The New York Jets had an opportunity to get the ball back one more time during regulation, but they opted against it. Ultimately, the Jets lost in overtime to the Green Bay Packers.
After the game, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur expressed confusion about head coach Aaron Glenn’s strategy.
“Oh yeah, I was really confused by that. That’s why we called the timeout and tried a Hail Mary,” LaFleur explained.
On third and 10, Jordan Love found Christian Watson for a gain of five yards. It was now fourth and five with 1:02 remaining in the game. The Jets had two timeouts in their back pocket as the Packers were at the Jets’ 45-yard line. If the Jets had called a timeout, they would have had one more opportunity on offense with the game tied at 17.
They didn’t call a timeout. The Packers decided to let the play clock bleed all the way down to 21 seconds. They purposely took the delay-of-game penalty, which comes with a 10-second runoff. That took the game clock down to 11 seconds with a rolling clock. Once the clock got down to two seconds, the Packers called a timeout.
That provided them with one more opportunity to chuck a Hail Mary. With the game clock at two seconds, there was no longer a threat of trying to go for it on fourth down and leaving time on the clock for the Jets to take advantage of.
In other words, the Jets not calling time out gave all of the control to the Packers on how the game ended in regulation.
Coach Response Leaves More Questions Than Answers
The Packers got sacked on that final play of regulation and the game went into overtime, but who knows what would have happened had the Jets gotten the ball one more time.
After the game, head coach Aaron Glenn was asked about that final sequence in regulation.
“I didn’t consider using that [timeout]; I know exactly what you’re talking about. No, I didn’t think of using the timeout at that point at all,” Glenn said.
A media member followed up by asking, why?
“Man, I really want to go back and really look at it, to be honest with you … Yeah, at that point I didn’t want to put ourselves in a position to take a timeout; man, let’s let it end,” Glenn explained.
A media member then explained that had Glenn used the timeout immediately, he would have had around 50 seconds to play with.
“Yeah, and if they would have punted it, that would have put us in a backed-up situation. Yeah, I think they could have punted the ball and put us in a backed-up situation right there, so that was the reason why,” Glenn added.
The Big Hole in Glenn’s Thinking
Could they have pinned you back in your own end zone? Maybe.
However, if they had, you could have just kneed out the clock. The Packers only had two timeouts left. So if you were pinned back in a potentially dangerous situation, you could have just brought yourself to overtime if you were the Jets.
I was at the Week 2 Jets versus Packers game. It was a torrential downpour for the entire game. The field was wet, and the balls were wet. Green Bay fumbled four times during the game. Isaiah Williams fumbled twice on returns. Why not force Green Bay to go through the operation? If you called a timeout with 50-plus seconds left, Green Bay would have been forced to punt.
Instead of assuming they would pin you back, as Glenn did, you could have forced them to go through the operation, and maybe there’s another fumble that you could have taken advantage of. Instead, it was a missed opportunity that Glenn is catching flak for on social media.
Packers HC Matt LaFleur Takes Jab at Aaron Glenn After Jets Loss