How Did Doug Forget About Sproles?

dougpDoug Pederson had some questionable moments at the end of last nights Eagles and Cowboys game.

One of which was not calling timeouts at the end of the 4th quarter and letting the game go to overtime.

Doug was asked today, at his day-after press conference, about whether or not he second-guessed his decision not to use his timeouts. This was Doug’s response:

“Doing the math on everything if you burn two timeouts possibly in those situations you might get the ball back with about 15 seconds one timeout and have to go 30-35 yards to kick the field goal possibly in that situation , but again I was relying on the fact that I was…that our defense was playing extremely well at the time..we were starting to put pressure on Dak those last couple of possessions that they had and I was fully confident in our team going into overtime that we were going to win the game.”

There you go. Doug was content with overtime. He figured that having the offense go 30-35 yards in 15 seconds with one timeout would be hopeless. He might be correct. That would be two 15 yard passes with a WR group that cannot get down field or any separation.

He’s forgetting a couple of things, though. Using two timeouts would force the cowboys to make two additional snaps of the ball. QBs fumble snaps, RBs fumble handoffs. That’s two more chances to get the ball in Cowboys territory.

One more thing Doug Pederson forgot about was, if the Cowboys had to punt with 20 seconds remaining, they would have to punt the ball to Darren Sproles. Pederson was assuming that he’d need the offense to go 30-35 yards. He totally ignored the fact that Sproles may have been able to return the ball into the field goal position or more.

Has Doug Pederson ever seen this:

or this:

or this:

or this:

or Darren Sproles other three punt returns for TDs?

It’s ironic that Doug Pederson used Sproles all game long as the featured back, but simply forgot about Sproles great punt-return skills.

Conceding OT was unacceptable with a weapon like Sproles and the play of Eagles Special Teams. A fumbled snap or blocked punt was even possible.

One has to be concerned that Pederson’s tutelage under Andy Reid included learning Reid’s inability to manage time at the end of games.

Still think Doug is a good hire and will improve, but this was too reminiscent of Reid for my liking.