Bill Belichick Explains End Of Game Clock Management Vs. Ravens
BOSTON (CBS) -- In a game where Bill Belichick employed a never-before-seen tactic on the offensive line and also called a perfectly timed trick play for a touchdown, it was odd to see the Patriots forced to punt after taking three kneeldowns, thereby giving the Ravens one last chance to win the game.
Had Belichick been outcoached?
Belichick answered that question on Monday morning. He said that, after Duron Harmon's interception gave them the ball with 1:39 left and the Patriots holding on to a four-point lead, he determined it was too risky to run any plays that might have drained the clock.
"It played out pretty much exactly the way we thought it would. We knew they had one timeout, we expected to be punting the ball with about 15 seconds [left], which was pretty much what it was," Belichick said via conference call on Monday morning. We didn't want to go through any handoffs or take any chance on any exchanges and the penetration, you know, like the play they had on the goal-line, anything like that. We felt like we would be able to secure the ball, punt it back to 'em in the neighborhood of 15 seconds, and then that would leave 'em probably at the most two, possibly one play, depending on what happened on the punt -- whether the ball was returned or if it went out of bounds or whatever."
Realistically, the Patriots did have a chance to run out the clock. Running some slow-developing rushing plays to the outside could have taken a few seconds each for first, second and third down, and on fourth down, the Patriots could have run around the end zone to take an intentional safety and wind the final seconds off the clock in the process.
Nevertheless, the Patriots elected to run three straight plays for Tom Brady to take a knee. The Ravens called that timeout with 14 seconds left on the clock.
Facing a heavy rush, Ryan Allen got away a punt to Jacoby Jones, who wasted five seconds off the clock while gaining just three yards on a return. That left the Ravens with time to run just one play, a Hail Mary into the end zone.
With Rob Gronkowski on the field to help play defense, Flacco's pass came hurtling toward the mass of bodies in the end zone. Devin McCourty leaped and knocked the ball down to the turf, preserving the Patriots' narrow win.
"We'd have to defend one play, and in the end, we felt like defending the Hail Mary was better than taking any chances at all handing the ball off, which I'm not sure how much time that would have run off the clock anyway. Maybe a couple seconds, I don't know," Belichick said.
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