Why take timeout?

[eagle12 86]

I know it’s over but why call a timeout on the 4th down play? Just got a penalty for passing beyond the line. I know it’s meant to see what they are going to line up like but everyone should know what they had to do. They have used timeouts all year on both sides for crucial moments and have been burned on all that I remember. 

[japantiger 4,051]

The stupid timeout was the one they had to take earlier because they had #9 on the field for a play; and then couldn't substitute #1 back in and get a play in in time to avoid a delay penalty.  Why in the hell #9 played a down is beyond me.

[ScotsAU 1,343]

16 hours ago, eagle12 said:

I know it’s over but why call a timeout on the 4th down play? Just got a penalty for passing beyond the line. I know it’s meant to see what they are going to line up like but everyone should know what they had to do. They have used timeouts all year on both sides for crucial moments and have been burned on all that I remember. 

This is a common thing coaches do on a game making defensive play. They allow the other team to line up, look at the formation, then call time out and change the defense based on how they were lined up. I have no issue with this most games. But that’s supposed to be done to make sure the defense is correct and that everyone knows their responsibilities. In this case, we called a timeout, decided to bracket the middle of the field, left the corners exposed, and didn’t even have our players locked in at the end of the timeout. So the idea of taking a timeout there made sense. But we didn’t accomplish what we should’ve accomplished with the timeout.

Edited November 26, 2023 by ScotsAU

[gman87 398]

I've always been of the mind you don't want to give the offense additional time to discuss their options or get the players on the same page. Make them make pressure decisions.

[AU9377 5,043]

8 hours ago, gman87 said:

I've always been of the mind you don't want to give the offense additional time to discuss their options or get the players on the same page. Make them make pressure decisions.

I would usually agree, but in this instance, it was important to remind every player on the field exactly what their job was in the situation.  Unfortunately, they still didn't get the job done.

[LPTiger 5,173]

9 hours ago, japantiger said:

The stupid timeout was the one they had to take earlier because they had #9 on the field for a play; and then couldn't substitute #1 back in and get a play in in time to avoid a delay penalty.  Why in the hell #9 played a down is beyond me.

Beyond bizarre as to why we played 9 at all and why we played him when we did.   The 7 or so yard loss didn't hurt us because Thorne ran for like 20 yards on the very next play, but at the time it was maddening.  

[ScotsAU 1,343]

2 hours ago, LPTiger said:

Beyond bizarre as to why we played 9 at all and why we played him when we did.   The 7 or so yard loss didn't hurt us because Thorne ran for like 20 yards on the very next play, but at the time it was maddening.  

Sorry… tangent…

I’m going to stand by what I said earlier in the year. I think Ashford can add something to the offense if he’s used correctly. But I don’t think we really have used him correctly all season. Ashford is very fast and very elusive. For all the complaints about his QB play not being SEC caliber, his athleticism is. I think his speed could be a real weapon if we’d commit to using him correctly.

First, let’s talk about him legit lined up at QB… Against lesser competition, you can just snap it to him and let him run. If there’s a hole, he’ll gain some serious yards. Against good teams, they’ll see it coming and be good enough to stop it.  So that snap it to him and sweep left or sweep right play needs to go away. Instead, those need to be read plays or at least need to look like read plays (e.g., designed fake hand off qb counter), and he needs to NOT keep them a decent percentage of the time. Otherwise, when he comes in the game, everyone is just going to key on him.   Some of the plays should also include a screen pass or some kind of a simple route. But the routes need to be simple. We saw a few weeks ago what happened when Robbie was given something more complicated. Because his snaps are limited and because he doesn’t always make great decisions, he forced a pass on his 1 attempt because he just really wanted to make a play in the passing game. 

Second, let’s talk about usage at the QB position. I think the amount of snaps at QB should be roughly what it was in the iron bowl. If you give him too many snaps, Thorne (or whomever is the starter in the future) is going to be constantly looking over his shoulder. His snaps need to be limited to the point where it is clear that he’s not fighting for QB1 and is being used as a gadget or wildcat type qb. 

Third, I’d like to see him used more lined up in other places. I did like one play we had with him in the iron bowl where he was lined up in the slot and took a pitch out of what looked like a wildcat formation. But also, put him next to Thorne in the backfield on some plays. Throw him some simple screens. 
 

I was optimistic when the coaches said he turned a corner. But, at least as of now, he’s not good enough to make a meaningful impact as a true quarterback. But his speed and elusiveness are real. And he throws it well enough that he could catch some people sleeping on some trick plays if we actually used him in a gadget role more. I say all this… while unlikely at this point, it’s still within the realm of possibilities that a light comes on. But, unless it does, his role needs to be an athlete, not a quarterback.

[Sizzle 3,920]

Personally im not a fan of that timeout thing either in college or the pros I feel like it helps the offense more than the defense especially if the other team has no timeouts left. 

[aubaseball 2,652]

RA has proven he can’t be trusted with running the offense because he does what he wants to do.    On the 7 yard loss play, Hunter was blocking his man out wide and all RA had to do was cut up the field.   Instead, he try’s to out run everyone on the outside almost every time.    He shouldn’t receive another snap at Auburn University as a quarterback.    As far as the timeout, no one should have issue with that call.   The game was going to be determined on that one play.   That’s when you make sure everyone is on the same page.    It was lack of situational awareness and football IQ that was the end result 

[Aubi1961 17]

I have no problem with the timeout, if Hugh Freeze would have intervened against Ron Robert's, and said dang it man ,we are rushing more than 2 guys. I be dammed if I am going to let him sit back there, like a kid in a candy store, and pick out his favorite candy.

[tigeraddikt 1,619]

2 hours ago, aubaseball said:

RA has proven he can’t be trusted with running the offense because he does what he wants to do.    On the 7 yard loss play, Hunter was blocking his man out wide and all RA had to do was cut up the field.   Instead, he try’s to out run everyone on the outside almost every time.    He shouldn’t receive another snap at Auburn University as a quarterback.    As far as the timeout, no one should have issue with that call.   The game was going to be determined on that one play.   That’s when you make sure everyone is on the same page.    It was lack of situational awareness and football IQ that was the end result 

Holy crap THIS ^^^. Ashford didn’t display the mean mental processing ability to read the direction of the block directly in front of him and simply step inside it to gain probably 10-15 yards. He seems to lack the fundamental decision-making abilities incumbent upon a QB.

[Hank2020 3,217]

11 hours ago, ScotsAU said:

Sorry… tangent…

I’m going to stand by what I said earlier in the year. I think Ashford can add something to the offense if he’s used correctly. But I don’t think we really have used him correctly all season. Ashford is very fast and very elusive. For all the complaints about his QB play not being SEC caliber, his athleticism is. I think his speed could be a real weapon if we’d commit to using him correctly.

First, let’s talk about him legit lined up at QB… Against lesser competition, you can just snap it to him and let him run. If there’s a hole, he’ll gain some serious yards. Against good teams, they’ll see it coming and be good enough to stop it.  So that snap it to him and sweep left or sweep right play needs to go away. Instead, those need to be read plays or at least need to look like read plays (e.g., designed fake hand off qb counter), and he needs to NOT keep them a decent percentage of the time. Otherwise, when he comes in the game, everyone is just going to key on him.   Some of the plays should also include a screen pass or some kind of a simple route. But the routes need to be simple. We saw a few weeks ago what happened when Robbie was given something more complicated. Because his snaps are limited and because he doesn’t always make great decisions, he forced a pass on his 1 attempt because he just really wanted to make a play in the passing game. 

Second, let’s talk about usage at the QB position. I think the amount of snaps at QB should be roughly what it was in the iron bowl. If you give him too many snaps, Thorne (or whomever is the starter in the future) is going to be constantly looking over his shoulder. His snaps need to be limited to the point where it is clear that he’s not fighting for QB1 and is being used as a gadget or wildcat type qb. 

Third, I’d like to see him used more lined up in other places. I did like one play we had with him in the iron bowl where he was lined up in the slot and took a pitch out of what looked like a wildcat formation. But also, put him next to Thorne in the backfield on some plays. Throw him some simple screens. 
 

I was optimistic when the coaches said he turned a corner. But, at least as of now, he’s not good enough to make a meaningful impact as a true quarterback. But his speed and elusiveness are real. And he throws it well enough that he could catch some people sleeping on some trick plays if we actually used him in a gadget role more. I say all this… while unlikely at this point, it’s still within the realm of possibilities that a light comes on. But, unless it does, his role needs to be an athlete, not a quarterback.

He seems to play purely on habits. He generally keeps the ball, generally tries to outrun to out of bounds line thinking he will be able to outrun whoever is close.

[ScotsAU 1,343]

10 hours ago, aubaseball said:

RA has proven he can’t be trusted with running the offense because he does what he wants to do.    On the 7 yard loss play, Hunter was blocking his man out wide and all RA had to do was cut up the field.   Instead, he try’s to out run everyone on the outside almost every time.    He shouldn’t receive another snap at Auburn University as a quarterback.    As far as the timeout, no one should have issue with that call.   The game was going to be determined on that one play.   That’s when you make sure everyone is on the same page.    It was lack of situational awareness and football IQ that was the end result 

Believe what you want as far as ashford’s abilities.
But there was nowhere to go on that particular play. Hunter had it well blocked but the TE or WR (can’t remember offhand who it was in front of him) a step further was losing his battle. Had he taken that lane, he would’ve been tackled maybe half a step passed where Hunter was standing.  He had 2 choices: 1. Turn it up where it was designed to go behind Hunter and certainly lose 4-5 yards. 2. Try to run around the outside and maybe if the Bama player being blocked by Hunter  takes a faulty step, you can at least get back to the LOS. That play was just very poorly designed. The second Ashford had the ball, the entire defense sold out on him sweeping left. It didn’t matter what Ashford did. The play was going to lose a chunk of yards.

Edited November 28, 2023 by ScotsAU

[ScotsAU 1,343]

4 hours ago, Hank2020 said:

He seems to play purely on habits. He generally keeps the ball, generally tries to outrun to out of bounds line thinking he will be able to outrun whoever is close.

This is what I mean by he isn’t being used correctly. Most of his plays are designed keeps. At times earlier in the year, they were giving him easy reads and it was loosening up the box. Granted, the competition was also easier. In particular, I remember a screen that went for a touchdown that unfortunately was brought back by a holding penalty. He counted the number of folks in the box on that play and was told to throw the screen if there were more than X people. After that play, the defense stopped crowding the line when RA was in the game, and his runs were more successful. 

Edited November 28, 2023 by ScotsAU

[aubaseball 2,652]

1 hour ago, ScotsAU said:

Believe what you want as far as ashford’s abilities.
But there was nowhere to go on that particular play. Hunter had it well blocked but the TE or WR (can’t remember offhand who it was in front of him) a step further was losing his battle. Had he taken that lane, he would’ve been tackled maybe half a step passed where Hunter was standing.  He had 2 choices: 1. Turn it up where it was designed to go behind Hunter and certainly lose 4-5 yards. 2. Try to run around the outside and maybe if the Bama player being blocked by Hunter  takes a faulty step, you can at least get back to the LOS. That play was just very poorly designed. The second Ashford had the ball, the entire defense sold out on him sweeping left. It didn’t matter what Ashford did. The play was going to lose a chunk of yards.

Obviously, we don’t agree on Ashford.   I’ve seen enough of him at the QB position to know that he isn’t the one that’s going to bring you championships.  And what sealed it for me was the play he made several games ago when he started and they ran a sweep play and he was supposed to give the ball and decided he would run instead 

[ScotsAU 1,343]

17 minutes ago, aubaseball said:

Obviously, we don’t agree on Ashford.   I’ve seen enough of him at the QB position to know that he isn’t the one that’s going to bring you championships.  And what sealed it for me was the play he made several games ago when he started and they ran a sweep play and he was supposed to give the ball and decided he would run instead 

We don’t agree. But I’m not out to argue with anyone over Ashford. He’s been polarizing to the fan base. While I’m open to reevaluating ashford’s use in a different role, I know some folks have their mind made up about him. Personally, I’m not convinced either way on whether he’d be successful. He just shouldn’t be a full time quarterback at this level.  

The reason I responded was I wanted to point out that the particular play was a bad example of ashford’s down side. There was nothing he could’ve done to turn that play positive unless he somehow managed to beat the Bama player around the edge. So he had a choice. Certainly lose 4-5 yards or risk a bigger loss with the possibility of maybe getting back close to the line. He chose option B which honestly had the best chance of a no loss play, and unfortunately it didn’t work.Feel free to disagree with which one he chose, but he was likely losing 4+ yards on that play regardless of which way he ran. If you’re looking for examples where he did the wrong thing, that one probably shouldn’t be referenced. It was a blown call.

Edited November 28, 2023 by ScotsAU