ESPN asked Titans/Jags to call time-outs

[no97]

http://ten.247sports.com/Article/Chris-Johnson-breaks-35-yard-TD-late-in-win-over-Jags-3444

?Jack used his timeouts,? Fisher said. ?My understanding is they needed network timeouts, and that's why Jack used his timeouts. They came over and asked me to do it, but I said, 'I was hoping to get a first down and kneel on it.'"

...

"I believe that they asked them to use them. It's the first time I've heard of it,? Fisher said. ?I just said I would have a hard time using them, because I'm ahead."

Um, what?!?!?! Listen, I work in radio, but wouldn't even dream of "asking" a coach to use his TO's so I could get all my breaks in. Isn't that some of the risk of broadcasting an event like sports?

[Cujo]

ESPN is doing their best to kill whatever integrity they had left after "The Decision".

Report the story. Don't BE the story!

[infrared41]

http://ten.247sports.com/Article/Chris-Johnson-breaks-35-yard-TD-late-in-win-over-Jags-3444

“Jack used his timeouts,” Fisher said. “My understanding is they needed network timeouts, and that's why Jack used his timeouts. They came over and asked me to do it, but I said, 'I was hoping to get a first down and kneel on it.'"

...

"I believe that they asked them to use them. It's the first time I've heard of it,” Fisher said. “I just said I would have a hard time using them, because I'm ahead."

Um, what?!?!?! Listen, I work in radio, but wouldn't even dream of "asking" a coach to use his TO's so I could get all my breaks in. Isn't that some of the risk of broadcasting an event like sports?

I can't imagine there's any truth to this. First off, how does a TV game manage to miss commercial breaks? Second, if ESPN missed breaks then it's up to the officials, not the coaches, to get them the timeouts. "The guy in the orange gloves" handles signaling the officials for TV timeouts. If they can't do that, and I find it difficult to believe they couldn't, then ESPN gives the sponsors "make ups." No way ESPN asked Jack Del Rio to use his timeouts just to get in TV breaks. My guess is Jeff Fisher misunderstood what was going on.

[Sodboy13]

Well, watching the tail end of the game, I found it a bit strange that they did commercial breaks at 1:54 and 1:48. Pretty sure the sequence was 2:00 warning, break, one play, time out, break, one play, time out, break. Obviously, ESPN had the spots lined up to fill those breaks, and doesn't an NFL broadcast usually commercial-free after the 2:00 warning?

Without the pointless timeouts and accompanying breaks, that game probably would have ended around 20 past the hour. ESPN may have spots booked solid through 30 past, and the contract language may stipulate that those ads must be aired during the actual game. I don't know any of this for certain, I'm just spitballing here.

If what's being said is true, though, and ESPN artifically prolonged the game (more than it's already artificially prolonged, of course), then the situation is kind of the opposite of the Week 2 overtime fiasco that spelled the beginning of the end for the XFL in 2001.

[The Imperfect]

It's not a huge story because the largest sports media entity is ESPN and they are not going to report their own controversies.

[IceCap]

ESPN is doing their best to kil whatever integrity they had left after "The Decision".

Who's Now? killed off all their remaining integrity before The Decision.

[DDR]

Well, watching the tail end of the game, I found it a bit strange that they did commercial breaks at 1:54 and 1:48. Pretty sure the sequence was 2:00 warning, break, one play, time out, break, one play, time out, break. Obviously, ESPN had the spots lined up to fill those breaks, and doesn't an NFL broadcast usually commercial-free after the 2:00 warning?

Without the pointless timeouts and accompanying breaks, that game probably would have ended around 20 past the hour. ESPN may have spots booked solid through 30 past, and the contract language may stipulate that those ads must be aired during the actual game. I don't know any of this for certain, I'm just spitballing here.

If what's being said is true, though, and ESPN artifically prolonged the game (more than it's already artificially prolonged, of course), then the situation is kind of the opposite of the Week 2 overtime fiasco that spelled the beginning of the end for the XFL in 2001.

Can you explain to me - in brief - the situation. I've never heard about it.

[Sodboy13]

Well, watching the tail end of the game, I found it a bit strange that they did commercial breaks at 1:54 and 1:48. Pretty sure the sequence was 2:00 warning, break, one play, time out, break, one play, time out, break. Obviously, ESPN had the spots lined up to fill those breaks, and doesn't an NFL broadcast usually commercial-free after the 2:00 warning?

Without the pointless timeouts and accompanying breaks, that game probably would have ended around 20 past the hour. ESPN may have spots booked solid through 30 past, and the contract language may stipulate that those ads must be aired during the actual game. I don't know any of this for certain, I'm just spitballing here.

If what's being said is true, though, and ESPN artifically prolonged the game (more than it's already artificially prolonged, of course), then the situation is kind of the opposite of the Week 2 overtime fiasco that spelled the beginning of the end for the XFL in 2001.

Can you explain to me - in brief - the situation. I've never heard about it.

The Saturday night game in Week 2 of the XFL season featured Chicago and L.A. in a back-and-forth shootout which went multiple overtimes. Since this was in February, and therefore TV sweeps time, Saturday Night Live had one of its biggest guests of the season, Jennifer Lopez. But, since no one at NBC ever stopped to consider that live sporting events sometimes run later than scheduled, the overtime game bumped the news back, and local stations still got their full 35-minute newscasts, which meant that SNL started late on tape-delay. Lorne Michaels, who naturally had a whole lot more pull at the network than a 2-week-old football league, went absolutely ballistic at being pushed back, and lower-than-expected ratings seemed to justify his rage. So the network made the league change its timing rules immediately, to ensure that its programming wouldn't be affected in such a fashion again. That did quite a bit to sour relations between the league and the network. Of the 1,057 things that went wrong in the XFL, that was one of the bigger ones.

[philly97flyer]

I blame this incident on Philadelphia and ther classless fans, simply disgraceful.

[cmm]

It's not a story because Fisher was joking.

On fourth-and-5 after Del Rio burned a second timeout, the Titans send Johnson off tackle and he broke free, going 35 yards for another touchdown and the final 30-3 margin.

When it was over, Fisher joked a bit about the situation.

?Jack used his timeouts,? Fisher said. ?My understanding is they needed network timeouts, and that's why Jack used his timeouts. They came over and asked me to do it, but I said, 'I was hoping to get a first down and kneel on it.'

?At the end of the game like that, you don't kick a long field goal, you don't, you hand it off.?

Fisher said he had no issues with Del Rio's handling of the matter, and said Del Rio should not have any issues with the Titans continuing to call plays.

http://ten.247sports.com/Article/Chris-Johnson-breaks-35-yard-TD-late-in-win-over-Jags-3444

(edited to embolden)

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I'm still not convinced there's any difference between NFL and WWE.

[TFoA]

I'm still not convinced there's any difference between NFL and WWE.

This is what happens when you put two midcarders in the main event.

[NJTank]

ESPN's downfall continues, what a disgrace. Can versus please become a bigger player and challenge ESPN directly please. Maybe Turner can turn TNT into 24/7 sports. They do a great job with the NBA and their MLB has been rock solid this year with Chip Carray nowhere to be heard.

[Eye]

ESPN's downfall continues, what a disgrace. Can versus please become a bigger player and challenge ESPN directly please. Maybe Turner can turn TNT into 24/7 sports. They do a great job with the NBA and their MLB has been rock solid this year with Chip Carray nowhere to be heard.

Probably not because they aren't idiots. TNT/TBS does a good job with their coverage because it is in small doses (two weekly Thursday NBA games, weekly Saturday (or is it Sunday) MLB games and of course the first round of the playoffs and one of the LCS.)

[IceCap]

I'm still not convinced there's any difference between NFL and WWE.

This is what happens when you put two midcarders in the main event.

Hey now. Tennessee may have started off a jobber last year, but they've really started to connect with the crowd as of late. I suspect Jacksonville was just there to job to Tennessee so the Titans could be built up as a viable threat to Indy's title.

[DEAD!]

I'm still not convinced there's any difference between NFL and WWE.

This is what happens when you put two midcarders in the main event.

Hey now. Tennessee may have started off a jobber last year, but they've really started to connect with the crowd as of late. I suspect Jacksonville was just there to job to Tennessee so the Titans could be built up as a viable threat to Indy's title.

So, the Fatal-4-Way just became a Triple Threat Match?

[Viper]

Well, watching the tail end of the game, I found it a bit strange that they did commercial breaks at 1:54 and 1:48. Pretty sure the sequence was 2:00 warning, break, one play, time out, break, one play, time out, break. Obviously, ESPN had the spots lined up to fill those breaks, and doesn't an NFL broadcast usually commercial-free after the 2:00 warning?

Without the pointless timeouts and accompanying breaks, that game probably would have ended around 20 past the hour. ESPN may have spots booked solid through 30 past, and the contract language may stipulate that those ads must be aired during the actual game. I don't know any of this for certain, I'm just spitballing here.

If what's being said is true, though, and ESPN artifically prolonged the game (more than it's already artificially prolonged, of course), then the situation is kind of the opposite of the Week 2 overtime fiasco that spelled the beginning of the end for the XFL in 2001.

Can you explain to me - in brief - the situation. I've never heard about it.

The Saturday night game in Week 2 of the XFL season featured Chicago and L.A. in a back-and-forth shootout which went multiple overtimes. Since this was in February, and therefore TV sweeps time, Saturday Night Live had one of its biggest guests of the season, Jennifer Lopez. But, since no one at NBC ever stopped to consider that live sporting events sometimes run later than scheduled, the overtime game bumped the news back, and local stations still got their full 35-minute newscasts, which meant that SNL started late on tape-delay. Lorne Michaels, who naturally had a whole lot more pull at the network than a 2-week-old football league, went absolutely ballistic at being pushed back, and lower-than-expected ratings seemed to justify his rage. So the network made the league change its timing rules immediately, to ensure that its programming wouldn't be affected in such a fashion again. That did quite a bit to sour relations between the league and the network. Of the 1,057 things that went wrong in the XFL, that was one of the bigger ones.

This sort of thing is why, in spite of the insistence of Gary Bettman et al, I'm not the least bit convinced that the NHL will never change its playoff OT format. The first time NBC has to pre-empt Jay Leno because some hockey game went into double OT, the network execs will start screaming for the NHL to carry over the regular-season OT format (5 minutes + shootout) to the playoffs, and Bettman and company will find it very, very hard to say no.

If the ESPN story is true, it adds even more fuel to that particular fire.

[Mac the Knife]

There's no truth to it guys - there is a specific formatting to NFL games that has built in television time outs should the need arise: and that need rarely, if ever, arises.

If my memory is anything close to sound from roughly 1990 or so, each quarter breaks down into four distinct parts - presuming that each period of game action will feature at least two scores and two additional changes of possession. The 2nd and 4th quarters add the 2-minute warning into the mix, plus a presumption of at least one time out during the final two minutes.

[BBTV]

Ever notice how the referees go out of their way to announce that a time-out will be a "30-second time out"? That's because there's no need for a TV break there. There's plenty of opportunities for the guy with the orange gloves to come out and stop things for 2 minutes, I highly doubt that a network would need to do this.

[rams80]

Well, watching the tail end of the game, I found it a bit strange that they did commercial breaks at 1:54 and 1:48. Pretty sure the sequence was 2:00 warning, break, one play, time out, break, one play, time out, break. Obviously, ESPN had the spots lined up to fill those breaks, and doesn't an NFL broadcast usually commercial-free after the 2:00 warning?

Without the pointless timeouts and accompanying breaks, that game probably would have ended around 20 past the hour. ESPN may have spots booked solid through 30 past, and the contract language may stipulate that those ads must be aired during the actual game. I don't know any of this for certain, I'm just spitballing here.

If what's being said is true, though, and ESPN artifically prolonged the game (more than it's already artificially prolonged, of course), then the situation is kind of the opposite of the Week 2 overtime fiasco that spelled the beginning of the end for the XFL in 2001.

Can you explain to me - in brief - the situation. I've never heard about it.

The Saturday night game in Week 2 of the XFL season featured Chicago and L.A. in a back-and-forth shootout which went multiple overtimes. Since this was in February, and therefore TV sweeps time, Saturday Night Live had one of its biggest guests of the season, Jennifer Lopez. But, since no one at NBC ever stopped to consider that live sporting events sometimes run later than scheduled, the overtime game bumped the news back, and local stations still got their full 35-minute newscasts, which meant that SNL started late on tape-delay. Lorne Michaels, who naturally had a whole lot more pull at the network than a 2-week-old football league, went absolutely ballistic at being pushed back, and lower-than-expected ratings seemed to justify his rage. So the network made the league change its timing rules immediately, to ensure that its programming wouldn't be affected in such a fashion again. That did quite a bit to sour relations between the league and the network. Of the 1,057 things that went wrong in the XFL, that was one of the bigger ones.

This sort of thing is why, in spite of the insistence of Gary Bettman et al, I'm not the least bit convinced that the NHL will never change its playoff OT format. The first time NBC has to pre-empt Jay Leno because some hockey game went into double OT, the network execs will start screaming for the NHL to carry over the regular-season OT format (5 minutes + shootout) to the playoffs, and Bettman and company will find it very, very hard to say no.

If the ESPN story is true, it adds even more fuel to that particular fire.

Shouldn't NBC and America thank the NHL for "depriving" them of Leno for a night?