The NFL viewing world lost its collective mind in the last couple of minutes of Monday night's Broncos-Titans game, and it did so with good reason. With Tennessee driving and down one point, Denver coach Vic Fangio let the Titans milk the clock all the way down to 20 seconds without using any of his three timeouts. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski sealed a 16-14 win with a 25-yard field goal.
Yet such a short field goal was as far from a sure bet as it gets in pro football, which is part of the reason Fangio defied clock-management logic in the closing minutes.
Gostkowski, the ex-New England kicker who signed with Tennessee as a free agent earlier this month to address the team's issues at the position, was having the worst game of his career. The 15-year NFL veteran had missed three field goals and an extra point.
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"Their field goal kicker had obviously been having his problems, so I didn’t want to extend the drive to where they could get closer," Fangio said after the game (via The Associated Press) when asked why he did not use any of his three timeouts to stop the clock and preserve time for the other side of the Titans' drive.
Fangio then explained that he would have used a pair of timeouts late in the drive once the Broncos had reached the red zone, but the Titans stopped the clock for him with a run that went out of bounds and an incomplete pass.
That incompletion was notable, because it was a Ryan Tannehill pass to AJ Brown in the end zone. In a way, it vindicated Fangio's thinking, because such an aggressive play call in that scenario made clear that the Titans did not want to put the game on Gostkowski's cold foot.
Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel claimed he didn't doubt Gostkowski when he sent the kicker on the field to attempt the game-winner, adding, "and (the Broncos) did, obviously, because they weren't using their timeouts and they were banking on him missing."
Vrabel's faith was rewarded.
"I just got here and come out here and play like that? For the guys to still support me and still have my back was pretty good," Gostkowski said. "That's the cool thing about team sports — you win and lose as a team. A position like mine, everybody sees when you screw up.
"That's why I was grateful for the opportunity at the end, because the guys deserved the win. We're all pros here. We've all had our days. But the kicking position, you miss a couple of kicks, the camera follows you around, they talk about you the whole time, they watch you. It can get to a lonely spot. But you have to keep your head high and keep on going."