It doesn’t happen as much as it did in 2023, but it still happens too often. Tackles move a split second before the snap, and the officials don’t call a false start.
Some in league circles were buzzing today over the fact that Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor got away with a false start in overtime, as the Chiefs faced second and five from the Tampa Bay six.
The play continued, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw a pass to tight end Travis Kelce for a four-yard gain. The Chiefs won the game on the next play with a walk-off overtime touchown.
The Chiefs instead should have been facing second and 10 from the Tampa Bay 11.
Some in league circles point to the failure to penalize Taylor as evidence that the league’s officiating function is worse than ever before. While it’s difficult to prove that without comprehensive access to historical and current internal NFL grading numbers, this characterization comes from people who have spent large chunks of their lives in the NFL.
A scandal is inevitable. Oversight is inevitable. And the NFL seems to care only about stuffing its pockets with as much gambling money as possible.
ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 multicast? Good.
No World Series game at the same time? Better.
The Kansas City Chiefs? Best.
A week after Giants-Steelers finished behind Dodgers-Yankees in the ratings (13.4 million to 13.6 million), Monday night’s broadcast of the Buccaneers at the Chiefs topped 20 million viewers.
The numbers confirm that the Chiefs are becoming the new de facto America’s Team. Which is fitting. Once upon a time, the Chiefs competed with the Cowboys on a local basis as the Dallas Texans. More than 60 years later, the Chiefs are emerging as the more interesting, successful, and compelling organization. (In 13 days, the Cowboys get a turn on Monday night, with the Houston Texans coming to town.)
The number for Monday night reflected an increase of at least 37 percent over the Week 9 Monday night game from a year ago, between the Chargers and the Jets.
The only number provided was “more than 20 million” on all Disney networks. The specific audience for the latest ManningCast wasn’t mentioned, continuing a trend that sees the number disclosed when ESPN thinks it’s good — and ignoring it when it’s not.
We love to witness exciting moments in sports. For that reason, we want to see teams eschew overtime and go for two points, when they can. (And when they fail, someone else can deal with the aftermath.)
A key factor in the analysis is the remaining time on the clock. If there’s none, it’s the simplest analysis possible: Win or go home, or kick the can to the coin toss to start overtime.
But if there’s time left, there’s an important question. Does the opponent have enough time to get in position for a game-winning field goal?
The Chiefs did, with 27 seconds and three timeouts. And they would have been more desperate and in turn determined to make it happen.
We’ve seen it before from Patrick Mahomes. I’d never bet against it happening again.
From Tampa’s perspective, here’s the problem. They seemingly panicked when Trey Palmer was tackled at the one and called a timeout, with 30 seconds to play.
As we explained it on PFT Live, the mindset seemed to be, “Oh shit, we might not lose.” It should have been, “Hang on, there’s a way to win.”
The way to win would have been to use as much of the remaining time as possible while still preserving the chance to score. It didn’t have to be zero, but the closer to less than 10 the better — especially since Mahomes once got in field goal range during a playoff game with only 13 seconds on the clock to start the drive.
It requires confidence and discipline and calm. It requires attention to detail and strategic thinking, long before the moment arises.
Even if coach Todd Bowles planned to play for overtime, it was still foolish to leave 27 seconds for Mahomes.
These are the minor issues that separate good coaches from great coaches. Great coaches have already thought of every possible permutation, with a plan for dealing with whatever plays out. They stay calm in those moments. They make clear-headed decisions. They manipulate the circumstances in their favor.
In a close game against the Chiefs, there are few paths to the football equivalent of 270 electoral votes. For the Bucs, the only escape from the maze entailed: (1) milking the clock; (2) scoring a touchdown; (3) going for two; and (4) converting.
With 27 seconds left, the smart move was to play for overtime. The smarter move would have been to score with closer to seven seconds left.
There was a lot to like about the way the Buccaneers played in Kansas City on Monday night, but the final score made most of the positives moot.
After driving for a touchdown with 27 seconds left, the Bucs opted to kick an extra point and take their chances in overtime. That plan didn’t work out as the Chiefs won the coin toss and drove for the game-winning touchdown before Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield could get back on the field.
The result was their third loss in the last four games and Mayfield said after the game that the team can’t take solace in the fact that they took the league’s only unbeaten team down to the wire.
“Right now, it’s about us,” Mayfield said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com. “It doesn’t matter who we play. We need to focus on doing our job and finding ways to win. That’s all that matters. We just have to stop the skid. We have to look at the things of why we lost when we look at the tape and go from there.”
The 49ers joined the Chiefs in last season’s Super Bowl and they will be in Tampa in Week 10, so the schedule isn’t taking things easy on the team. That makes Mayfield’s call to focus on themselves all the more urgent this week.
The Buccaneers had the Chiefs on the ropes. All they had to do was go for two after scoring a late touchdown, and they would have beaten the Chiefs, right?
After the game, coach Todd Bowles said he gave “very minor” consideration to going for two.
“We wanted to get it to overtime,” Bowles told reporters. “With the wet conditions on the field, we feel like we had to go into overtime instead of go for two.”
A successful conversion would have given Tampa Bay a 25-24 lead, and Patrick Mahomes would have had 27 seconds to get the home team in range for a game-winning field goal. Would you have bet against that?
Before answering, ask the Bills. Mahomes needed only 13 seconds to engineer a field-goal that forced overtime. Give Mahomes more than twice that amount, and watch what happens.
With the game tied, the Chiefs’ drive ended with a punt on fourth and one. If the Chiefs had needed to score, they would have gone for it.
Again, would you have bet against Mahomes?
It’s one thing to go for two with no time on the clock, which the Patriots should have done on Sunday in Tennessee. When dealing with Mahomes when the game is on the line, 27 seconds is an eternity.
Then there’s the question of whether the Bucs had a goal-line play they liked. They’d just used two of them from the one. Did they like the next play on the list?
Even if they did — and even if they’d converted — Mahomes and the Chiefs would have gotten the ball with 27 seconds and three timeouts.
Again, would you have bet against Mahomes? And if the answer is yes, have you not been paying attention to the last seven years of the NFL?
