With less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter today in Seattle, the Rams faced fourth-and-1 near midfield. They initially sent their punting unit onto the field, but after the Seahawks called a timeout, the Rams changed their minds, went for it on fourth down, and picked up the game-clinching conversion on a quarterback sneak.
So does that mean Seahawks coach Pete Carroll erred by calling the timeout? Should Carroll not have given Rams coach Sean McVay more time to think over the fourth down?
Not according to Carroll, who said he actually told the officials he wanted the timeout before they brought the chains out prior to the Rams’ fourth down. Carroll said that after the officials measured, he confirmed to them that he wanted the timeout, and he stands by that decision.
“The clock would have been running and we would have used the timeout, but because of the stoppage [for the chains] there, we get the timeout back, so we had another timeout,” Carroll said. “What would have happened there is they were going to wind the clock and I think there was 33 seconds on the [play] clock at 1:39. It would have taken us down to a minute, so it was worth using the timeout.”
When a reporter asked a follow-up about Carroll’s timeout usage, he seemed to get a little testy about it.
“I’m not quite sure why you’re asking that. I’m just trying to keep as much time on the clock as possible,” Carroll said.
Unfortunately for Carroll, McVay used the timeout to make a smart call to go for it on fourth down, and that ended any hope Carroll’s team had of a comeback win.