A do-or-die two-minute drill in the fourth quarter is undeniably an anxious series of moments for everyone involved. In the case of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' successful final drive in their 20-19 win over the Houston Texans on Monday night, it was probably a little more nerve-wracking for Buccaneers fans watching on television than it was for the folks wearing headsets on the sideline and in the coaches' booth at NRG Stadium.
The Buccaneers had all three of their timeouts when they got the ball at their own 20 with 2:04 left against the Texans, trailing 19-14. That meant they had had four opportunities to stop the clock, counting the two-minute warning. Fast forward to the end of the ensuing 11-play drive and the Buccaneers still had two timeouts in their pocket as they lined up at the Houston two-yard line with nine seconds remaining. It was actually the Texans who called a timeout before that play after Cade Otton's five-yard catch made it second-and-goal.
There is the old adage that you can't take timeouts home with you, so were the Buccaneers right to be letting the clock get so close to zero while not yet in the end zone? On Monday, Head Coach Todd Bowles said he thought the Buccaneers got it right with their end-game strategy.
"Once you have all your timeouts and you get inside the 20, a minute-and-thirty is a lifetime," he said. "It only takes four or five seconds to run a play. We figured we had our timeouts, they were playing the pass, so we could afford to run the ball and still call a timeout and still have another one in our hip pocket as long as it was a quick hit-and-run right there. We were confident in that."
The Buccaneers snapped the ball from the Houston 45 with 52 seconds left after the Texans had used their first timeout. Running back Bucky Irving took a short pass and turned in a remarkable tackle-breaking drive to get it all the way down to the 23, and at that point Bowles used his first timeout with 45 seconds left. The Bucs then got off two snaps in the span of eight seconds, with Baker Mayfield completing passes of five yards to Irving and 11 to Mike Evans, putting the ball at the seven. It was this part of the sequence that likely had viewers biting their nails, as the Bucs still didn't use a timeout as the clock rolled own to 13 seconds before the next snap.
After the Otton catch at the two, with nine seconds to work with and two timeouts still in their bag, the Buccaneers felt like they had a full array of options to get the ball into the end zone. They believed they could run the ball at least once and possibly twice, use their timeouts and, if necessary, throw it on fourth-and-goal. It never came to that, as running back Rachaad White took a second-and-goal handoff over right guard and powered his way across the line for the game-winning score.
View pregame pictures from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Houston Texans Week 2 matchup.
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Helping Bowles keep his confidence in the Bucs' strategic end-game decisions was the input on his headset from Zach Beistline, who is in his first season as the team's Director of Football Research. Beistline's job on game day is to assist in strategic decisions, based on many hours of prior research.
"Again, Zach was very sharp on that, as well, as far as how much time we had and when we could use them and when we couldn't use them," said Bowles. "Everyone was in sync offensively, and it was one of our favorite plays, so we went with it."
Bowles also has confidence in his first-year play-caller, as Offensive Coordinator Josh Grizzard has now directed two consecutive game-winning drives to start the season. The Buccaneers scored the winning points with 59 seconds left in Week One in Atlanta on Mayfield's 25-yard touchdown pass to rookie wideout Emeka Egbuka. Plagued by offensive line injuries, Tampa Bay's offense had slowed down considerably for much of the second half, but fortunately a hot start had kept them in position to win it at the end. The Buccaneers scored touchdowns on each of their first two possessions of the game.
"He did a heck of a job coming out aggressive," said Bowles of Grizzard's play-calling. "When they scored, he came right back and got down the field and we scored, as well. He was very aggressive in his play calling this week, a little different than last week when he went out for his first game. He was comfortable. I think he was great with the [offensive] tackles, understanding what he had to do and knowing what kind of passing game he had to have. He had a plan for quite a few things. I thought the coaching staff on the offensive side did a heck of a job getting prepared, and they executed very well."
And when it mattered most, once again, the Buccaneers' offense executed well. Some Bucs fans may have had to watch the final sequence through their fingers, but Bowles was very comfortable with how his coaches and his team handled the situation.
