Colts coach Shane Steichen wasted a crucial timeout before the Colts’ failed fourth-and-1 late in the fourth quarter of their season-ending loss on Saturday night.
The Colts had all three timeouts, which meant that if they failed on that fourth down, they’d be able to force the Texans into a three-and-out and still get the ball back with time for a game-winning drive. But when Steichen called a timeout to get his fourth-down play called, the Colts were down to two timeouts, and their offense never took the field again after the fourth down stop.
“Really wanted to see the look to get a call that we thought would work in that fourth down situation. That was basically it,” Steichen said.
But the difference between having all three timeouts and only having two is massive late in a game. With three timeouts, a defense can call timeout after each play of a three-and-out and get the ball back quickly. With the Colts having only two timeouts, the Texans were able to run so much time off the clock that after a three-and-out, by the time Houston took an intentional safety, only one second remained in the game.
At a point in the game when timeouts were crucial, Steichen should have called his play quickly and gone with it.