called..all Dork had to do was tell the ref next to him..Time OUT.
December 27th, 2018 at 12:56 pm
Communication breakdown, call Koetter up in dreamland.