It’s a common strategy for NFL teams to use their remaining timeouts when opponents are running out the clock to try to get the ball one more time – even if the game seems out of reach. But Patriots head coach Bill Belichick decided not to do that in last night’s loss to the Bills.
Speaking to the media after the 24-10 loss, Belichick spoke out about why he didn’t burn those final timeouts. He explained that he didn’t want to risk any injuries since quarterback Mac Jones suffered an injury that sidelined him for three weeks when they did the same thing against the Ravens earlier this year.
“On the kneeldowns? I thought that was the best thing to do for our team. We went the other way in the Baltimore game, we lost Mac for three weeks. I didn’t really think that was worth it,” Belichick said, via ProFootballTalk.
The Patriots would have been hard-pressed to do anything even if they did use those timeouts. They were trailing by 14 points with under two minutes to play and would have had no timeouts and needed an onsides kick even if they had somehow scored a touchdown with mere seconds remaining.
Granted, that exact scenario happened earlier this year when the New York Jets shocked the Cleveland Browns. But with the way the game was flowing, it wasn’t going to happen here.
The Patriots chose to live to fight another day and with two season-deciding road games against the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders coming up, they have different priorities.
Should Belichick have used his timeouts anyway?