Did Harbaugh Call Timeout Too Quickly?

[Captain Hindsight]

10 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

 

It was a crisp well coached ending to the game, the only issue was Walker missed a block and the kick was almost blocked. But the NFL does not operate on almost...

Bills almost won lots of games during the drought. Loveable losers

[GunnerBill]

10 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

This is an interesting point that never occurred to me.

 

I wonder if the response is with 15 seconds left, let Allen drop way back, roll out, and sail one out of bounds, taking 6 seconds or so.

 

Then full play clock for the fg.  

 

You gotta be careful not to get an intentional grounding penalty. It is doable but that would be the risk you run and I think that comes with a 10 second run off. (Well that and if a defender breaks free right away and gets to him a sack ends the game).

[turbo044]

21 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

 

It was a crisp well coached ending to the game, the only issue was Walker missed a block and the kick was almost blocked. But the NFL does not operate on almost...

It wasn't Walker fault. Whomever was next to Walker (think it was Brown, tough to tell on the replay) missed the assignment according to Fina. Fina said he had that role for 10 years so I'll trust him.

[billsfan89]

17 minutes ago, Captain Hindsight said:

Bills almost won lots of games during the drought. Loveable losers

 

I remember the Bills losing a lot of games by big margins during the drought. Yeah they choked some games here or there like any NFL team does but I remember more often than not they would just be outclassed by good teams. 

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

 

I remember the Bills losing a lot of games by big margins during the drought. Yeah they choked some games here or there like any NFL team does but I remember more often than not they would just be outclassed by good teams. 

 

By the top teams, yea. But they used to lose 2 or 3 games every year to the league's middle class in stupid ways. In a number of seasons win those games the drought ends sooner.

[BADOLBILZ]

1 hour ago, mannc said:

Jerry Ostroski said that giving Hamilton a free run was not Walker’s fault, but the guy inside him (can’t remember who it was).  I’m skeptical…

 

Yeah I was going to edit my post to include that.   John Fina said it as well.   That may be the case but John Fina in particular was one of the greatest "wasn't my fault" players in Bills history so I'm not inclined to trust his opinions on assignments.

[34-78-83]

13 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Yeah I was going to edit my post to include that.   John Fina said it as well.   That may be the case but John Fina in particular was one of the greatest "wasn't my fault" players in Bills history so I'm not inclined to trust his opinions on assignments.

Wasn't it Fina that said "My job is done after 3 seconds"? Man that would be rough with the current state of quarterbacking, especially with a QB like Josh.

[BADOLBILZ]

10 minutes ago, 34-78-83 said:

Wasn't it Fina that said "My job is done after 3 seconds"? Man that would be rough with the current state of quarterbacking, especially with a QB like Josh.

 

 

Yeah, that was him.   Fina was one of those guys who gave off the impression he really didn't like football and did not appreciate the fans one bit.   Surprising how many of those guys get out of the league and then decide they want to become analysts and podcasters talking about the game they didn't enjoy for the people they didn't like.   

[The Jokeman]

On 9/9/2025 at 6:22 PM, JoshAllin said:

Someone broke this down in /nfl subs, would have been an interesting test for the coaches 

 

A. Kneel on 3rd down, run the FG team out with a running clock (but now with 15 seconds more urgency)

B. Deliberately throw the ball out of bounds then kick the FG on 4th down with ~16 seconds left. Runs the risk of a penalty if the Bills try to do anything too fancy.

C. Bills play it safe and kick thr FG on 3rd down with 19 seconds left

 

Also I wonder before that, does keon have the smarts to just fall down there if he doesn't get get tripped up he looked like he wanted to walk in badly

I'm glad we didn't have to find out as loved Keon's game that night as he did everything one could have asked, I would think he would have scored the TD though based on his personality unless the entire team was on notice to not score TDs. 

On 9/10/2025 at 12:51 AM, Da webster guy said:

Our special teams has been a disaster as long as McD has been here.   I wasn't surprised at all.   We struggle just to get 11 guys on the field, many times its 10 or 12 guys.   

 

It WAS Hamilton, and it should have been a block and the Bills lose.    But we got lucky, which is just as good as being well coached.

Let's not forget that Harbaugh was a ST coach before becoming a HC. That said I expect the ST to improve as the season wears on and guys start acclimating to their roles. Tabor is one of the best ST in the NFL based on previous results. 

[mannc]

1 hour ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Yeah I was going to edit my post to include that.   John Fina said it as well.   That may be the case but John Fina in particular was one of the greatest "wasn't my fault" players in Bills history so I'm not inclined to trust his opinions on assignments.

Fina just posted this on X/twitter.  Says Walker did his job.  Again, I’m skeptical. Looks to me like Walker just whiffed…

[RoyBatty is alive]

On 9/9/2025 at 4:32 PM, TheFunPolice said:

In that scenario, the clock runs down enough that it doesn't leave BAL enough clock anyway, plus it gives the Bills a nice calm, clock stopped chance at the kick.

 

Honestly, Harbaugh's strategy of making the Bills run out the FG team and possibly make a mistake almost worked. We left a guy unblocked who almost got the ball. 

 

That is the much more interesting question about this game and we dont have Smiley to kick around anymore.  We were inches away from total disaster.

[RoyBatty is alive]

On 9/9/2025 at 6:25 PM, Scott7975 said:

 

If Harbaugh called his last timeout at 15 seconds then I just run the FG unit out there and then there is no fire drill.  Im not worried about the Ravens scoring in roughly 10 seconds with no timeouts.

Yeah, like 13 seconds in Kansas City.

[Alphadawg7]

On 9/9/2025 at 2:25 PM, Last Guy on the Bench said:

Heard an interesting point from a Dolphins fan (I was watching a reaction video and enjoying their crushing disbelief). At the end of the game, when the Bills were just downing it, forcing the Ravens to use up their timeouts so the Bills could kick with no time left, Harbaugh could have forced them into more of a scramble drill. After the 2nd Down knee, Harbaugh uses his last timeout right away at 32 seconds. The Bills can now down it one more time and than have a relatively leisurely half minute to get the kicking team out there, which is what happened. Instead, Harbaugh could have let the clock run down a bit to maybe 15 seconds or so. Then the Bills have much less time after the knee to get the field goal team in place. They could still do it, but it would be rushed.

 

In fact, he could have caused quite a panic even before that - the Bills are expecting the timeout there, but was the FG team ready to run on if Harbaugh didn't call time out at all? If he just let the clock run. Even if they do react well and run out there in good order while the clock is ticking, Harbaugh can still call his time out with enough on the clock that they don't want to kick on third down, so they have to go through the condensed knee/switch units deal. Maybe they decide to just kick on third down with 15 seconds left, rather than risk it, but then the Ravens at least get a kickoff and Hail Mary.

 

Anyway, thought that was interesting, from a very depressed Dolphins fan. Sorry if this was already discussed. I tried to read everything, but may have missed it.

 

It wouldn't have made that much of a difference IMHO.  Bills could have hiked the ball and dropped back to run a bunch of time off and then just chucked the ball out of bounds stopping the clock on an incomplete pass so the time on the clock would have been less and left no time or mere couple seconds on the clock.  

 

I don't think its that big of a deal, although in hindsight, had Harbaugh done that it does maybe increase the miracle chances a fraction of a percent, but it really likely doesn't impact the game.  

 

The bigger story is how many times they lose big leads in the 4th like this.  

49 minutes ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Yeah, like 13 seconds in Kansas City.

 

KC had all 3 timeouts, not the same thing.  They through 2 straight passes right up the seem because they could go anywhere and call timeout.  

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

On 9/9/2025 at 7:06 PM, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

I think they don’t handle adversity well because things are usually way too easy for them lol when games tighten up and a few Henry runs start getting stuffed they seem to panic. They just don’t feel like they have the clutch gene 

I had this theory the other day. This same exact one when comparing Buffalo & Baltimore teams and I think it does hold some weight. I’m trying to think of big games that Lamar had to gut it out to win ? Definitely no playoff games 

[Scott7975]

1 hour ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Yeah, like 13 seconds in Kansas City.

 

KC still had 3 timeouts.

[Bill from NYC]

3 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Yeah, that was him.   Fina was one of those guys who gave off the impression he really didn't like football and did not appreciate the fans one bit.   Surprising how many of those guys get out of the league and then decide they want to become analysts and podcasters talking about the game they didn't enjoy for the people they didn't like.   

Brother, it is wonderful to see you posting again. The information you provide and your takes were greatly missed. 

 

I hope that all is well!

 

GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

3 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

It wouldn't have made that much of a difference IMHO.  Bills could have hiked the ball and dropped back to run a bunch of time off and then just chucked the ball out of bounds stopping the clock on an incomplete pass so the time on the clock would have been less and left no time or mere couple seconds on the clock.  

 

I don't think its that big of a deal, although in hindsight, had Harbaugh done that it does maybe increase the miracle chances a fraction of a percent, but it really likely doesn't impact the game.  

 

The bigger story is how many times they lose big leads in the 4th like this.  

 

KC had all 3 timeouts, not the same thing.  They through 2 straight passes right up the seem because they could go anywhere and call timeout.  

Now that the dust has settled a bit as much as it sucks and was a big failure I don’t think 13 seconds was the crazy impossible sequence that it gets hyped up as. The 3 timeouts def made it a lot more possible.  The biggest part of the failure was giving up a 49 yard attempt on that blown Kelce coverage over limiting them to like a 60+ yard prayer 

 

Especially after we basically pulled off another 13 seconds-level sequence against the ravens ( 25 seconds no timeouts) We had one against the lions on thanksgiving a few years back too where it was 23 seconds and 3 timeouts but we only needed 7 seconds to get in fg range

 

hypothetical 12-13 seconds for the ravens and no timeouts there’s no shot they get in fg range though def agree.  At least on our 7 second to get in fg range play we had the threat of timeouts makin them cover the whole field..  I was just curious if people still feel strongly about how difficult 13 seconds was 😂

Edited September 12 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[billykay]

On 9/9/2025 at 6:04 PM, BillnutinHouston said:

On the kick, Deone Walker blocked an outside rusher and left Hamilton (inside) with a free shot to the kicker.  They'll need to clean that up in a hurry.

Whay happens if we get an illegal motion during the kick. Do they run off 10 seconds and the game is over  ?

 

[Don Otreply]

Calling a time out at that point is a two edged sword, where timing is everything, 

[ColoradoBills]

48 minutes ago, billykay said:

Whay happens if we get an illegal motion during the kick. Do they run off 10 seconds and the game is over  ?

 

 

I believe the clock has to be running before the penalty is called for there to be a 10 second runoff.

Edited September 12 by ColoradoBills