It’s Time for NFL Networks to Hire ‘Clock Management’ Specialists

The hiring of Mike Pereira as on-air “rules” analyst by Fox Sports revolutionized sports TV back in 2010. In my book, it’s high time for NFL TV partners to add “clock management” analysts to their game telecasts.

Commanders coach Dan Quinn’s unforgivable clock management at the end of Sunday’s 27–27 tie with the Giants was the biggest clock blunder in years. By inadvertently letting time run out instead of setting up a game-winning field goal, Quinn snatched a tie from the very jaws of victory. 

It was so laughable that ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio called it a “firing offense.” No wonder, since Washington minority owner Magic Johnson sounded off about the blunder on X/Twitter. “I’m in total disbelief my Commanders had such poor clock management in today’s overtime game against the Giants,” tweeted Johnson. “All we had to do was kick the field goal and we would have won the game!”

The Magic Man wasn’t alone. Fox’s play-by-play announcer Chris Myers and color commentator Jonathan Vilma couldn’t believe what they were seeing as the Commanders QB Jayden Daniels danced around with no timeouts instead of clocking the ball and attempting a game-winning field goal inside of 40 yards.

“They don’t have a timeout. What are they doing?” asked Myers. “They’ve got to get up and spike this. They’re not going to be able to get this done in time! It’s gonna run out on them! The clock ran out as Daniels ran the ball!…Unbelievable. A comedy of errors late.”

Vilma agreed. “Chris, that’s inexcusable!” he said. “It was just supposed to be, you go, you take a knee, set up, clock, and then get out of there.”

Across social media, NFL experts registered their shock as the Commanders fell to 1–3–1 and the Giants moved to 3–1–1:

• Yahoo’s NFL writer Frank Schwab tweeted it wouldn’t be a surprise if Quinn—who coughed up a 28–3 lead to Bill Belichick’s Patriots in Super Bowl LI—lost his job. “Dan Quinn might not survive this one,” he tweeted. “The Commanders had a time management mistake for the ages, costing them a shot at the win.”

• Ex-Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III was equally aghast. “The Washington Commanders lost because of poor clock management and communication between the coaches and QB Jayden Daniels. IT JUST CAN’T HAPPEN,” tweeted RGIII.

• Fox’s own Tim Brando called it an “inexcusable” miscue, tweeting: “Uhhhh Clock management? @Commanders can we talk? Ouch babe. Great work by my colleague @The_ChrisMyers & @Jonathan_Vilma on what was an inexcusable mistake at the end!”

As for hiring “clock management” experts, why not? The NFL’s media partners Fox, ESPN, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and Amazon Prime Video pay anywhere from $1 billion to $2.7 billion a year to show NFL games. 

For years, TV viewers have endured example after example of coaches not knowing what to do at crunch time. Hiring a clock management analyst to pop up in the right situation like Pereira would be a logical next step.

Back in 2018, Rams coach Sean McVay hired Jedd Fisch as a clock-management specialist for critical situations. He helped the 15–3 Rams reach Super Bowl LIII. The NFL’s media partners should follow McVay’s lead.