Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
By Sam Neumann on

The Atlanta Falcons have a clock management problem, and it reared its head again Sunday in Berlin.

Kaden Ellis sacked Daniel Jones to force third-and-11 from the Indianapolis 25 with 47 seconds left in the first half. The Falcons led 14-13 and had two timeouts, but Raheem Morris didn’t use one.

“The Falcons opt not to take the timeout,” said a surprised Adam Amin on the NFL Network broadcast. “The Colts are happy, now, at third-and-long to let the clock move down a little bit, but Atlanta did not use a timeout.”

The clock bled to 26 seconds before Jones dropped back and heaved a deep shot down the right sideline. Jessie Bates III picked it off at the Atlanta 38 with eight seconds remaining, but Bates got flagged for taunting after the play — a dead-ball foul that moved the Falcons back 15 yards to their own 23.

Morris knelt it out and took a 14-13 lead into the locker room.

“That leaves you confused,” Kurt Warner said. “I mean, why do you not? Third and long, knowing that they’re going to have to put the ball in harm’s way — not necessarily an interception — but getting the football back for your offense, trying to double up here before the half.”

“If you take that timeout, the clock was at about 30 seconds plus when Kaden Ellis got that sack,” Amin added. “You could’ve used that timeout. If there is one criticism that’s been hanging around Raheem Morris over the last year plus as the head coach of the Falcons, it is clock management. It feels like it could’ve been an opportunity there.”

Morris let 21 seconds run off for nothing, and even with the interception and penalty, Atlanta would’ve had roughly 30 seconds and a timeout left if Morris had stopped the clock after the sack.

“Every game that I’ve done in Europe so far, there’s been some questionable issues at the end of the first half that leaves me scratching my head,” Warner said. “I have no idea why they didn’t call the timeout there. You don’t make that mistake after the interception by Jessie Bates, that’s a great possibility for points going into the half.”

Warner called out similar clock mismanagement last month in London when he and Rich Eisen spent several minutes on the Jets’ baffling end-of-half sequence against the Broncos. New York converted a fake punt to get a first down with 1:01 left and one timeout, but first-year head coach Aaron Glenn ran the clock out instead of pushing for points, settling for a 10-6 halftime deficit after gaining just 37 yards on the drive.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because Morris’s clock management issues have been a problem throughout his first two seasons as Atlanta’s head coach, and they’ve cost the Falcons in far more consequential situations than a first-half sequence in Berlin.

Morris acknowledged the clock management issues after last season ended, saying the team would review those situations and learn from them. But learning from mistakes in January doesn’t help when the same problems keep showing up in November.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann