Poor clock management costly for chargers

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The Chargers are 2-6, but have been in every game this season, with all of their losses in the dying moments, including Sunday’s loss to the Raiders, in which a seemingly winning touchdown in the final game. was bowled over by proofreading. So why do they keep losing close matches?

An answer may simply be bad luck. But another answer is that poor clock management has been extremely costly for chargers.

As rated by Warren Sharp, the Chargers had the ball on the two-minute warning, trailing 31-26, having to go 55 yards to score the winning touchdown against the Raiders. With all three times out, two minutes should have been enough time for the Chargers to score the game winner. There’s no guarantee of driving 55 yards, of course, but the clock shouldn’t have been what ended the Chargers’ chances.

The clock ended the Chargers’ chances.

On the first play after the two-minute warning, Justin Herbert ran the ball and was tackled in bounds. The chargers allowed 28 seconds to elapse before finally deciding on the timing of the call. On the next play, the Chargers were tackled again in bounds. And again on the next game, when the chargers used their second time out. And then they were tackled again on the next game. Two games later they were tackled again in bounds and used their third and final timeout with 28 seconds remaining.

In all, the Chargers went out of bounds in just one of their first seven games after the two-minute warning, and they used all three timeouts in that span.

On the play after the Chargers’ third time out, they made a pass inside the 5-yard line, but the clock was running, so they had to lose the first and goal to hit the ball rather than play. One game. At second base, the Chargers knew – and the Raiders knew – they had to pass, because a run would keep the clock running and end the game. The Chargers’ second pass and goal was incomplete with a second to go. And then the time for the third and the goal expired during the reverse touchdown.

The Chargers should have played another fourth and goal, but the time has expired. The Chargers should have had more flexibility with their play appeal and the ability to threaten the Raiders with a short run, but they ran out of timeouts so had to pass. The management of the clock was inexcusable.