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Rams lost to the Lions because they did not comply with my pace graph on their take-the-lead possession

Posted by John Reed on

Rams took the 3-point lead in the fourth quarter on Sunday night football. Lions kicked the tying FG at :17 left.
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My Football Clock Management book says they should have been following what I call the pace graph which is a chapter in my book.
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The basic principle of the pace graph is that sometimes you want to score but not too fast. The Rams scored too fast. The pace graph would have told them to slowdown. 
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The Rams ran ten plays on that take-the-lead possession which started at 9:09 and ended at 4:30. In a max slowdown, you can kill :46 seconds per play and :06 on the last one that resulted in the TD. 9 x 46 = 414 + 6 = 420 seconds a.k.a. 7:00. But the possession only took 9:09 - 4:30 = 4:39.
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The Lions kicked the tying FG at :17. But they were in FG range (48 yard kick) at 1:11.
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Could the Rams have taken 1:11 off the clock if they had called for the snap later on their take-the-lead possession? Yes. They left 4:39 more on the clock than they should have.

But this is pace graph not max slow down. On their first snap at 9:09, they should have called for the snap when .08 left on play clock. After they got to the Detroit 42 on their fourth play of the possession, the pace graph says to go to max slowdown. Could the Rams have run 1:11 off more during the rest of that possession? Sure.

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In other words, failure to comply with my pace graph on that TD drive cost LA the game.
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I have never understood why million dollar coaches make such mistakes in the era after my book came out.

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