What About This . . .?

By Wayne William Cipriano

I have never understood this.  I’ve played my share of football and watched… according to Rosalie, someone else’s share and mine … but, I just don’t get it.

Almost invariably, during the first minutes of the second half, the quarterback will call “time out”.  He didn’t like the look of the defense or took too long in the huddle trying to get a cheerleader’s phone number from the center (for some reason centers always have those numbers), or wanted some investment advice from a wide receiver (ditto).  He thus avoids the delay of the game five-yard penalty.

That is what I don’t get.

Say he takes the penalty and the worst happens, the five-yard penalty makes him turn over the ball to his opponents.  Now, call to mind how many times you’ve seen a team driving at the end of a game for a tie or a win, and they lose because they ran out of time?  Would they trade a five-yard penalty or even loss of ball in the third quarter for one more time out at the end of the game?

Teams have head coaches, offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, secondary coaches – offensive and defensive, special team coaches, line coaches, receiver coaches, strength coaches and hundreds of assistant coaches.  Why isn’t there a time coordinator (TC)? TC’s only job is to watch the clock and counsel the head coach as to when to take the team’s six time outs and be the only one beside the head coach who can stop the clock.

There are strict limits on the number of players who can dress for a game, but I don’t think there are any rules about the number of coaches you can have. It may seem wasteful to employ a TC, but what about those games that could have been won if only someone had prevented those last few seconds from being lost?

How many dollars is one win in the NFL worth?  Enough to hire a TC for a few thousand dollars?

Hey, I’ve got a watch!