DeclinetoState
09-17-2007, 12:24 PM
Janikowski misses 2nd attempt in OT
David White, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, September 17, 2007
(09-17) 04:00 PDT Denver -- The kick was up, the kick was good. The 14-game losing streak in the AFC West was over, and the 11-game losing streak on the road was done, all at the expense of Mike Shanahan and the Denver Broncos.
Makes for a great story, but as the Raiders keep learning, happy endings just aren't their thing.
Sebastian Janikowski's 52-yard field goal in overtime was wiped away by a late timeout whistle. His second attempt bounced off the top of the left upright.
Five minutes later, Denver kicker Jason Elam's 23-yard field goal had no such wrinkles, which is why the Broncos' postgame celebration stood in a 23-20 victory Sunday at Invesco Field, dropping Oakland to 0-2 in a most painful way.
More (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/17/SPLPS7GMF.DTL)
I can understand letting the defense call time-out to avoid having the wrong--or too many--personnel on the field, but the only purpose of this time-out was to ice the kicker. However, beyond the questionable sportsmanship involved, I would be concerned if the offensive players had let up on their blocks, while the defensive players went ahead and tried to block the kick and/or tackle the kicker, possibly leading to an injury of a valuable player.
I think a minor rule change is in order: during the last two minutes of each half, or during an overtime period, the defense should not be allowed to call time-out when five seconds or less are showing on the delay-of-game clock. They would still have plenty of time to make sure the right personnel were on the field, and call a TO earlier if need be.
I suppose this would open up a can of worms should the officials inadvertently allow a time-out in that situation, but in that case, the offense would be allowed to either take the play or a re-kick (which I believe is the case, at least at some levels of play, during an inadvertent whistle).
David White, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, September 17, 2007
(09-17) 04:00 PDT Denver -- The kick was up, the kick was good. The 14-game losing streak in the AFC West was over, and the 11-game losing streak on the road was done, all at the expense of Mike Shanahan and the Denver Broncos.
Makes for a great story, but as the Raiders keep learning, happy endings just aren't their thing.
Sebastian Janikowski's 52-yard field goal in overtime was wiped away by a late timeout whistle. His second attempt bounced off the top of the left upright.
Five minutes later, Denver kicker Jason Elam's 23-yard field goal had no such wrinkles, which is why the Broncos' postgame celebration stood in a 23-20 victory Sunday at Invesco Field, dropping Oakland to 0-2 in a most painful way.
More (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/17/SPLPS7GMF.DTL)
I can understand letting the defense call time-out to avoid having the wrong--or too many--personnel on the field, but the only purpose of this time-out was to ice the kicker. However, beyond the questionable sportsmanship involved, I would be concerned if the offensive players had let up on their blocks, while the defensive players went ahead and tried to block the kick and/or tackle the kicker, possibly leading to an injury of a valuable player.
I think a minor rule change is in order: during the last two minutes of each half, or during an overtime period, the defense should not be allowed to call time-out when five seconds or less are showing on the delay-of-game clock. They would still have plenty of time to make sure the right personnel were on the field, and call a TO earlier if need be.
I suppose this would open up a can of worms should the officials inadvertently allow a time-out in that situation, but in that case, the offense would be allowed to either take the play or a re-kick (which I believe is the case, at least at some levels of play, during an inadvertent whistle).